Moraea subgroup Galaxia

Mary Sue Ittner msittner@mcn.org
Tue, 22 May 2007 10:28:21 PDT
Hi,

I've been working on organizing and splitting some more the Moraea wiki 
pages and have made a table. I have lots of pictures to add from various 
sources which I'll announce as I go. But the first I've done is Galaxia 
which is the group of Moraea that people seem most reluctant to call 
Moraea. There are some new pictures from Rod Saunders, Audrey Cain, and 
Alan Horstmann. I think some of the species look a lot alike from a 
distance. Apparently you have to look at the style lobes (fringed or lobed 
or entire),  to observe the leaves, to see if the style reaches the anthers 
and to look at the filaments closely which sometimes is a challenge from 
photographs (especially if they weren't taken with that in mind.)

http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/index.php/…

The only Galaxia I ever got to bloom was Galaxia fugacissima which lived up 
to its name. Even for a bulb fanatic like me blooming for a half a day once 
every couple years wasn't enough so I eventually tossed them. Michael Mace 
reported that he could get his to rebloom like other Moraea fugacious 
species, but if this happened with mine, I never saw it. The first year 
they bloomed I only saw the spent flowers. I have a couple of others I got 
from Gordon Summerfield, but they are limping along so don't know if they 
will ever get to the blooming stage so I can see how they do for me.

Do people who grow Galaxia find that all the plants flower on the same day? 
That was my experience with Galaxia fugacissima which was a half day wonder 
even when more than one bloomed. In Alan Horstman's Moraea galaxia picture 
(Galaxia ovata) you can see some spent flowers and also some great detail 
of a fringed stigma. Alan has sent me two CDs and has some nice close-ups 
of South African bulbs in flower so as I have time I'll be adding some of 
them to the wiki including some Moraea subgroup pictures.  I still haven't 
added all of mine and Bob's from our trip either.

Mary Sue


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