IBSA Symposium 2003/Visit to South Africa
Audrey Cain (Wed, 01 Oct 2003 09:12:46 PDT)

Dear All
I have been reading Mary Sue's enthusiastic and detailed accounts of the
Symposium and beyond with huge pleasure! I really don't feel I can add
much, since I took no notes but just thoroughly enjoyed the whole
experience. The exchange of useful information about growing these plants,
and the general easy going atmosphere during the whole week made it a very
worth while trip, hopefully to be repeated.
Audrey

-----Original Message-----
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Sent: 01 October 2003 15:52
To: pbs@lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: pbs Digest, Vol 9, Issue 1

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Today's Topics:

1. Crinum graminicola seeds (J.E. Shields)
2. Re: pbs Digest, Vol 8, Issue 35 (David Victor)
3. Oxalis, Wiki, and Pelargonium (Mary Sue Ittner)
4. Re: IBSA Symposium 2003/Vist to South Africa TOW (Mary Sue Ittner)
5. Ledbouria socialis (Mary Sue Ittner)
6. about Brunsvigia grandiflora (Angelo Porcelli)
7. Re: about Brunsvigia grandiflora (Jamie)
8. Re: about Brunsvigia grandiflora (Robert Hamilton)
9. Re: IBSA Symposium 2003/Vist to South Africa TOW (James Waddick)
10. Re: Biarum tenuifolius (James Waddick)
11. Re: about Brunsvigia grandiflora (TGlavich@aol.com)
12. Clivia mirabilis (Mary Sue Ittner)

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Message: 1
Date: Tue, 30 Sep 2003 13:22:49 -0500
From: "J.E. Shields" <jshields104@insightbb.com>
Subject: [pbs] Crinum graminicola seeds
To: Pacific Bulb Society <pbs@lists.ibiblio.org>
Message-ID: <5.1.0.14.2.20030930131233.026e8910@mail.insightbb.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed

I have a few seeds of Crinum graminicola available for sale. Contact me
privately or see my web page at
http://shieldsgardens.com/Seeds/CrinumSeeds.html/
if you are interested. Hand-pollinated in the greenhouse; the parental
plants came from Greg Pettit in South Africa.

I assume that Crinum graminicola is tender in cold climates.

Jim Shields
in central Indiana

*************************************************
Jim Shields USDA Zone 5 Shields Gardens, Ltd.
P.O. Box 92 WWW: http://www.shieldsgardens.com/
Westfield, Indiana 46074, USA
Tel. ++1-317-867-3344 or toll-free 1-866-449-3344 in USA
Member of INTERNATIONAL CLIVIA CO-OP

------------------------------

Message: 2
Date: Tue, 30 Sep 2003 19:15:32 +0100
From: David Victor <davidxvictor@mailblocks.com>
Subject: [pbs] Re: pbs Digest, Vol 8, Issue 35
To: pbs@lists.ibiblio.org
Message-ID: <5.2.0.9.0.20030930181529.00bc4660@app4.mailblocks.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed

Hi there,

Firstly, a few words of introduction as I'm new to the list. As Mary Sue,
I am also a member of IBSA and attended the recent conference in South
Africa. I'm a keen grower of South African bulbs, living in England, where
most of them are grown under cold glass. My main interests in this area
are Oxalis, Amaryllids (particularly Nerine), Ferraria and the strange
tuberous species of Pelargonium found in Section Hoarea of that
genus. I've been reading Mary Sue's pieces on the conference and thought
that I might add a few notes.

Firstly, on Oxalis. The last major taxonomic work on the South African
part of the genus was carried out by retired Paymaster-Captain Salter of
the Royal Navy, who lived for many years in Cape Town, his hobby being to
work on Oxalis. In 1944 he published his major work "The Genus Oxalis in
South Africa - A Taxonomic Revision". This was published by The Cape Times
under the Authority of the trustees of the National Botanic Gardens of
south Africa, Kirstenbosch.

