John Grimshaw commented: "Jim McKenney's invention of the word oporanthous is ingenious and interesting, but I think it needs a tighter definition. From his comments it seems that he would apply it principally to those plants commencing their growing cycle in (late) summer with an inflorescence to be followed by their leaves (hysteranthous foliage). Is this true?" Yes, John, that neatly summarizes how I would use the term "oporanthous bulb". As it turns out, the time element implied by the word is already well defined. The Greek word opora is feminine (the first o is short, the second is long). The standard English language Classical Greek lexicon, that of Liddell & Scott, defines it as "the part of the year between the rising of Sirius and of Arcturus (i.e. the last days of July, all Aug., and part of Sept.), the latter part of summer". I use the word oporanthous itself to simply refer to the blooms of the season in question (although note that it is adjectival in form, not substantive). As such, and with a bit of metaphor, it can be applied to anything characteristic of that season: "a bloom in the intensity of the stridulating of the oporanthous cicadas" for instance. The specific combination "oporanthous bulbs" will make immediate sense to most experienced gardeners: it applies to those bulbs which commence their growing cycle and bloom in that season. John gives a characteristic listing. I wouldn't be too concerned about a firm dividing lines between oporanthous bulbs and truly autumnal bulbs. Climate will obviously play a part there. For instance, bulbs which are triggered into growth by a drop in temperature might well bloom oporanthously in areas where such conditions prevail in late summer (such as northwestern Europe), while their congeners in other areas might postpone growth until later in the season in other climates because cooler temperatures arrive later in those areas. As an example, it's very unusual for any established Colchicum to bloom here in Maryland until some time in September. But corms newly received from suppliers in Europe or the Pacific Northwest of North America typically begin to bloom in mid to late August. It seems to me that all horticulture is local (to paraphrase Tip O'Niell). Thus, there are many plants which are both bulbous and which opportunistically flower in the oporanthous garden; but they are not truly "oporanthous bulbs". Again, John gave a good list of characteristic examples. I'm particularly sensitive to this season. By the end of June or early July I go into an annual funk, but sometime in August I experience a turn-around, a brightening, a new surge of energy and enthusiasm, a sense that everything is beginning again and that it's time to get to work to build the foundations for the year ahead. This is probably related to the slowly changing light cycles; the day to day weather remains as miserable as it gets here. -----Original Message----- From: pbs-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org [mailto:pbs-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of John Grimshaw Sent: Saturday, August 25, 2007 3:28 AM To: Pacific Bulb Society Subject: Re: [pbs] Oporanthous bulbs Jim McKenney's invention of the word oporanthous is ingenious and interesting, but I think it needs a tighter definition. From his comments it seems that he would apply it principally to those plants commencing their growing cycle in (late) summer with an inflorescence to be followed by their leaves (hysteranthous foliage). Is this true? I think that such a definition is needed, because there are many 'bulbous' plants that are currently flowering at the end of their growing season - from the window I can see Lilium, Eucomis, Gladiolus - which can also be said to be summer-flowering but are on a totally different physiological timetable to those emerging now to begin their annual cycle (e.g. Colchicum, Acis and soon-enough, Amaryllis, Crocus, Galanthus reginae-olgae etc, etc, including Jim's Lycoris). And at what point does summer-flowering for such things become autumn flowering? That is a very fluid boundary as they can vary a lot in flowering time depending on weather conditions. I was going to say that Colchicum autumnale is much earlier this year than last, as there is a place on the way to our nearest town, Cirencester, where it grows as a native plant on the roadside bank. I happened to notice yesterday that they were in full flower and thought that they were early because of this year's heavy rainfall. But I've checked on my photos from last year and find they were taken on 27 August, so there is no significant difference. Last year, although much hotter and sunnier than this miserable season has been, was also reasonably wet, with 68.2 mm of rainfall recorded here in August (64.1 mm so far this month). Will have to watch them in a really dry August. John Grimshaw Dr John M. Grimshaw Sycamore Cottage Colesbourne Nr Cheltenham Gloucestershire GL53 9NP Tel. 01242 870567 COLESBOURNE PARK OPEN DAYS 2007 Easter Monday 9 April, Arboretum Weekend 15-16 September Gates open 1pm, last entry 4 pm website: http://www.colesbournegardens.org.uk/ ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jim McKenney" <jimmckenney@jimmckenney.com> To: "'Pacific Bulb Society'" <pbs@lists.ibiblio.org> Sent: Friday, August 24, 2007 10:37 PM Subject: [pbs] Oporanthous bulbs > > I think I stumbled on a useful word the other day. I had to make it up, > but > since I did that in the conventional way, it would not surprise me to > discover that someone in the past had already wandered down the same path. > The word is oporanthous, meaning flowering in late summer, and it > describes > exactly those late-summer blooming bulbs such as Lycoris which catalogs > tend > to misleadingly describe as autumnal. It was Alberto's question about the > meaning of the word as a Latinized botanical name which led me to it; I > merely anglicized it. _______________________________________________ pbs mailing list pbs@lists.ibiblio.org http://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/