Calostemma
Peter Taggart (Sat, 26 Nov 2011 16:53:33 PST)
yes they look just like small peas, I didn't miss the offer *grins*
Peter (UK)
On Sat, Nov 26, 2011 at 7:19 PM, Jane McGary <janemcgary@earthlink.net>wrote:
Shelley wrote
They don't set many seeds so you'd need a field of them to have any
number of seed and they are very fleshy so don't keep very well.
Someone else might know of a seed source. I have grown only the
purple and for a brief time the white (which I believe is rare)
although it never flowered and went underground and hasn't been seen
since.
When I was doing the intake phase of the NARGS seed exchange in the
mid-1990s, an Australian member sent Calostemma purpureum seeds was
back in the good old pre-9/11 days, when our foreign members could
send in seeds without a lot of bureaucratic complications). The
packet fell apart as I opened the envelope, and what looked like a
lot of garbanzos (Brit. chickpeas) with green shoots emerging rolled
out. I decided this wasn't something that would survive the next few
months in storage and planted them immediately. I shared the
resulting seedlings with our NARGS chapter and kept about half a
dozen, which I grew in a frost-free solarium. They did flower for a
number of years, but the flowers were not especially attractive, so
when I moved to my new place, which has no frost-free area for
plants, I gave them away.
I understand that this type of germination is typical of this
species, which may be why seed is not often available.
Jane McGary
Portland, Oregon, USA
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