In the book he points out that his field work has been limited to the South
West of that country and that he has had to rely on herbarium samples for
the rest of the country. However, as most of the species occur in the area
studied, he does not feel that it too difficult an issue. He also points
out that studying live material is particularly important as crucial
elements of the analysis depend on floral structures and root-systems,
which are not normally available in herbarium samples. He adds that "It
is, perhaps, not generally realised that only a proportion of the existing
forms are yet known. The genus is one of the most prolific in South
Africa, both in quantity and variety, and all collectors of Oxalis,
including myself, have only explored a small fraction of the huge and often
somewhat inaccessible areas in which this genus abounds, areas in which,
during the main Oxalis season (mid-winter) there is little else to attract
a botanist."

In his revision, he divides the genus into eleven Sections, consisting of
some 202 species.

As Mary Sue says, there is a South African botanist currently working on a
revision of the genus. She is Dr Leanne Dreyer, who I was lucky enough to
meet a few years ago. I believe that, at the time, she was working on her
Ph. D. thesis, which was based on her re-examination of Salter's work by
means of pollen morphology. She was brought to see my collection by Prof.
Charlie Stirton, at that time Director of Research at RBG Kew. Before he
left South Africa he had considered carrying out a revision of the genus
and, to this end, had collected a great deal of material. Sadly, when he
left, he had to leave the collection behind at Stellenbosch.

Of course, its worth adding that a major part of the genus is in the
Americas. There various parts are given within individual countries local
flora, where they exist. There was talk at one time that Prof. Alicia
Lourteig was intending to produce a revision of the genus
overall. However, I believe that is no longer the case.

A colleague of mine, Richard Clifton, has produced an overall species
checklist of all of the species that he has been able to "identify" i.e.
trace, as part of his series of checklists on the family Geraniaceae (yes
it was located there at one time!). At this level, the system soon seems
to fall into chaos. Few botanists have tried to pull together an overall
picture of Oxalis and those that did, all did so a long time ago. Knuth
(the top man on Geraniaceae historically, as part of Das Planzenreich,
1897/1930) reckoned 7 genera in the family Oxalidaceae and this was agreed
by Lawrence (1969). However Hutchinson reckoned 3 genera and the RHS says
6. If you add on the other odds and ends that are floating around there
may be 8 or 9. If we can't even agree on the genera in the family, its
difficult to believe we can agree on anything else! In any event, there
are several hundred species shown in the book, although I don't have the
patience to go through it to add up just how many!

To pick up on one of Mary Sue's other points, dormancy in Oxalis. Most of
my South African species are just coming into leaf and flower
now. Indeed, the first species came into flower on 10th September, a few
days after I returned from South Africa. It was brought into growth by
watering on the day of my return. The rest are following
quickly. Virtually all of them will have flowered by Christmas time and
will be returning to dormancy early in the new year. So, most of them will
be dormant for six months or so.

Finally, a question. Has the list ever thought of having Pelargonium
Section Hoarea included on the wiki? ( and by the way, what on earth does
wiki stand for?). They are great geophytes!

Best regards,
David Victor

------------------------------

Message: 3
Date: Tue, 30 Sep 2003 14:27:17 -0700
From: Mary Sue Ittner <msittner@mcn.org>
Subject: [pbs] Oxalis, Wiki, and Pelargonium
To: Pacific Bulb Society <pbs@lists.ibiblio.org>
Message-ID: <4.2.2.20030930140759.00e086d0@mail.mcn.org>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed

Dear David,

Welcome to our list and thank you so much for your wonderful addition about
Oxalis. It is indeed a very complicated subject, but I am sure all of those
who are interested in Oxalis have learned a lot from what you have written.

Mark McDonough who helps me with the wiki (which is a Hawaiian word meaning
quick quick) had a discussion about whether we should create wiki pages for
genera that had a few geophytes, but were mainly not geophytic. He thought
people could be confused by including them and was inclined to say no. He
used Pelargonium as an example. However it was too late as I had already
put a picture of Pelargonium incrassatum on the wiki since I was thrilled
when mine bloomed. My husband suggested a compromise that was simple but
worked for both of us and I changed the wiki page name to Geophytic
Pelargoniums. This page could include other sections besides Section Hoarea
if they are also geophytes, but definitely is the place to put pictures of
those plants. I very much hope you will add your pictures of the geophytic
Pelargoniums you grow to that wiki page.

