Triteleia laxa variation

Jane McGary via pbs pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net
Tue, 05 May 2020 09:46:26 PDT
The earliest Triteleia is in flower here. I've been growing this one 
since the early 1990s, having collected the seed in Mariposa County, 
California. When I collected it, the plant was dry and I didn't know 
what it was, other than a monocot. It proved to be a form of Triteleia 
laxa similar to that illustrated on the PBS wiki as 'Sierra Giant' from 
Telos Rare Bulbs. It flowers earlier than the more typical T. laxa grown 
here and is much larger. In the Jepson Manual: Higher Plants of 
California, p. 1208, the entry for T. laxa ends "Highly variable; more 
study needed." I have a hard time understanding how this early, pale 
blue-lavender flower, found in pine woodland, can be the same species as 
the much shorter, deep purple-blue, more funnel-shaped flower I've known 
since childhood as the grassland T. laxa. Does anyone know whether any 
botanist has published a taxonomic name for the large form? It would be 
a spectacular subject in gardens. I usually send the seed to exchanges 
as T. laxa giant form, so it must have got around.

Jane McGary, Portland, Oregon, USA


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