Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum
Specific Families and Genera => Amaryllidaceae => Topic started by: Hans J on September 07, 2008, 12:21:26 PM
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Hi all ,
here are pics of a new descriptet Acis :
Acis ionica
Enjoy
Hans
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Hans
It looks quite a large flower - how big is it? Presumably it would be quite happy in your climate.
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Arthur :
yes -they have bigger flowers than the other Acis in this time :
petal of A. ionica : 15 mm
petal of A. autumnale : 10 mm
petal of A. rosea : 8 mm
I grow A. ionica not free in my borders - it is to danger !
I can grow succsessfull free outside : A. autumnale .....A. rosea is here not well outside ( better in pots ),
also my ssp. of A.autumnale are in pots ( pulchellum + operathum )
A. nicaense is outside ..but this plants are so small ....
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It also seems to have a very clean white, Hans.
Lovely flower, Paddy
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Paddy :
??? ....maybe I could post it as poculiform Galanthus ;D
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Lovely. It looks very similar to Acis valentinum to which it must be closely related.
I have a small package to send you Hans. I could add a couple of bulbs of A. valentinum if you want?
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Tony ,
there are some differences between A. ionica and A. valentina .
do you know from where your A.valentina came ?
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Mine came from Wisley RHS Gardens about 10 years ago. They were giving away spare bulbs from a collection made years before. Not much help but it is at least a long grown form in the UK. We could ask Paul Cumbleton if he can find out as he is works in the alpine department there.
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Found a new Acis - Acis poculiformis
Paddy
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Paddy :
I would vote for Acis poculiforma :P
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Hi Hans,
Very interesting new species - fine plant.
Who described Acis ionica ? Would you please mention the citation!
Gerd
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Gerd :
descriptet from Bareka,Kamari,Phitos
in Willdenowia
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Thank you, Hans!
Gerd
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Lovely flower, Hans!It's very nice new species.It resembles Galanthus (Actually, many of the members in the genus resembles it with their blooms..I think).I really like It! :)
Does it has any scent?
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Sorry no fragrance !
Also not on A. autumnalis and A. rosea
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Despite that it's lovely!
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the original description is here http://www.bgbm.org/willdenowia/w-pdf/wi36-1Bareka+al.pdf
and the plant was commercialised by a czech collector this summer.
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Thank you for the original description of Acis ionica.
I grow Acis ionica, nicaeense and roseum in my garden.
I collected Acis ionica as A. valentinum in Lefkas 14 years ago.
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Do you have seeds of your plants ? Is it easy to obtain flowering bulbs from seedling ? Nevertheless, very fine photos !
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Franz, super plants - fine pics!
Do you grow them unprotected in the garden?
Gerd
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Thanks,
Acis ionica grows unprotected in the meadow. Some year get me a seed, but I never sowed the seed.
Acis nicaeense grow in a protected bed and self seedlings appear sometimes.
Acis roseum is difficult bulb for me.
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I don't find A. roseum difficult but it is so small it's hard to keep track of and I think would be quite lost in the garden. Mine is in a trough and has never set seed, several bulbs but all the same clone. The bulbs get very big for the size of the top growth. It is just starting into flower now (Mid March).
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Here some pics from my Acis in this time :
[attachthumb=1]
[attachthumb=2]
Acis nicaensis
[attachthumb=3]
[attachthumb=4]
Acis trichophylla
[attachthumb=5]
[attachthumb=6]
Acis trichophylla 'rosea'
Enjoy
Hans
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Very nice Hans.
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Hans,
great pictures of that lovely plants, it is not easy to make good pics of this apart flowers. On your pics the differences are good to see.
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Hans,how do you get Acis trichophylla 'rosea' to flower?, I have a pot full of bulbs but no flowers. I followed the advice given and kept them pot bound and in a warm spot in the greenhouse, but in 5 years no flowers.
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Michael :
I agree with you - this plants are bad flowerer ....see on my pot - in the normal form are a lot of flowers ...in the pot with rosea is only one ....I dont know why !
They grow in same condtions in my greenhouse ....
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Hans,
Interesting flowers on the nicaensis. Nice and rounded, more filled in flowers than I am used to seeing on the Acis. Nice!!
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Paul ,
I'm also a bit surprised about this plants - the seeds comes from AGS -sown by me 2002 .