And just for all the new members of our list since there are quite a few of
you the wiki is like a pbs list web site and any member of this list is
welcome to add pictures of the geophytes they grow or have seen in the wild
to the wiki. We are not limited to the genera that are listed. New wiki
pages can be created if you have something you want to add that is not
represented. I have written a lot of instructions about how to do it and am
always willing to help new users figure out how to participate.

Mary Sue

------------------------------

Message: 4
Date: Tue, 30 Sep 2003 16:35:28 -0700
From: Mary Sue Ittner <msittner@mcn.org>
Subject: Re: [pbs] IBSA Symposium 2003/Vist to South Africa TOW
To: Pacific Bulb Society <pbs@lists.ibiblio.org>
Message-ID: <4.2.2.20030929204301.00d953c0@mail.mcn.org>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed

Dear All,

This year the South African winter rain fall area has been very dry. Right
before the IBSA Symposium they had rain and snow and while we were there
they continued to have a little rain and have had some since we returned.
But in Namaqualand, the West Coast, and some of the areas where my husband
and I saw flowers in abundance on our last trip there were few flowers this
year. Reports were that bulbs in the areas with so little rainfall just sat
the year out. We always worry when our bulbs do that so it is good to
remember that it happens in the wild.

This made it very difficult for the organizers of the Symposium who had
planned to take us to see flowers in areas close to where we were staying
as they just weren't blooming at the right time. I understand some have
bloomed since. So they had to scramble to find places to take us. Two large
buses were rented and the first day we traveled to Swellendam to a farm
where we had permission to look for flowers. We spent a lot more time on
the bus than anticipated but both days I was lucky to have interesting
travel companions. The views out the window in spite of the drought looked
very beautiful. There was snow on the mountains and there were swatches of
color: green, yellow from farm lands. South Africa is a very beautiful
country I think.

The sun was out and once we arrived and started walking it felt warmer
outside than it had in the previous two days. We got very excited as we
found our first bulbs. One of the first was Laperiousa pyramidalis. We saw
this one over and over again while we were there. We also saw Gladiolus
carinatus, Moraea miniata and tripetala, Oxalis obtusa, Oxalis purpurea,
a succulent Oxalis with purple flowers, a couple Romuleas, some nice
orchids, a white Geissorhiza, etc. Rhoda McMaster helped my understand the
difference between Geissorhiza and Hesperantha. In Hesperantha the style
divides at the base of the flower or below and in Geissorhiza the style
extends upward and divides higher up. After she clarified this we could at
least say we were seeing Geissoriza sp. or Hesperantha sp. for all those
white ones that sometimes had pink or brown markings on the back.

I have in my notes we saw Moraea fergusoniae and Gladiolus permeabilis.
Since those aren't species that I knew before it will be interesting to
look at our pictures and see how well they fit with the descriptions. There
was enough room for people to fan out and explore on their own. Some of the
people I never saw once we got off the bus as they moved more quickly. A
new friend I made from South Africa who doesn't grow bulbs was fascinated
by the conversations about what we were seeing (since there wasn't always
agreement.) People pointed out special finds. Some of the best flowers got
photographed by a line of people, often lying in strange positions to get
the best shot. I was pleased when Pat Victor went out of her way to back
track to find me to show me a natural Oxalis "rock garden" overlooking the
river. Those people who went the farthest came back exclaiming over a
Gladiolus tristis they saw leaning over the cliff near the river.

The following day we went to Hermanus. This was another long trip on the
bus. Hermanus has whales and they were present. It also has the Fernkloof
Nature Reserve and after we looked at ferns we drove there. Fernkloof has
fynbos vegetation so we saw Proteas, Ericas, and Restios. We didn't see a
lot of bulbs here, but did find one Gladiolus hirsutus that everyone
photographed and a couple of other things. We had lovely walks through the
preserve after lunch. On the way back to the Spa we stopped a number of
times along the road when someone spotted flowers blooming and I think
everyone appreciated that opportunity and while the bus drivers waited we
jumped out of the bus to see what we could find. Both buses didn't stop at
the same places so we saw different things. We found a field of Gladiolus
abbreviatus. Since we weren't expecting a lot even this plant which I'd say
is one of those kindly called, "collector's items" was exciting. Their were
some pretty Romuleas and a Babiana that most people thought was purpurea.
And of course there were Oxalis including some that had wonderful large
leaves that reminded me of strawberries and were not blooming. And we saw
our first Watsonias about the time I ran out of film. The light was really
low by then I reassured myself and I probably wouldn't have gotten much of
a picture. Luckily I saw Watsonias in bloom many times after that.

