Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum
General Subjects => Plants Wanted Or For Exchange => Topic started by: johnw on September 04, 2008, 02:00:22 AM
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Friends did an expedition to Bhutan last Spring and asked me about a source for Bryocarpum himalaica. It has been on my want list for years. Does anyone know if it ever appears on a seedlist or in catalogues?
johnw
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Don't know about catalogues but certainly not in any seedlist that I've seen. My wants list too, for at least 45 years!
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Never heard about this plant before.
Lesley, since you have been looking for it for 45 years it must be a really special plant
Does anyone have a picture of it since there doesn't seem to be one on the internet.
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Never heard about this plant before.
Lesley, since you have been looking for it for 45 years it must be a really special plant
Does anyone have a picture of it since there doesn't seem to be one on the internet.
Ditto!
cheers
fermi
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Oh that we could get (and sustain) Bryocarpum in cultivation ... and so many other Himalayan gems ... chesneyas, eriophytums, oreosolon, gueldenstaedtia, Ranunculus lobatus, primulas, cremanthodiums, meconopsis and saussureas - the list goes on and on.....
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I can only recall Bryocarpum himalaicum from an old black and white photo in an early AGS Bulletin. It belongs to Primulaceae and I seem to remember a flower like a sort of elongated soldanella flower, possibly fringed but not sure about that. It is probably purple though for some reason yellow is in my mind. I think the low rosette of foliage was not unlike that of an Omphalogramma.
I'm sure I've seen a more recent picture somewhere but can't think where.
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Try a search of old forum for a pic.... there was certainly one once in the show reports of the main website... there are (were??!! ::)) a couple of folks growing and showing this delightful little plant.... leaves like a little primula, flowers like a yellow soldanella... utterly charming. May be that I have a pic on main pc...which is still in the repair shop :P
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I don't seem to find the picture(s) in the old forum. Anyone else?
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Oh dear, it seems that it was not on the forum..this means it was an old show report....I MAY have it on our sick pc...fingers crossed! Off now for a search of the journals...... ???
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Well, last two mentions of it at a show were in 2001 and 2003, shown by Barry and Cathy Caudwell and by Cyril Lafong. In the 1950s it was being grown by, at least, RBGE, General Murray-Lyon, R.B. Cooke and Willie Buchanan... he last two also showing the plant it seems.
Here is a black and white photo from 1958, and a description of the plant by Murray-Lyon.
You will note that the flower is described as "un-fringed" although Cathy Caudwell says that their plant did have the soldanella type fringing, and that is how I remember it.
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[attach=2]
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SRGC Journal index: Bryocarpum himalaicum : 5/211; 6/169, 153B; 17/192; 27/264; 110/46
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Quite so, Ashley.......quote comes from 5/211
photo from 6/153, other references are simply to plants as being shown on the benches at various shows.
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reference on the AGS journal:
Entry Volume Page
Bryocarpum himalaicum 72 322,323C
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Quite so, Ashley.......quote comes from 5/211
photo from 6/153, other references are simply to plants as being shown on the benches at various shows.
Apologies Maggi. Not having them to hand I was not in a position to check :)no apology needed, Ashley, I am sure M
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Am trying to get a photo of it in Bhutan and will post if possible. Maggi - Thanks for the gorgeous old photo.
Leslie - Indeed it is yellow.
There's also a line drawing in the AGS Encyclopaedia of Alpines Volume #1.
johnw
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At your service, folks. Enjoy!
Indeed, Leslie, its flower is distinctly Soldonella-like and its leaf rosette akin to Omphalogramma. There is also a wonderful black and white image in "A Quest of Flowers", the account of the amazing expeditions of Ludlow and Sherriff.
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Many thanks Dave ... no wonder we all covet it!
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Does it produce offsets like Primulas do?
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All that I saw looked like single plants to me and there is no mention of offsetting in descriptions I've seen. However, if you look closely at the b&w picture below, it looks as though there are some offsets....... But most plants don't seem to last long in cultivation - those who flower it once have done really well!
Here's a scan of the picture (original must be by Sherriff) in the account by Harold Fletcher of L&S's expeditions. The species is mentioned only once, from the Phobsikha forests in Central Bhutan at 10-12000 feet. My photos were taken from about the same altitude trekking up the Phephe La, also in Cemtral Bhutan.
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reference on the AGS journal:
Entry Volume Page
Bryocarpum himalaicum 72 322,323C
Thanks, Mick, yes, lovely colour photo there, showing a strong clear yellow... you could eat it, it's so pretty!
It's in an article by Fred Hunt, "Himalayan Plants in a Scottish Garden"....from the September 2004 AGS Special Himalayan Issue....
Fred writes.........." Remaining with Primulaceae for the moment,I wish to draw attention to one of the gems of the family, the so-called 'yellow soldanella', Bryocarpum himalaicum.
This I raised from wild-collected seed received in May 1999 and sown immediately. This germinated (in)some four weeks, with two plants subsequently flowering in their second season and still surviving in pots plunged in a shaded cold-frame I am informed that the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh has successfully grown this choice species for a number of years. B. himalaicum is a plant of the densely shaded forests of mainlt central Bhutan at 3050-3660m. "
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I founfd this plant in flower in Bhutan last year and posted in on the forum here is the link
http://www.srgc.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=558.0
The locals called it bhutanese spinach
It was very Omphalogramma like and grows exactly as Maggi describes in quite dense forest.
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Thanks, Ian... I KNEW I'd seen it in the forum! Search didn't find it because of spelling difference, I think.... himalaicum here and himalayicum in your post!
Here is Ian's pic from that lovely thread from last year.....
[attachimg=1]
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reference on the AGS journal:
Entry Volume Page
Bryocarpum himalaicum 72 322,323C
YES!!! This is an excellent reference, thanks Mick and a super picture in an article by Fred Hunt who is still growing it apparently. The issue of the AGS Bulletin is a A Special Himalayan Issue with stunning pictures of amazing plants, especially primulas, lilies, gentians and the amazing Rheum nobile. If you don't have this issue, move the earth to obtain it.
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What a spinach!
I hesitatingly post these shots from the friends who visited Bhutan this Spring. I will not be responsible for holes in monitors. The seed pods are only for viewing. I nearly dropped when I saw them.
Can you imagine the will-power to photograph them and with a clear conscience move on to another Genus? They are to be congratulated.
And what is the tiny blue thing to the left?
johnw
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A primula probably, looks like at the top of the long stem, maybe just beginning to flower. How is it wilth all these Bryocarpums sitting around and apparently in cultivation as well, none has yet reached the seed lists? Not that we can have it here. :'(
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I wonder did Ian see it in the same place as John's friend, or very close by anyway? The same plant - which looks a little like a prostrate Rubus - in growing with plants in both postings.
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It' really a stunning plant,
I think I'll put it on my wishlist too ;D
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"blue thing" is a primula going into fruit.
Problem with the Bryocarpum in cultivation is that they do not eem to live very long and are reluctant to set seed :'(
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Lesley the plant was found in many spots- not in large quantities. I trekked above the Paro and Ha valleys
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John re identification of the primala depends where the photo was taken could be P Griffithii but I saw it above the Paro and Ha valley and Richards says that it only grows here
piccies from Bhutan on this link
http://www.srgc.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=558.0
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Ian - I meant the blue thing right on the ground between the leftmost Bryocarpum and the primula on the extreme left touching the edge of the photo - halfways between those two.
johnw