Hi all According to the SA National Biodiversity institute there are only one species of Bowiea, i.e. B. volubilis. There are two subspecies, namely volubilis and gariepensis. Bowiea kilimandscharica is a synonym of or is sunk into ssp. volubilis See: http://ville-ge.ch/musinfo/bd/… and type in Bowiea, search, and if you follow the links the distribution areas will be shown. B. volubilis are found over a very large and diverse geographical and rainfall area, so many local variations will exist. These will probably integrate into each other, and thus not seperable into subspecies. But if a northern form are compared with a southern one (with approx 1500km difference in distance !), definite differences in size and hardiness will be seen. Many other species will show similar variations. These differences makes it quite important to record the orrigin of plants, not only in order to effectively conserve them, but also to optimize growing conditions and watering, as well as too appreciate the natural diversity that is "out there". Christiaan ----- Original Message ----- From: "Alberto Grossi" <crinum@libero.it> To: "pbs" <pbs@lists.ibiblio.org> Sent: Thursday, January 15, 2009 6:45 PM Subject: Re: [pbs] Bowiea basics > Hi All. > The bulbs of my kilimandsharica are really smaller than volubilis. > Gariepensis is a different plant. > Alberto > > ---------- Initial Header ----------- > >From : pbs-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org > To : "Pacific Bulb Society" pbs@lists.ibiblio.org > Cc : > Date : Thu, 15 Jan 2009 10:32:06 -0600 > Subject : [pbs] Bowiea basics > > > > > > > >> >What is Bowiea volubilis nana? sorry for my ignorance! >> >> Dear Alberto, >> I agree. >> I have grown B. volubilis many times, but just obtained >> another plant along with one named B (v) nana. In checking out info I >> also came across the names B. kilimandscharica and B. gariepensis >> (various spellings). >> Some experts claim distinction, others combine all under the >> single species B. volubilis. >> >> I can understand that B. v. may be highly variable, but can >> anyone pin point the differences between these names? >> >> >> And to add to the confusion, some experts claim the plant is >> deadly poisonous from root to leaf tip and others claim it is edible. >> One of these must be wrong. >> >> Can anyone clear this up for all of us? and a good web site ? >> >> Thanks Jim W. >> -- >> Dr. James W. Waddick >> 8871 NW Brostrom Rd. >> Kansas City Missouri 64152-2711 >> USA >> Ph. 816-746-1949 >> Zone 5 Record low -23F >> Summer 100F + >> _______________________________________________ >> pbs mailing list >> pbs@lists.ibiblio.org >> http://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php >> http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/ >> > > Alberto Grossi > Italy > > > _______________________________________________ > pbs mailing list > pbs@lists.ibiblio.org > http://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/