Oporanthous bulbs

Jim McKenney jimmckenney@jimmckenney.com
Sat, 25 Aug 2007 07:46:00 PDT
John Grimshaw commented: "Jim McKenney's invention of the word oporanthous
is ingenious and interesting, but I think it needs a tighter definition.
From his comments it seems that he would apply it principally to those
plants commencing their growing cycle in (late) summer with an inflorescence
to be followed by their leaves (hysteranthous foliage). Is this true?"

Yes, John, that neatly summarizes how I would use the term "oporanthous
bulb". 

As it turns out, the time element implied by the word is already well
defined. The Greek word opora is feminine (the first o is short, the second
is long). The standard English language Classical Greek lexicon, that of
Liddell & Scott, defines it as "the part of the year between the rising of
Sirius and of Arcturus (i.e. the last days of July, all Aug., and part of
Sept.), the latter part of summer".

I use the word oporanthous itself to simply refer to the blooms of the
season in question (although note that it is adjectival in form, not
substantive). As such, and with a bit of metaphor, it can be applied to
anything characteristic of that season: "a bloom in the intensity of the
stridulating of the oporanthous cicadas" for instance. 

The specific combination "oporanthous bulbs" will make immediate sense to
most experienced gardeners: it applies to those bulbs which commence their
growing cycle and bloom in that season. John gives a characteristic listing.


I wouldn't be too concerned about a firm dividing lines between oporanthous
bulbs and truly autumnal bulbs. Climate will obviously play a part there.
For instance, bulbs which are triggered into growth by a drop in temperature
might well bloom oporanthously in areas where such conditions prevail in
late summer (such as northwestern Europe), while their congeners in other
areas might postpone growth until later in the season in other climates
because cooler temperatures arrive later in those areas. As an example, it's
very unusual for any established Colchicum to bloom here in Maryland until
some time in September. But corms newly received from suppliers in Europe or
the Pacific Northwest of North America typically begin to bloom in mid to
late August. 

It seems to me that all horticulture is local (to paraphrase Tip O'Niell). 

Thus, there are many plants which are both bulbous and which
opportunistically flower in the oporanthous garden; but they are not truly
"oporanthous bulbs". Again, John gave a good list of characteristic
examples. 

I'm particularly sensitive to this season. By the end of June or early July
I go into an annual funk, but sometime in August I experience a turn-around,
a brightening, a new surge of energy and enthusiasm, a sense that everything
is beginning again and that it's time to get to work to build the
foundations for the year ahead. This is probably related to the slowly
changing light cycles;  the day to day weather remains as miserable as it
gets here.  




 

-----Original Message-----
From: pbs-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org [mailto:pbs-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org]
On Behalf Of John Grimshaw
Sent: Saturday, August 25, 2007 3:28 AM
To: Pacific Bulb Society
Subject: Re: [pbs] Oporanthous bulbs

Jim McKenney's invention of the word oporanthous is ingenious and 
interesting, but I think it needs a tighter definition. From his comments it

seems that he would apply it principally to those plants commencing their 
growing cycle in (late) summer with an inflorescence to be followed by their

leaves (hysteranthous foliage). Is this true?

I think that such a definition is needed, because there are many 'bulbous' 
plants that are currently flowering at the end of their growing season - 
from the window I can see Lilium, Eucomis, Gladiolus - which can also be 
said to be summer-flowering but are on a totally different physiological 
timetable to those emerging now to begin their annual cycle (e.g. Colchicum,

Acis and soon-enough, Amaryllis, Crocus, Galanthus reginae-olgae etc, etc, 
including Jim's Lycoris).

And at what point does summer-flowering for such things become autumn 
flowering? That is a very fluid boundary as they can vary a lot in flowering

time depending on weather conditions. I was going to say that Colchicum 
autumnale is much earlier this year than last, as there is a place on the 
way to our nearest town, Cirencester, where it grows as a native plant on 
the roadside bank. I happened to notice yesterday that they were in full 
flower and thought that they were early because of this year's heavy 
rainfall. But I've checked on my photos from last year and find they were 
taken on 27 August, so there is no significant difference. Last year, 
although much hotter and sunnier than this miserable season has been, was 
also reasonably wet, with 68.2 mm of rainfall recorded here in August (64.1 
mm so far this month). Will have to watch them in a really dry August.

John Grimshaw


Dr John M. Grimshaw
Sycamore Cottage
Colesbourne
Nr Cheltenham
Gloucestershire GL53 9NP

Tel. 01242 870567

COLESBOURNE PARK OPEN DAYS 2007
Easter Monday 9 April, Arboretum Weekend 15-16 September
Gates open 1pm, last entry 4 pm
website: http://www.colesbournegardens.org.uk/

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jim McKenney" <jimmckenney@jimmckenney.com>
To: "'Pacific Bulb Society'" <pbs@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Friday, August 24, 2007 10:37 PM
Subject: [pbs] Oporanthous bulbs


>
> I think I stumbled on a useful word the other day. I had to make it up, 
> but
> since I did that in the conventional way, it would not surprise me to
> discover that someone in the past had already wandered down the same path.
> The word is oporanthous, meaning flowering in late summer, and it 
> describes
> exactly those late-summer blooming bulbs such as Lycoris which catalogs 
> tend
> to misleadingly describe as autumnal. It was Alberto's question about the
> meaning of the word as a Latinized botanical name which led me to it; I
> merely anglicized it.

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