Phycella not
Lee Poulsen (Sun, 19 Dec 2004 23:49:26 PST)
On Dec 19, 2004, at 3:48 PM, Alberto Castillo wrote:
Dear Matt, Mary Sue, Lee:
Of course these Phycellas look so alike Cyrtanthus!! They are
Cyrtanthi and not Phycella at all!!! I think it was Cathy who sent an
image of a fine bouquet of Rhodophialas in several colors that were
sold as Phycella by the Dutch last year.
Best
Alberto
Sorry, I haven't had time to write before now. I thought I had
forwarded Alberto's determination that those were Cyrtanthus hybrids of
some kind back when I uploaded that photo. Maybe I planned on doing so
and never got around to it but thought I had. When I saw Matt's photos,
they looked just like the purported "Phycella" of mine (which by the
way is now reblooming even thought we had quite the unseasonably chilly
weather for this area for a couple of weeks recently. (Now we're
having this really nice unseasonably warm weather in the upper
70s/lower 80s (mid-20's C.).)
What's weird is that the photo I uploaded of the Cyrtanthus elatus
hybrid I got at that IBS symposium Matt mentioned looks quite
different. For one thing, the flowers are much smaller. The "Phycella"
Cyrtanthus are about the size of C. falcatus flowers.
The photo Alberto referred to above is the picture that was used in the
catalog that I ordered from. So even though they used false advertising
both in print and in picture, the bulbs I got are quite nice
nevertheless. (Although I still would love to get my hands on some
Phycella bulbs...or even the Rhodophialas in the photograph!)
--Lee Poulsen
Pasadena area, California, USDA Zone 9-10