Oporanthous bulbs

Mary Sue Ittner msittner@mcn.org
Wed, 29 Aug 2007 08:24:16 PDT
Hi,

When Jim introduced his new word  he wrote:
"The word is oporanthous, meaning flowering in late summer"
This is very broad as it would include those beginning their cycle as well 
as those ending their cycle which would include some blooming beyond the 
time they normally do some years and jumping the gun other years. And it 
would vary depending on the weather and the location. Our numerous 
discussion over the years of when Amaryllis belladonna blooms would 
indicate that the timing varies from year to year and location to location 
so some years they bloom late summer and some early fall. The same goes for 
some of my Cyclamen and the first Oxalis to bloom. In my climate here are 
some candidates for late summer bloom some years:
Amaryllis belladonna, Nerine sarniensis cultivars, Nerine angustifolia, N. 
platypetala, Gladiolus monticola, Gladiolus brevifolius, G. carmineus, G. 
oppositiflorus, G. ecklonii, Agapanthus (still blooming), Scadoxus 
membraneus and S. multiflorus, Cyclamen hederifolium, C. cilicum, C. 
africanum, C. mirabile, C. graecum, C. intaminatum, Cyrtanthus sanguineus, 
Tritonia disticha, Oxalis ambigua, O. commutata, O. depressa, Oxalis was 
lobata, now peridicaria, Oxalis zeekoevleyensis, Oxalis MV 4674 Acis 
autumnalis, Acis rosea, Hesperoxiphion peruvianum, Colchicum x agrippum, C. 
speciosum, Allium flavum, Scilla scilloides, Pelargonium longifolium, 
Eucomis comosa (sometimes still blooming), Gloriosa superba (sometimes 
still blooming in late summer), Moraea polystachya (sometimes blooms before 
the cut off date for autumn), Begonias and Dahlias, Veratrum fimbriatum, 
Knipofia hybrids and probably species, Hesperantha baurii, Alophia 
drummondii, Drimiopsis maculata, Crocosmia, Cypella coelestis, Dietes 
grandiflora , Romulea macowanii,  Bessera elegans, Milla biflora, Calydorea 
amabilis, Zephyranthes candida

Add Mark's Alliums, Jay's Crinums and all the other wonderful plants he 
keeps adding to the wiki as they bloom, all those rain lilies people report 
are blooming, Sternbergia which I would expect might bloom early some years 
and maybe even some Crocus, and if we included all the flowers in bloom in 
August and early September in our group around the world I would imagine 
that instead of just a few things that bloom this time of the year you'd 
find more than you would think, even if it's a slow time of the year.

A number of years ago when we had a topic of the week we discussed (at this 
time of the year) bulbs that flowered without their leaves. For those of 
you who were not members of our group at that time, the reference is:
http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbslist/old.php/…

Bulbs that flower without leaves--TOW

There were a number of plants discussed then this fit this category.

Mary Sue


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