Hymenocallis cleo (aka chiapisiana)

[cshunter]

Hi. I have recently acquired a bulb of the Mexican spiderlily species Hymenocallis cleo, also known as Hymenocallis chiapisiana. I can find little about this one, and it is not included in the listed Hymenocallis on the PBS Wiki (under either name). Trying to find out what its growing conditions are in the wild so I can try to grow it in the garden.  I know it grows in the highlands of the southeastern Mexican state of Chiapis. Anyone grow it or know about it?

I did write down that the late Thad Howard, an expert on Mexican Hymenocallis who made expeditions to see them years ago, wrote an article on this one in Plant Life. I have that it was in 1979; #35, pages 56-57. If anyone has that article, I would greatly appreciate if you could post it here, or else send it to me. Thanks.

Charles

[Arnold]

Charles

I may have it.

Let me check and I can scan it and send off to you or post it here.

[Carlos]

Hi. It is Chiapas, and chiapasiana.

POWO lists H. cleo as an accepted species, with the synonym Hymenocallis chiapasiana T.M.Howard in Pl. Life 35: 56 (1979)

[cshunter]

Arnold: Nothing? I think it is just a couple of pages. Thanks.

Charles

[Lee Poulsen]

H. cleo is IMO one of the easiest of the Mexican Hymenocallises to grow. And it seems to self-pollinate, and if you miss the seeds ripening, they fall off and sprout all on their own wherever they fall. I'm in the Los Angeles area, so I keep it where it gets watered all summer, since it is winter-dormant. I had a small pot of seedlings once that some animal knocked off a small table and I "lost" it among all the larger plants growing on the ground. I discovered it a couple of years later while weeding that area, and the small bulbs, many of them, were still growing leafed out with healthy bulbs in about one inch of soil since most of it got knocked out when it was knocked off the table it was on.

[cshunter]

H. cleo is IMO one of the easiest of the Mexican Hymenocallises to grow. And it seems to self-pollinate, and if you miss the seeds ripening, they fall off and sprout all on their own wherever they fall. I'm in the Los Angeles area, so I keep it where it gets watered all summer, since it is winter-dormant. I had a small pot of seedlings once that some animal knocked off a small table and I "lost" it among all the larger plants growing on the ground. I discovered it a couple of years later while weeding that area, and the small bulbs, many of them, were still growing leafed out with healthy bulbs in about one inch of soil since most of it got knocked out when it was knocked off the table it was on.

Lee: Do you grow it mostly in pots? I do all mine out in the garden (zone 8a, north suburban Atlanta). Trying to determine a good soil mix and how much sun it needs. Of course, not everything that does well on the west coast does well here, although Mexican Hymenocallis seem to do OK if I can get them enough sun (a problem on my wooded lot sometimes). 

Charles

[David Pilling]

If anyone were to offer up some H. cleo photos I would create a PBS wiki entry for it.

[Arnold]

 Charles

 I have it.

I've been traveling and will scan and send tomorrow to you.  Can you send me an email address.

[cshunter]

Charles

 I have it.

I've been traveling and will scan and send tomorrow to you.  Can you send me an email address.

OK, email is:  2csh@bellsouth.net

Charles