Aristea ecklonii v Libertia caerulea

Paul Tyerman ptyerman@ozemail.com.au
Mon, 20 Oct 2003 05:50:34 PDT
>
>Spreng is the name of the person who originally described  libertia. 
>
>I added the aristea to show that it is found in Sub Saharan Africa.
>

Arnold,

I thought that may have been the case, but was worth checking to be sure
that you were describing Libertia <Grin>.  I had thought that you were
showing the difference provenance of the Aristea with the last comments but
wasn't sure.  Thanks for the clarification.

Do you have the corresponding description for Aristea as well?  It would be
interesting to compare descriptions in similar language to see if anything
stands out.  Specifically trying to find out whether the flowers sit closer
to the stem and sisyrinchium-like as Jamie has described.  The picture I
saw in the book did not show any of this clearly, and one description in
one book described Aristea as having "sparse" flowers.

>from the description I found, I am under the impression that Aristea is more
>Sisyrhynchum-like, while Libertia actually carries the flowers in hanging
>umbels.  I found a picture in a book of a Libertia and the umbels were very
>distinct and somewhat free-hanging, while the shot of Aristea showed the
>blooms quite tight on the stem and covering more than half the length.
>Libertia was more apical.  I cannot say when these are culturally influenced
>or type specific.

Jamie,

The plant I saw I would definitely not describe as hanging umbels.  The
stems are stiff ((the flattening of the stem is vertical so the stems stay
rigidly outwards, not bending downwards) with a cluster of flowers on the
stem, buds facing winthin about a 90' arc at the tip (i.e looking from in
front the buds all sit within 45' above and below the lline of the stem,
definitely not hanging or in any way I could call pendulous or anything
like that.  Re flower placement to stem I have seen Aristea described as
sparse flowering as well, so it is getting VERY confusing.

Thanks again to you both for information.  I now have a fairly clear
picture of the Libertia according to your descriptions, but this is pretty
close to what I have seen for Aristea as well.  It really does sound like
Aristea is pretty variable, which is also fairly apparent in Arnold's
description that Libertia are variable as well (although the description I
think was for the genus, not species specific which makes variability more
understandable. 

Cheers.

Paul Tyerman
Canberra, Australia.  USDA equivalent - Zone 8/9
mailto:ptyerman@ozemail.com.au

Growing.... Galanthus, Erythroniums, Fritillarias, Cyclamen, Crocus,
Cyrtanthus, Oxalis, Liliums, Hellebores, Aroids, Irises plus just about
anything else that doesn't move!!!!!


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