The final day we went to the Worcester Botanical Garden. This wasn't such a
long trip. A lot of people were leaving at noon so they decided rather than
to rent buses to just pile into private cars. This is a dry area and the
garden has a lot of succulents. We were lucky to be allowed to view the
private bulb and succulent collections. There were a lot of Oxalis pots
that attracted my attention. As I looked at them closely there were many
different leaves in the same pot and I began to understand that we may be
lucky ours don't reseed. I think sorting out all these pots (as there were
a lot of them) would be quite a job. We were told they planned to plant
many of them out in the garden. Since some of us have discovered except for
the weedy ones Oxalis planted out in our gardens haven't done well, it will
be interesting to hear how these do.

There were other series of plastic pots, but the majority of the bulbs were
planted in large concrete deep planters where the bulbs have a deep root
run and where soil temperatures are very constant. The concrete is divided
into sections with different species in each and they are numbered. I'm not
sure I am explaining this very well so I posted two pictures to the wiki:
http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/files/…
http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/files/…

The man who is in charge and who was talking to us said that the bulbs were
really responding well to this new planting and were growing much better
than in pots. This was especially true of the Amaryllids. You can see some
nice leaves in the second picture. What they are finding however is that
some of them are increasing so rapidly they need dividing. It didn't seem
to me that with this design it would be especially easy to divide them or
transplant them once planted. He thought ultimately they would be able to
grow bulbs better there than at Kirstenbosch. They don't have so much rain
so could control the moisture I'd expect.

A lot of the South African delegates purchased plants here. They looked
through the containers that were for sale and often found bonuses that they
valued more than the plant they were purchasing in the same pot. My husband
who loves to take pictures of signs found a picture of a Lachenalia that
was for sale marked Cape Cows Lips.

The Symposium ended after lunch. My husband and I, Patty Colville, and Lauw
de Jager spent the afternoon exploring on our own with suggestions about
where to go. We explored an area that had been burned first (always a good
choice) and found more Moraeas, Albucas, more of that same Lapeirousia, and
Lachenalia orchiodes (which we also saw repeatedly). We got our first
practice climbing between the barb wired fences and trying to step
carefully so we didn't end up with black streaks on our pants. We saw
Moraea gawleri here which Bob and I saw often in shades of orange and
yellow.

At Tulbagh we found some beautiful red Babiana villosa near a cemetery. We
found some pretty Romuleas and Lauw removed his shoes to wade in the water
to get a better photo of Spiloxene aquatic. As we returned we found a small
section of land where the roads crossed that we had been told about but
missed on the way that had Lachenalias and Oxalis in bloom. The whole patch
was solid flowers. This might have been Lachenalia longibracteata. The
International delegates had become quite friendly and a number of us
weren't quite ready to say goodbye so thirteen of us arranged to meet one
more time for dinner in Worcester.

For me the Symposium was a great success. I learned a lot, saw some
interesting plants, but most of all I appreciated talking to fellow bulb
enthusiasts. Thursday night was scheduled to be the farewell dinner and the
local delegates were encouraged to attend and many of them did. At the
dinner the noise level was very high. If you looked around the room you saw
a lot of happy people very engaged in conversation. IBSA is considering
sponsoring another Symposium in 2-4 years and I highly recommend this to
anyone who is interested in South African bulbs.

I'll continue to share throughout the week about our trip to South Africa
and some of the talks, but won't some of the rest of you who are on this
list who attended please say something! Shelley, Patty, Stefan, Audrey,
Rhoda, Allan, Alan, Nico, Malcolm, Chris, Jim, Dawie please. Rachel is out
seed collecting and Lauw has already written. Won't a few of you at least
help me out here.

Mary Sue

------------------------------

Message: 5
Date: Tue, 30 Sep 2003 17:51:27 -0700
From: Mary Sue Ittner <msittner@mcn.org>
Subject: [pbs] Ledbouria socialis
To: Pacific Bulb Society <pbs@lists.ibiblio.org>
Message-ID: <4.2.2.20030930172847.00d3e350@mail.mcn.org>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed

Dear All,

Fred asked about where Ledbouria socialis was found and no one was able to
help him so when I was in South Africa I tried to see if I could come up
with an answer. Rod Saunders directed me to a book on Ledbouria and this is
what it said.