The plants are really big ....I have also from a other source some plants ( they grows free in one of my border ) until now is nothing to see of them ...
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Acis rosea pictured in the greenhouse today. I got this bulb in 2007 and it has always flowered but doesn't seem to multiply?
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David
beautifulst flower
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Thank you Alessandro. I take that as praise from the Master ;D
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David I attend the first year
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Acis rosea pictured in the greenhouse today. I got this bulb in 2007 and it has always flowered but doesn't seem to multiply?
Watch for seed. I have a large (5 liters) pot of Acis rosea grown from seed and most flowers set more seed. You can store you home-harvested seed dry in the house until late winter when you start sowing all the treasures that have arrived from the exchanges.
Close inspection of my plants suggests that none of them have multiplied vegetatively, but this is such an easy bulb to grow from seed that it hardly matters.
Acis autumnalis and A. nicaeensis are equally easy, but the other small Acis species are, in my experience, fairly difficult plants to make happy.
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David,
As Rodger has said, Acis grows very easily from seed. I have several of the smaller ones in troughs outdoors and the only trouble is to ensure that the seed falls onto the trough and not outside. It germinates with ease and is doing its best to fill the trough.
Paddy
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I haven't ever had seed set on my couple of bulbs, but then I haven't hand pollinated either. Doesn't multiply for me here either as far as I am aware. Might have to try hand pollinating it next flowering. They're beautiful flowers, aren't they. Such a delicate colour.
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Doesn't multiply for me here either as far as I am aware.
Paul - I just transplanted A. roseum and longiflorum. The bulbs are quite a good size but nary an offset. These and the Leucojums still had hefty white roots despite being completely dormant above ground.
Has anyone hybridized any Acis or are there chromosomal differences?
johnw
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The most delicate pink David ! Very nice indeed !
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Thanks everyone, I shall try to pollinate it.
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Lovely Acis, David. I will give that a try if I can get some seeds from the seed exchange.
I have Acis autumnale flowering now. I do not know what clone it is. Can anyone give me a hint?
It performs very well both in the sunny rock garden and in a more shady and humid place. It flowers freely and set lots of seeds.
Poul
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Has anyone hybridized any Acis or are there chromosomal differences?
johnw
Stern, in 'Snowdrops and Snowflakes', gives the following chromosome counts: 2n= 14 or 21, autumnale and trichophyllum; 2n=14, aut. pulchellum; 2n=16, roseum; 2n=18, nicaense; 2n=22, vernum and aestivum. Doesn't of course take into account the changes in genus.
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Has anyone hybridized any Acis or are there chromosomal differences?
johnw
Stern, in 'Snowdrops and Snowflakes', gives the following chromosome counts: 2n= 14 or 21, autumnale and trichophyllum; 2n=14, aut. pulchellum; 2n=16, roseum; 2n=18, nicaense; 2n=22, vernum and aestivum. Doesn't of course take into account the changes in genus.
Martin - Obviously missed that in Stern. It doesn't leave us with many options
does it?
johnw
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Not many guaranteed options, unfortunately. Then again narcissus with quite widely varying chromosome numbers will sometimes cross and produce viable seed, though presumably not a lot of seed. Don't know of anyone who has tried any systematic crossings with acis or leucojum. Crossing vernum and aestivum might be interesting if only for hybrid vigour. Shame roseum and autumnale don't have the same chromosome numbers. That would be interesting - the possibility of autumnal acis with hybrid vigour and pink flowers. Might still be worth a try.
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Poul, your plants look like my A. aut. var. oporantha.
I have few seeds of A. rosea and I can send them to you if you write me your address (privately)
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Pamac! How good it is to have you begin posting... and with such an attractive picture - Thank you!
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That would be interesting - the possibility of autumnal acis with hybrid vigour and pink flowers. Might still be worth a try.
I don't think they're anything out of the ordinary but I have a nice patch of Acis autumnalis in which the flowers have a pronounced pink stain at the base of the petals. I imagine that simple selective breeding could enlarge this coloring to encompass much more of the flower within a few generations.
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Poul, your plants look like my A. aut. var. oporantha.
I have few seeds of A. rosea and I can send them to you if you write me your address (privately)
Great photo, Pamac!
Thank you for your offer, I send a PM with my address.
