Hymenocallis--TOW
J.E. Shields (Sun, 25 Apr 2004 07:50:59 PDT)

Hi Kevin and all,

The Louisiana riverine plant, my #664, is finishing blooming just now. The
H. liriosme from coastal Texas have not bloomed yet, although they are in
the same greenhouse. I tried self-pollinating the #664; maybe I'll get a
few seeds -- sometimes I do, sometimes I don't, with #664.

The foliage of #664 is thinner than that of the Texas liriosme. Last
summer, the Texas liriosme bloomed in mid-summer. I'm waiting to see when
it blooms this year. As noted, one bulb of the Texas liriosme survived the
winter here outdoors in the ground -- and very protected.

I had assumed that #664 was liriosme, until I saw the plants Thad sent me
as liriosme. Now I am a bit more skeptical about that identity. It may
simply be a local Louisiana variant of liriosme.

At 09:51 AM 4/25/2004 -0400, you wrote:

...........
Jim Shields, the plant you gave me from LA, a riverivne plant, looks like
Jim Zimmerman's H. caroliniana, which looks to me like H. liriosme, with a
yellow center and long tepals - H. coronaria is from rivers in LA and AL to
SC and has yellow centers, but tepals are short. This is not H.
occidentalis (Howard suggests H. caroliniana = H. occidentalis, which is in
accurate since occidentalis is vailid and H. caroliniana refers to
Pancratium maritimum)...

Most of what is sold as H. caroliniana is actually H. occidentalis. The
name occidentalis also seems to cover what Thad Howard refers to as
galvestonensis. I have not tested the Louisiana "galvestonensis"
(occidentalis) outdoors in the ground yet. All the other accessions I have
of occidentalis seem to be hardy here in the ground.

Regards,
Jim Shields
in central Indiana

Thad Howard in BULBS for Warm Climates suggests that H. choctawensis might
be a syn for liriosme. This is incorrect, as they are not the same species
as anyone who has sen both would understand. That is not to say that at
some point in LA there isn't introgression and possible hybridization
between these two.
.............
Kevin Preuss

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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