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From Doryanthes on Wednesday 6th of December 2023 04:00:14 PM PST
Doryanthes excelsa known as the Gymea Lily is a showy species found in light forest or open areas in New South Wales. It occurs in coastal sandstone outcrops along the sandstone plateaus within the Sydney region. It has a shortened rhizome and closely packed evergreen bulbs that arise from the fleshy rootstock and give rise to additional plants clustered around the mother plant. Inflorescences from D. excelsa are remarkable in that they can reach up to 8 metres in height in a mature plant and can have between one to two hundred red and very fleshy, lily like flowers up to 23 cm across on a panicle of umbels that open over a couple of months. Within the central well formed by the tepals is a sweet viscous, jelly-like fluid with which it attracts honey eaters and ensures fertilisation. Much of the above information supplied by Jim Lykos.
Photos #1-4 below were taken by Peter Thomson. The largest one with the open flower is about 4 meters high (13 feet). You can see the size of the flower by the Noisy Miner (Manorina melanocephala), which is about the size of a Thrush. Photo #5 from Jim Lykos is of a first flowered short stemmed plant from Sydney's Royal Botanical Garden site. Photo #6 was contributed by the UC Botanical Garden.
From Bulbine on Tuesday 5th of December 2023 04:56:04 PM PST
Bulbine praemosa Spreng. grows from a flat based tuber and spreading roots. It is 40 to 60 cm tall with deeply channeled and tapering succulent leaves surrounded at base by a short fibrous neck and yellow to salmon flowers compacted at the tips with fluffy stamens borne in a lax raceme. It is found on sandy soils and red sandy loam soils from Namaqualand to the Little Karoo. It flowers from June to October. Photo from Rod Saunders.
From Mandirola on Monday 4th of December 2023 06:57:06 PM PST
Mandirola ichthyostoma is the most common species of the genus in cultivation. The species epithet translates to "fish's mouth". It prefers to grow in moist conditions, and some people grow the plants with part of the root system submerged in a tray of water. It produces tiny little scaly rhizomes. The photos below were taken by Nhu Nguyen of plants grown by a member of the San Francisco Gesneriad society.
From Biarum on Sunday 3rd of December 2023 06:57:02 PM PST
Biarum auraniticum Mouterde is a very rare species endemic to the Hauran region in SE Syria. It is the only species in this genus to have a yellow spadix and spath in different shades of yellow or rusty/yellow. It flowers in mid October to mid November. Photos were taken in the Golan Heights, Syria by Oron Peri.
From Dahlia on Saturday 2nd of December 2023 06:14:06 PM PST
Dahlia aff. campanulata is native to Oxaca, Mexico and was described in 2003. The species is distinguished by the exceptionally large, elegant, pendulous and campanulate flowers that are white to light pink with a darker center. Leaf bases have petioles that clasp around the deeply sculpted stem. The tubers are enormous and can grow to 0.5 m (1.5 ft). Plants are also large, reaching 2.5 m (8 ft). The photo below was taken by Nhu Nguyen at the UC Botanical Garden of a plant that matches the description of the species, except that the stems are smooth and not sculpted. Regardless, it is a beautiful species with large pendant flowers and should be planted in many gardens.
From Narcissus Species Five on Friday 1st of December 2023 04:55:51 PM PST
Narcissus perez-chiscanoi. 1b(B) - classic daffodils with large flowers. Similar to N. obvallaris. Spain. Photo by Ralph Carpenter.
From Calostemma on Thursday 30th of November 2023 05:10:42 PM PST
Calostemma luteum Sims, a larger plant in almost all parts, is yellow flowered and found in deep clays on floodplains. This picture was taken by Paul Tyerman and is of a yellow flowered form he saw at the National Botanic Gardens in Canberra.
From Rohdea on Wednesday 29th of November 2023 06:50:10 PM PST
Rohdea japonica (Thunb.) Roth is the type species of this genus. Native to Japan, China and Korea, its common names include Nippon lily, sacred lily, and Japanese sacred lily. It is a rhizomatous herbaceous perennial plant, with fibrous roots. The leaves are evergreen, broad lanceolate, 15–50 cm long and 2.5–7 cm broad, with an acute apex. Source: Wikipedia. There is an interesting article written by Tony Avent about this species. Photograph by Judy Glattstein.
From Cyrtanthus Species One on Tuesday 28th of November 2023 04:30:20 PM PST
Cyrtanthus breviflorus Harv. is found in marshy, grassy places up to 3000 m from the Eastern Cape to Kenya. It has bright yellow flowers and flowers mainly in spring and summer, but sporadic blooms may appear throughout the season. It is part of the fire lily group and would normally need fire to stimulate flowering, but Greg Pettit has managed to get a clone from the swamps that thrives in water, and produces up to 14 canary yellow flowers per plant. The first two photos were taken by Mary Sue Ittner at Naude's Nek in the Eastern Cape showing a plant with leaves, flowers, and seed pods. The next three photos were taken by Cameron McMaster, including one showing locusts on the seed pods
This first photo taken by Bob Rutemoeller shows plants blooming in Harry Hay's gardens in May 2004. The second photo below is of a very floriferous form with semi-terete, succulent leaves - a real beauty! It grows (in profusion) on a hillside near the city of Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal. Photo (excuse the distracting background!) by Rogan Roth. The last photo from Byron Amerson is an image of 2 month old seedlings sown from seeds purchased from Silverhill Seeds.
From Geissorhiza Species One on Monday 27th of November 2023 04:23:51 PM PST
Geissorhiza brevituba (G.J.Lewis) Goldblatt, syn. Engysiphon brevitubus G.J.Lewis, is native to rocky sandstone slopes in the Piketberg Mountains. Growing 12 to 20 cm high, it has sticky, linear to sword-shaped leaves with margins expanded at right angles to the blade and enlarged midribs. It is considered threatened. It is described in Peter Goldblatt's monograph, 1985 as having deep pink flowers with darker veins, but the flowers in photos of it on iNaturalist are all white. It flowers in September, mainly after fire. Photos from iNaturalist taken by Riaan van der Walt and janeennichols and shared under a CC BY-NC license.