Ledbouria socialis is endemic to the Cape Province. Most of the known
localities are in the Eastern Cape. It is found in fine to medium grained
shallow to deep well drained humus rich sandy soil. (Now that's a
mouthful.) It usually grows in shade mostly in closed evergreen woodland. A
few populations occur in evergreen scrub forest. Most of the localities are
in the veld type known as Valley Bushveld.

Cameron McMaster described the habitat as dry valley bush veld. He said
most of the ones he had seen were found around Grahamstown and
Williamstown. He also mentioned the Keiskamma River Valley where the road
to Port Alfred crosses the river. I haven't checked any maps for the
spelling on these names so maybe if you have a map Fred you can look them
up. I hope that this information is helpful. I think I have the book on
veld types and could copy the section on Type 23 if this isn't enough.

Mary Sue

------------------------------

Message: 6
Date: Wed, 1 Oct 2003 14:18:23 +0200
From: "Angelo Porcelli" <angelopalm69@inwind.it>
Subject: [pbs] about Brunsvigia grandiflora
To: <pbs@lists.ibiblio.org>
Message-ID: <000d01c38816$30c85800$75af623e@f1q3z7>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

Dear group,

as I know many of you have got seeds of Brunsvigia grandiflora, germinating
now, an old question come up again in my mind. This species is summer
growing, if I don't wrong, so the question is how to look after these seeds?
They need to be sown immediately as they can't be stored till next spring,
but in the Northen hemisphere we are going to the winter season. This means
the seedlings have to grow in winter; a nonsense then?

waiting to hear your comments

Angelo Porcelli
Italy

------------------------------

Message: 7
Date: Wed, 1 Oct 2003 15:06:17 +0200
From: "Jamie" <jamievande@freenet.de>
Subject: Re: [pbs] about Brunsvigia grandiflora
To: "Pacific Bulb Society" <pbs@lists.ibiblio.org>
Message-ID: <001d01c3881c$d241df20$6402a8c0@celeron>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

Angelo,

I, too, received some of the Brunsvigia seeds and plan to keep them growing
through the Winter. Other Amaryllids are commercially grown with an
extended season, so I think it would be worth a try. Perhaps not all
seedlings would adapt, but those that do would be better plants for
gardeners in any case. I have a few other Brunsvigia seedlings and plan to
try and keep them in growth under lights through the winter months. If they
go dormant, they go dormant. Frankly, with the purported maturity of
Brunsvigia at 15 years! I wish to shorten the cycle where one can. Most
plants are opportunistic and will adpat where possible. The trick is to
recognise this trait and take advantage of it, much as the Dutch growers do
with Hippeastrum. Time will tell if the hemisphere change has a dominating
influence. We all need to report back on this.

Ciao, Bello,

Jamie V.
Cologne
----- Original Message -----
From: "Angelo Porcelli" <angelopalm69@inwind.it>
To: <pbs@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Wednesday, October 01, 2003 2:18 PM
Subject: [pbs] about Brunsvigia grandiflora

Dear group,

as I know many of you have got seeds of Brunsvigia grandiflora, germinating
now, an old question come up again in my mind. This species is summer
growing, if I don't wrong, so the question is how to look after these seeds?
They need to be sown immediately as they can't be stored till next spring,
but in the Northen hemisphere we are going to the winter season. This means
the seedlings have to grow in winter; a nonsense then?

waiting to hear your comments

Angelo Porcelli
Italy

_______________________________________________
pbs mailing list
pbs@lists.ibiblio.org
http://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php

------------------------------

Message: 8
Date: Wed, 1 Oct 2003 23:12:14 +1000
From: Robert Hamilton <roberth6@mac.com>
Subject: Re: [pbs] about Brunsvigia grandiflora
To: Pacific Bulb Society <pbs@lists.ibiblio.org>
Message-ID: <DFB0D5AA-F410-11D7-8BEC-0003938EDBFA@mac.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed

Hi Angelo,

On Wednesday, October 1, 2003, at 10:18 PM, Angelo Porcelli wrote:

I sowed Brnsvigia grandiflora seeds in May 2002 - (our autumn) and
they remained in leaf through their second winter here, without any
protection from the elements.