Poul
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Acis autumnale is giving a very long show here this year. I have tried planting it in the garden and it doesn't survive long, however it seeds itself throughout the garden where it persists and flowers. I guess it rather than I knows best.
johnw
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DAvid, earlier in the thread you mentioned that Acis rosea doesn't seem to multiply. Mine does, but oh so slowly. From 1 to 4 or 5 bulbs in perhaps 12 years. On the other hand, the individual bulbs get to be very large for the size of the flowers/leaves. They are now about the size of plump Narcissus bulbs.
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Has anyone hybridized any Acis or are there chromosomal differences?
johnw
Stern, in 'Snowdrops and Snowflakes', gives the following chromosome counts: 2n= 14 or 21, autumnale and trichophyllum; 2n=14, aut. pulchellum; 2n=16, roseum; 2n=18, nicaense; 2n=22, vernum and aestivum. Doesn't of course take into account the changes in genus.
Many crop plants (wheat, brassicas) have been developed by crossing plants with differing chromosome numbers. The results are sterile hybrids, but treating meristems with colchicine causes the spindle to fail and complete non-disjunction of the chromosomes. This produces a polyploid, which is fertile. We teach this to S5 pupils doing Higher Biology.
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David, earlier in the thread you mentioned that Acis rosea doesn't seem to multiply. Mine does, but oh so slowly.
Mine does just fine.
Cultural technique:
1. large pot, 5-10 liters
2. watered during summer
3. fertilized once in a while
4. protected from hard freezes
5. but kept out of doors as much as possible in winter
6. seeds simply scattered back into the pot (those not collected for the exchanges, that is)
My pot has been in flower a good six weeks now, and yielded a decent amount of seed for the exchanges - not a huge quantity but enough that the donation isn't an embarrassment.
I can't say that the individual bulbs multiply, but certainly there are more bulbs in the pot now than when I originally planted it up.
A great many bulbous species follow the rule "one seed, one bulb" and never multiply vegetatively but from time to time vegetative enthusiasts arise spontaneously. It's just such clones that are the basis of the commercial bulb industry; indeed, it is my understanding that collectors looking for wild bulbs with commercial potential specifically watch for tight clumps that indicate vegetative multiplication.
Among the amaryllidaceae, twin-scaling is a tried and true technique for propagation. A dormant bulb is divided by vertical cuts and separated so that each fragment contains parts of two scales. These are allowed to dry and callus for a short time, then stored in warmish damp perlite. Small offsets form along the wounds to the basal plate, and these can then be potted up and grown on. The chief difficulty is atttack by fungal and bacterial rots, but that can be largely controlled by use of formalin or hydrogen peroxide or a dusting with powdered sulfur - or, if you can still get it, the systemic fungicide benomyl.
Alternatively, encourage the narcissus flies to attack. The wounds they make to the basal plate will sometimes result in offsets forming - this is how a single pot of Crinum in a nursery turned out on inspection to have ten growing bulbs for the price of one and was thereby one of the bargains of the twentieth century.
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Mine, all one clone, has never set any seed. It lives in a largely neglected (never watered) trough so that is perhaps why it increases so slowly. I'll lift and try it in better conditions, a pot perhaps.
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Lesley,
Nice to know I'm, not alone in the "non-seeding" of Acis rosea. I was starting to wonder whether mine was just the world's only recalcitrant one. ::)
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Paul ,Lesley and all :
please look here my seed offer for Acis rosea + Acis ionica :
http://www.srgc.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=4311.0
My plants are grown from seed so I have a lot of different clones 8)
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A lovely and intersting list Hans. Unfortunately neither Acis rosea nor A. ionica is on our Biosecurity Index (permitted list) so we can't import the seed to NZ. A. rosea should be, since it is here already. Not there as Leucojum either. :'(
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Just back from Corsica, I went to one Acis rosea station and I saw lots of seed caps but lot of them were already empty :(
Doesn't seem to increase vegetatively in the wild but mainly by seedlings
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Thank you Maggi for directing me here. I obviously must have seen it at the time but the years rush but so quickly now! I forget what happened.
I haven't seen Rodger W on the Forum for a long time. If you're there Roger, I should tell you your Acis roseum are doing well and the HUNDREDS of Eranthis too. A yellow lawn in my new place wherever that turns out to be. ;D
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Likewise the Jeffersonias. :)
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I missed Acis nicaeensis flowering and found this the other day. I only sowed the seed in August last year!