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From Lilium Seeds on Friday 26th of July 2024 05:25:04 PM PDT
Lilium bulb scales
A lily bulb (in many species) consists of scales joined at the bottom (this area is called the 'basal plate'). When the bulb is correctly oriented in the ground the scales point upwards, easy to remember because the scales look like pointers. Bulbs can be propagated by 'scaling' a process of detaching a scale and keeping it moist, eventually small bulbs will form on the scale and can be detached and planted. The photographs show a Lilium 'Leslie Woodriff' bulb. The first one is of the basal plate, the second shows a 'widger' inserted under a scale, the next the resulting broken off scale. The following pictures are of detached scales, finally being put in a bag of moist vermiculite. Although it is sometimes said a piece of basal plate is needed for bulbs to be produced on the scale, this is not the case see here. The last photograph shows the same two scales as in the previous ones, five months later. It is apparent that two bulbs are now growing on one of them, as it happens the one with most basal plate attached. Photos four and six show the 'inside' or concave surface of the scales. As an alternative to detaching the bulbs, the whole scale can be planted just below the surface of a pot of a gritty well draining compost.
The scaled bulb sequence continues - the first photo shows a 10 mm grid; it can be seen in the next photo that the first scale to grow bulbs now has two developed bulbs with roots and leaves; the other scale has some tiny partially developed bulbs. The final photo of only the underachieving scale shows that eventually (around ten months) bulbs will form.
From Schizorhiza on Thursday 25th of July 2024 06:24:15 PM PDT
Schizorhiza neglecta (Goldblatt) Goldblatt & J.C.Manning, syn. Lapeirousia neglecta Goldblatt, is known to just three populations in Bainskloof, Jonkershoek and the Steenbras Mountains in the Southwestern Cape, South Africa, where it grows in rocky sandstone deprived soil at 400-1000 m in spots where additional moisture is available. It flowers in early summer (mid November to late January) following a fire the previous summer or autumn. Corms have corky layers and are ellipsoid with small flat bases producing several new corms in place of the parent corm at the end of the growing season. The 3-6 leaves are sword shaped to linear, slightly pleated with a prominent vein; the lower leaves are longest and inserted below ground level. The stem is branched with cormlets produced in the leaf axils above and below ground. Flowers are bilaterally symmetrical in an open panicle and either white with lower tepals with one or a pair of purple median spots (Jonkershoek population) or blue with darker blue to violet spear-shaped markings in the lower midline and often white-dotted in the center of the dark color (Bainskloof population). The first photo was taken by Rod Saunders of plants from the Bainskloof population. The second photo by M.Gastil-Buhl shows seeds acquired from Silverhill Seeds 46 days from sowing on a 1 mm grid. The third photo shows corms grown from those same seeds, on a 1 cm grid.
From Corycium on Wednesday 24th of July 2024 05:46:04 PM PDT
Corycium flanaganii (Bolus) Kurzweil & H.P.Linder is a species found in Lesotho and the Eastern Cape. Photos taken by Cameron McMaster at Thomas River and Tiffendell and by Mary Sue Ittner at Naude's Nek in the Eastern Cape.
From Scilla Species Two on Tuesday 23rd of July 2024 05:59:43 PM PDT
Scilla monophyllos Link is found in stony places in southwest Spain, Portugal and Morocco. Its claim to fame is that it has only one broad leaf per bulb. Brian Mathew describes it as interesting because of this feature, but unexciting otherwise. It has small blue flowers. Photos from Mary Sue Ittner who writes that the flowers on her plant are so pale, that calling them blue is a stretch. She still likes this plant and appreciates that it flowers in California in February before a lot of other flowers do. This species was proposed to be moved to Tractema, but this change was not accepted.
From Calopogon on Monday 22nd of July 2024 06:04:21 PM PDT
Calopogon pallidus is a species found near the coast along the coastal plain from North Carolina south to Georgia and north Florida, west through the panhandle to Louisiana. As the name suggests the flowers are generally pale pink, but the coloration seems to be more variable than other species in the genus. These photographs were taken in Bay, Gulf, and Liberty Counties in the Florida panhandle. Photos by Alani Davis.
This is the pigment free forma albiflorus. These were photographed in the Apalachicola National Forest in Liberty County, Florida. Photos by Alani Davis.
From Polyxena on Sunday 21st of July 2024 05:57:19 PM PDT
Lachenalia ensifolia (Thunb.) J.C.Manning & Goldblatt, syn. Polyxena ensifolia Schönland, is a tiny plant with white, pink to mauve flowers clustered between two broadly lance-shaped prostrate leaves. It is widely distributed in the drier areas of the Cape Province occurring in moist, flat areas in clay or sandy soils. Ssp. ensifolia has a long slender style that is differentiated from the ovary unlike ssp. maughanii. Photo 1 was taken by Rogan Roth of a plant growing in the southern parts of the Western Cape among several diminutive plants of a Daubenya or Massonia species in almost pure, white sand quite close to the coastal town of Witsand. The next two photos are from the book Plants of the Klein Karoo courtesy of Jan and Anne Lise Schutte-Vlok.
Photos 1-2 taken by Nhu Nguyen show a form that was identified as this species and photos 3-4 a broad petal form. Photo 6 taken by Bill Dijk shows a mauve form.
Lachenalia ensifolia ssp. maughanii (W.F.Barker) G.D.Duncan, syn. Lachenalia maughanii (W.F.Barker) J.C.Manning & Goldblatt, syn. Polyxena maughanii W.F.Barker, differs in having a very short style, often a third leaf, larger bulbs, and longer seed capsules. It is restricted to the western parts of the Northern Cape where it is found growing in limestone. In the wild the broad lance-shaped leaves lie almost flat on the ground. The first two photos by Mary Sue Ittner show the small plants in a container and a close-up. The last photo is from Alan Horstmann.
From Brodiaea Species Two on Saturday 20th of July 2024 06:13:54 PM PDT
Brodiaea matsonii R.E. Preston is an extremely rare species restricted to a single extended population along Sulphur Creek in Redding, Shasta County, California that is related to Brodiaea minor but has slightly smaller pale pink flowers. Published in 2011 after being identified, it grows from cracks and crevices in bedrock along an intermittent stream within foothill woodland. It usually flowers in early June on short stalks from 6 to 8 inches (10-25 cm) tall in a cluster of six to eight flowers. Photos from Dean Taylor shared here under a CC BY-SA 3.0 license.
From Mediterranean Ornithogalum on Friday 19th of July 2024 05:54:42 PM PDT
Ornithogalum umbellatum L. is a charming species spread all over the Mediterranean basin, but also reaching north to England and southern Sweden. In parts of middle Europe it is known to be a weedy species which is difficult to control due to its deep sitting bulbs. It has escaped cultivation and is spreading in the eastern half of the USA. Photos taken in habitat in Apulia by Angelo Porcelli.
From Isophysis on Thursday 18th of July 2024 06:35:59 PM PDT
Isophysis tasmanica is found in the mountains of western Tasmania growing in heathland on sandy soils. This is an alpine plant needing cool conditions. The flowers are yellow or dark red. Photos from iNaturalist taken by Kaely Kreger in Tasmania in December and shared under a CC BY-NC license.
From Garden Bearded Irises on Wednesday 17th of July 2024 06:26:18 PM PDT
Iris reichenbachii Heuff. from Greece, Bulgaria, and Romania has yellow or purple flowers. Photo by John Lonsdale.
