Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum

Plant Identification => Plant Identification Questions and Answers => Topic started by: arisaema on September 23, 2015, 04:29:39 AM

Title: Unknown monocot on Balangshan (N Sichuan)
Post by: arisaema on September 23, 2015, 04:29:39 AM: I stumbled across these growing in a short juniper shrub, alongside Lilium lophophorum, and I'm fairly clueless... Altitude about 3750m, the capsules have three locules, and the seeds are round, brown and have elaiosomes. Looks like the plant itself had two thin, grasslike leaves.

Anyone ???
Title: Re: Unknown monocot on Balangshan (N Sichuan)
Post by: Growild on September 23, 2015, 10:23:35 AM: Well if you don't know I don't think many of us will :)

I'm pretty clueless but to get the ball rolling as to what it might be I thought as it had seeds with elaiosomes and has the remains of linear type leaves Gentiana/Gentianella (I'm thinking of taller species which produce solitary flowers) ...
Title: Re: Unknown monocot on Balangshan (N Sichuan)
Post by: arisaema on September 23, 2015, 11:23:46 AM: I should have taken a photo in the field, but I was too lazy to dig my camera out of the backpack... :P I don't think it's a Gentiana since they all grew separate, single stems spread out over a square meter or so, but I can't rule it out completely either. Leaning towards Lloydia, one of those that are/were synonymized in Gagea, but then it might be some obscure alpine Iris too ???
Title: Re: Unknown monocot on Balangshan (N Sichuan)
Post by: Growild on September 23, 2015, 11:52:07 AM: Yes it could be Lloydia. Thought of Lloydia at first but thought the seeds would be flat (but apparently not all are ...) so dismissed the idea. Whatever it turns out to be I'll order some of these in the autumn if you are putting them in your seed list for this year :) I forgot to sow a packet of your seeds from last autumn a Begonia sp. sowed them a week ago and have them germinating very nicely!
Title: Re: Unknown monocot on Balangshan (N Sichuan)
Post by: fermi de Sousa on September 23, 2015, 02:36:09 PM: I'd suspect something in the iris family,
cheers
Fermi
Title: Re: Unknown monocot on Balangshan (N Sichuan)
Post by: arisaema on September 23, 2015, 03:04:33 PM: I checked all the Lloydia to rule them out, L. flavonutans supposedly has plump seeds with elaiosomes, but the capsule is way to big.

Must be Iris then, but which? It's something single-stemmed with two relatively large bracts just below the flower, and a leaf on the stem - in addition to the arils. Maybe just I. decora or colettii?
Title: Re: Unknown monocot on Balangshan (N Sichuan)
Post by: arilnut on September 24, 2015, 02:47:02 AM: Check here. http://signa.org/index.pl?Iris-decora (http://signa.org/index.pl?Iris-decora)

John B
Title: Re: Unknown monocot on Balangshan (N Sichuan)
Post by: Growild on September 24, 2015, 08:28:11 AM: Quote from: arilnut on September 24, 2015, 02:47:02 AM
Check here. http://signa.org/index.pl?Iris-decora (http://signa.org/index.pl?Iris-decora)

John B

I think John B is correct :)