Pasithea caerulea
Jane McGary (Mon, 25 Nov 2002 09:37:24 PST)
In her excellent notes on her BX conations, Mary Sue Ittner <msittner@mcn.org> wrote,
11. Pasithea caerulea--There are only a few seed of this blue flowered
geophyte (another unusual underground storage organ) from Chile. Jane
mentioned it in her report. I have seen it in the ground at the University
of California Berkeley's garden. I think it might need year round water as
some I planted out where they didn't get summer water did not come back.
I'm pretty sure it does NOT need summer water. I saw it growing robustly in
semi-arid situations where there definitely is no rain in summer, and where
it was up on hills with no likelihood of underground water. I would be more
inclined to suspect predation. It can stand a few degrees of frost; it was
growing well in the botanical garden at Valparaiso, where I was told they
had experienced temperatures down to minus 4 Celsius (c. 25 F), and also
inland in the coast range where I assume there is a bit of frost.
Jane McGary
Northwestern Oregon