Cheers,

Rob in Tasmania

------------------------------

Message: 9
Date: Wed, 1 Oct 2003 09:09:36 -0500
From: James Waddick <jwaddick@kc.rr.com>
Subject: Re: [pbs] IBSA Symposium 2003/Vist to South Africa TOW
To: Pacific Bulb Society <pbs@lists.ibiblio.org>
Message-ID: <p05200f6abba09064a016@[192.168.1.101]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" ; format="flowed"

Dear Mary Sue;
Was there any mention of the 'new' species of Clivia , C.
mirabilis? Is this in cultivation yet and are seed or plants
available yet?

Been no mention of this since it was described a year or two ago.

Best Jim W.
--
Dr. James W. Waddick
8871 NW Brostrom Rd.
Kansas City Missouri 64152-2711
USA
Ph. 816-746-1949
E-fax 419-781-8594

Zone 5 Record low -23F
Summer 100F +

------------------------------

Message: 10
Date: Wed, 1 Oct 2003 09:13:17 -0500
From: James Waddick <jwaddick@kc.rr.com>
Subject: Re: [pbs] Biarum tenuifolius
To: Pacific Bulb Society <pbs@lists.ibiblio.org>
Message-ID: <p05200f6bbba09145d4d0@[192.168.1.101]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" ; format="flowed"

Dear all;
Just to add 2 cents (late) my plants came up and bloomed
about the same time as Angelo's in Italy. Our exceedingly dry hot
summer must have been for them. Jim W.
--
Dr. James W. Waddick
8871 NW Brostrom Rd.
Kansas City Missouri 64152-2711
USA
Ph. 816-746-1949
E-fax 419-781-8594

Zone 5 Record low -23F
Summer 100F +

------------------------------

Message: 11
Date: Wed, 01 Oct 2003 10:41:41 -0400
From: TGlavich@aol.com
Subject: Re: [pbs] about Brunsvigia grandiflora
To: pbs@lists.ibiblio.org (Pacific Bulb Society)
Message-ID: <20A5210E.3C278417.007B69A6@aol.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1

Angello and others,

Germination of these were fairly far along, so I potted mine up as well.
I'll keep them warm and growing all winter. A bit of light fertilization
helps force the growth to continue.

If the germination was just beginning, or not started I have had pretty good
(not perfect)success. but keeping the seeds in a paper bag in a refrigerator
for up to six months. You can then get early growth at the right time of
year. I have lost a few to rot, and anything in a plastic bag almost always
rots.

Tom

------------------------------

Message: 12
Date: Wed, 01 Oct 2003 07:27:48 -0700
From: Mary Sue Ittner <msittner@mcn.org>
Subject: [pbs] Clivia mirabilis
To: Pacific Bulb Society <pbs@lists.ibiblio.org>
Message-ID: <4.2.2.20031001072326.00e089b0@mail.mcn.org>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed

Dear Jim,

I know my posts are so long that I imagine a lot of people give up before
they read the whole thing, but in my first post I mentioned that there was
a talk just on this Clivia.
Here is what I said:

"After her talk, John Rourke told the story of the amazing find of Clivia
mirabilis in the Western Cape. It was found in screes and cliffs below a
rock plateau near Nieuwoudtville in a semi-desert area in an area with only
400 mm of rainfall, relentless sun. It has leathery leaves and curved
pendulous orange flowers with green tips, red pedicels, and red ovaries. It
takes up almost every drop of water during the wet season and is almost
like a succulent. He speculated the pollinators were attracted to the red
pedicels and ovaries. These Clivias offer hope for breeding Clivias that
can be grown in the sun. The seeds ripen very rapidly. I was pleased to
hear that the plants are protected in a reserve, but there has been an
attempt to get seed to growers so plant collectors will be less tempted to
dig them from the wild. (The plant habitat makes this a bit difficult
however.) And the seed is growing so perhaps one day this newly discovered
genus will be better known."

Mary Sue

------------------------------

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End of pbs Digest, Vol 9, Issue 1
*********************************