Crinum
Jim lykos (Sun, 24 Jun 2007 05:07:23 PDT)

HI Alberto,

There is much confusion between the species C. asiaticum, pedunculatum and
procerum - both because some of the plants offered are actual hybrids
between these species and there is natural variation in each species as
well as misidentification. The tropical forms of C. pedunculatum from
Northern Australia for instance have longer trunk columns and broader
flatter leaves. They also offset infrequently and dont split so in natural
growing conditions you only see the one plant and if there are others around
it they have developed from seeds. In my experience most plants passing as
asiaticum offset lightly to heavily but dont split.I have bought seeds of
asiaticum from America and England and the plants look quite different.

As for C. procerum, there appears to be both splitting and offset forms -
and the larger forms are more likely to split and the more gracile forms
offset. I think the conditions leading to spliting and offsetting is more
likely to be a response to climatic and cultural conditions. For example in
the wild, C. pedunculatum grows in dunes next to sandy beaches and they
withstand intensely hot and dry conditons for many months and are typically
found growing as single trunked specimens. However when brought into
cultivation these same specimens with plenty of water and nutrition will get
plump and most will split doubling or tripling themselves. However if you
grow them in relatively small tubs you dont have this problem, and they will
still grow to a reasonable size.
We really need to collect seed of Crinums from SouthEast Asia, India, Japan
and the south Pacific to be really sure of the differences between.
Cheers

Jim

----- Original Message -----
From: "Alberto Grossi" <crinum@libero.it>
To: "pbs" <pbs@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Sunday, June 24, 2007 5:44 PM
Subject: [pbs] Crinum