Thanks to Roy for bringing this up. I had assumed that 'Ken Aslet' was more or less indistinguishable from the form I have offered, though it cannot be the same clone. It was collected by John Lavranos (Sutherland: top of Komsberg Pass, Lav. 30507) in the mid-1990s. Every winter it makes a beautiful dome of silvery foliage. The bulbs "divide" over time but always remain in the center of the pot. A few years ago I noticed seeds forming on this plant for the first time and I planted them. The seedlings are identical to the original. The original accession was two bulbs and it is possible that bee work finally achieved cross-pollination; I have not looked for heterostyly within the one large clump. As to the flattened aspect, I have seen a similar condition in O. pes-caprae occasionally, when the plants are in full sun all day in compacted soil. It is a very attractive plant when growing like this, with dense chocolate speckling on the leaves and flower stalks only 6" tall. Dylan Hannon Los Angeles CA > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Message: 1 > Date: Thu, 1 Oct 2020 13:55:31 -0400 > From: Roy Herold <rrherold@gmail.com> > To: Pacific Bulb Society <pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net> > Subject: [pbs] Oxalis melanosticta variants > Message-ID: > < > CAHtZ1NkWUK2Yhnr2X+m0o-TT1SPcoUwBsMxxDs6gfJaUe6rBBA@mail.gmail.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8" > > Everybody but everybody probably grows Oxalis melanosticta 'Ken Aslet' > (sometimes incorrectly listed as O. purpurea), but few are aware that there > are other forms of this species in cultivation. > > Periodically Dylan Hannon has offered Oxalis sp. Sutherland, and I ordered > it from him ~15 years ago.It turned out to be Oxalis melanosticta, but was > different from Ken Aslet. I finally managed to get a decent picture of the > two side-by-side, see attached. > > The pot on the left is Ken Aslet, the other two are Dylan's. The latter are > a good 50% larger, and just as floriferous. This picture was taken about a > week ago--all of the pots are covered with flowers now.They have the same > tristyly sequence, so that may be why there haven't been any seeds. > > I've sent Dylan's into the BX several times, so some of you may also be > growing it. > > Finally, I'm including a pic of O. melanosticta in the wild, taken near > Matjiesfontein.Has anyone here managed to grow it with the foliage flat on > the ground like this? That's Gladiolus karooicus in the back, BTW. > > --Roy > NW of Boston > -------------- next part -------------- > A non-text attachment was scrubbed... > Name: Oxalis_melanosticta.jpg > Type: image/jpeg > Size: 1778470 bytes > Desc: not available > URL: < > http://lists.pacificbulbsociety.net/pipermail/pbs/… > > > -------------- next part -------------- > A non-text attachment was scrubbed... > Name: Oxalis_melanosticta_SAjpg.jpg > Type: image/jpeg > Size: 1519854 bytes > Desc: not available > URL: < > http://lists.pacificbulbsociety.net/pipermail/pbs/… > > > > ------------------------------ > > Subject: Digest Footer > > _______________________________________________ > pbs mailing list > pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net > http://lists.pacificbulbsociety.net/cgi-bin/… > > > ------------------------------ > > End of pbs Digest, Vol 44, Issue 2 > ********************************** > _______________________________________________ pbs mailing list pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net http://lists.pacificbulbsociety.net/cgi-bin/…
