Notholirion thomsonianum, was] Major excitement in the cold frame
Peter Taggart (Fri, 17 Feb 2012 01:36:50 PST)
After they have grown and flowered some bulbs, with or without offsetts,
reform eg Silla non scripta, others form offsetts but the flowerd bud dies
eg Iris aucheri. The extended basal plate may survive and offsetts may
occur from it. Iris rosenbachiana maintains an apparently 'blind' storage
organ which does not disappear after flowering.
I do not know the technical names for these variations in bulbous plants
but would be happy to be told.
I have often heard some Saxifrages termed "monocarpic", and Sempervivums
too - their flowered rosettes die. I suppose almost by definition annual
herbs are monocarpic?
Peter (UK)
On Thu, Feb 16, 2012 at 9:34 PM, Jim McKenney <jamesamckenney@verizon.net>wrote:
If by bulb you mean a bud for growth surrounded by fleshy, modified
storage leaves, then all bulbs are monocarpic, in the same sense that the
flowers of all plants are monocarpic. I don't recall anyone ever calling
a flower monocarpic, so why should one call bulbs monocarpic? But since
the growth buds in bulbs are generally accompanied by other growth buds
attached to the same basal plate in less advanced stages of development,
true monocarpy is evidently unknown in bulbous taxa. What passes for
monocarpy in bulbous taxa is circumstantial -i.e. not an inherent
characteristic of the plant but rather a reflection of the growing
circumstances of the plant in question (i.e. something killed it after it
fruited
once).