Is this normal for Haemanthus nortieri?

J.E. Shields jshields@indy.net
Tue, 12 Jan 2010 05:14:27 PST
Michael,

That does not look like my plant of Haemanthus nortieri.   On my plant the 
single leaf stands quite erectly, straight up.  Its surface is slightly 
sticky or tacky, and bits of dust, sand, etc., stick to it.  The leaf is 
somewhat succulent as well.

Neither my bulb of H. nortieri nor Graham Duncan's much older bulb of 
nortieri, at Kirstenbosch in Cape Town, has ever bloomed.  I guess you 
could say that not blooming is the main trait your Haemanthus has in common 
with nortieri (that's a joke).  You don't have nortieri.

As far as I know, neither nortieri nor coccineus ever makes any 
offsets.  HH. barkerae, pubescens, humilis hirsutus, albiflos, and 
pauculifolius are the only ones that usually make offsets.  H. humilis 
humilis may occasionally make an offset, but produces seed so readily (if 
you have at least 2 clones) that offsets don't matter.

What it actually is would be hard to say until it blooms.  At a guess, you 
have Haemanthus coccineus.  H. coccineus will eventually bloom for you, and 
then should bloom almost every year from then on.  It does make a very 
attractive plant and inflorescence, but it is not rare.  I have a bunch of 
bloom size bulbs of coccineus in my greenhouse, and I really enjoy them 
when they bloom sometime in August-Sept-October.

Best regards,
Jim Shields
in cold and snowy Westfield, Indiana
USA.



At 11:02 AM 1/12/2010 +0000, Michael wrote:
>.......
>Now could somebody please tell me if it is normal for Haemanthus nortieri 
>to have 2 leaves at a time? I thought it only produced a singe leaf, at 
>least that's what the literatue says about it.
>
>My plant never flowered to me but I guess the leaves are attractive enough 
>on their own. Are there any chances of the plant being confused, thus the 
>reluctance on blooming? Or coud it be dividing itself from the crown? Does 
>this species ever produces offsets?

*************************************************
Jim Shields             USDA Zone 5             Shields Gardens, Ltd.
P.O. Box 92              WWW:    http://www.shieldsgardens.com/
Westfield, Indiana 46074, USA
Tel. ++1-317-867-3344     or      toll-free 1-866-449-3344 in USA


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