Cardiocrinum

santoury@aol.com santoury@aol.com
Tue, 22 Mar 2011 07:44:27 PDT
 Very interesting, thank you for sharing! 
Would love to try some one day! 
Jude


 


 

 

-----Original Message-----
From: Philip Bolt <phb@redhall.org.uk>
To: pbs@lists.ibiblio.org
Sent: Tue, Mar 22, 2011 10:31 am
Subject: [pbs] Cardiocrinum


I've noticed comments on your site stating that the genus Cardiocrinum isn't 

monocarpic, leading to a number of esoteric discussions and digressions as to 

the meaning of the term.



 



Firstly, with one possible exception, all authorities state that the genus is 

monocarpic. This, in the UK, includes the Royal Botanic Garden at Kew and the 

Royal Horticultural Society which is good enough for most of us: not because 

they are British but because they are organisations with a world-wide  botanic 

authority.



 



It is not relevant that Cardiocrinum, (or Agave or any other plant), set offsets 

before dying: this is no more relevant than the plant setting seed. Neither 

offsets nor seeds are part of the plant; they were previously produced by the 

plant as separate entities which may or may not be genetically identical to the 

parent plant. 







Nor is it true, as some have stated, that the basal plate of a Cardiocrinum 

survives after  flowering: remove all the offsets and what is left will not grow 

again.



 



Another argument was that the flowering stem of other lilies dies at the end of 

the year. It certainly does, but the bulb doesn't.



 



'Monocarpic' simply means that the plant flowers and then dies. 



 



I mentioned a possible exception. There is a report from a reliable source that 

Cardiocrinum cordatum can survive after flowering. This is under investigation 

and anyone interested in this, (or any other aspect of the Genus), can look at 

the Cardiocrinum section of my website http://redhaugh.plus.com/GardenOpening/cardio.htm/ 





 



Philip Bolt



UK Plant Heritage®, Cardiocrinum National Collection holder.

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