Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum
Specific Families and Genera => Amaryllidaceae => Topic started by: Paul T on March 01, 2011, 05:21:12 AM
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Howdy All,
Unfortunately Boophane disticha this has never flowered for me, but I live in hope. I think I read somewhere at one point that this bulb needed 15 leaves to be flowering size..... this year it has 17 so I live in hope. ;D The leaf arrangement alone is worth growing this plant for, and I just love it. Very artistic. ;D I've posted the second pic in the arty topic as well.
Now, I see the pics of this species with the flowers emerging from a dormant bulb..... mine here are virtually evergreen from memory, although a bit ratty in winter I think, so does this mean mine will never flower? :-\ Now I'm starting to wonder whether my memory of these still having leaves in winter is wrong? ::) I am not even sure what time of year they flower, but I'm guessing early spring? Hopefully with a good set of leaves on it this year I might be lucky come spring?
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Hey Paul, that is a very beautiful plant. Even without flower.
How old is it? My guess is 15 years +...
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Paul,
That bulb is old and large enough to have flowered already. I have some B disticha bulbs that flower with a diameter of 60mm to 70mm. The bulb must have a dormant period when water is withheld completely. Here they flower in December/January the flower will emerge first and set seeds and only then the leaves will grow out once the dry head has broken off. I posted some photos of some of mine not so long ago.
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Heinie: I posted some photos of some of mine not so long ago.
http://www.srgc.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=4970.msg135136;topicseen#msg135136
http://www.srgc.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=4971.msg135346;topicseen#msg135346
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Maggi,
Thank you for your efficiency once more.
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Heinie,
Thanks for the info. It has been in a pot up until this year, so we shall see how differently it behaves in the coming spring/summer. Everything is crossed. I would (and do) grow it for the leaves anyway, but I would love to see flowers on it one of these years.
George,
I don't recall how old this bulb is. I think I bought it as a small bulb probably something like 8 or 10 years ago, but I'm not entirely sure. I have a few that have survived from seed sowing in the past as well, so it remains to see how long they'll take to get to flowering size. ::)
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Hi Paul
Great Boophane, I hope to get leaves on mine. After planting mine upside down I think it sulking now. Can't blame it ::) ;D
Hope you get a flower soon.
Angle :)
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Looks good Paul. I think there are both winter and summer growing Boophone disticha. I have some for ten years and they rest during our winter and usually come into growth in March. The spend the winter in a cool basement w/o any water
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I have just got one from S.A its about 350mm long and 150mm diameter any Idea how old this might be
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Steve,
That is one mighty large and old bulb for a B disticha. My guess would be well over 30 years old.
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I have measured the lengh and it is near 275 mm long and 140 diametre exact got the wife cloth tape out I am still very impressed
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I think it's Boophone
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Boophone disticha- so it is, sorry, thread name changed now
Boophane is quite commonly seen of course. :-X
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Or you could call it "Ox-murder"
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Try sore-eye flower have a look on this site it is possibly the best I have seen for S.A plants
http://www.plantzafrica.com/index.html
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ox = bous ( Greek)
phone =death by un-natural means
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ox = bous ( Greek)
phone =death by un-natural means
By eating the huge bulbs or being bashed onthe head by one? :o
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Grazing on them.
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Bashed on the head would be less painful than eating this highly poisonous plant
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Boophone disticha- so it is, sorry, thread name changed now
Boophane is quite commonly seen of course. :-X
Are you absolutely sure of this? The references I've just checked (again) list it as Boophane as the correct name. I checked that originally before posting the topic, because I knew there was often different spellings.
For your information the references I just checked were "Cape Bulbs" by Richard L. Doutt and "Bulbs" by John E Bryan. I had checked John's book in the beginning, which is why I used the Boophane spelling, but with the Cape Bulbs reference I am inclined to changed it back to Boophane. I haven't done so as yet though as I guess there will be discussion.
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I'd bet my Boophone's on it.
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Arnold,
Based on what? I really can't find anything authoritative on the Net (Wikipedia isn't reliable unfortunately, even if it looks like it is) and when my only reference books have the spelling in them as Boophane I am wondering why they have it wrong? If the bulb experts are getting it wrong, how can we the public say that one or the other of us is incorrect?
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Paul:
I'm still at work, I look over some reference stuff and post something later.
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Try sore-eye flower have a look on this site it is possibly the best I have seen for S.A plants
http://www.plantzafrica.com/index.html
Interesting that this one has a bet each way..... they have Boophane disticha and Boophone haemanthoides listed (http://www.plantzafrica.com/plantoftheweek/species_b.htm). At this stage I'm still going to stick with the spelling from the reference books rather than the internet. At least if I'm spelling it wrong then I am in the company of a lot of people in doing it so. ;D ;)
Arnold,
I'll be interested to hear what you come up with. Thanks. 8)
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Paul:
Manning, Goldblatt and Snijman in The Color Encyclopedia of Cape Bulbs use the name Boophone.
Under FURTHER READING they state " Archer et al (2001) have motivated for the name Boophone to be conserved against the alternative spellings Boophane, Buphane and Buphone.".
I'll check some old HERBERTIAS.
Arnold
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In K. Kubitzki's "The Families and Genera of Vascular Plants" Vol. III Flowering Plants Monocotyledons
Boophone is used.
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"Plants for Warm Gardens. Volume 2." by Roger Phillips and Martyn Rix list it as Boophane disticha.
Every reference I have so far found in my library (not that I've been through every book, just those that I thought might reference it) refers to the genus as Boophane, while your references list it as Boophone.
The reference in "Cape Bulbs" also says as follows....
"It is incorrectly spelled Boophone in Hortus Third and Buphane in others."
So in other words, comparing your list and mine, the spelling depends on who you're talking to. ::) That is VERY confusing. Like I said, I looked it up in my books to check the spelling before I posted the topic here, only to be told that I and the reference books are wrong. :-\ Makes it very difficult to know what is right? ???
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Howdy All,
I've changed the name of this topic to reflect the main duality in the naming. I'm not doing this to bring this discussion to an end (I think it is quite interesting to find out more about what is actually correct), but this way both names are in the topic from a searching point of view. 8)
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Like that Paul, I really don't care what my Boophane bulb is called I just want some leaves like yours.
Angie :)
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Angie,
If the bulb is still solid, just give it time. 8)
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Hi Paul, yes it is still solid, I give it a squeeze every so often ;D
Patience isn't something I have, I am terrible.
Angie :)
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According to Kew,
http://www.kew.org/search/search?q=&sitesearch-term=ext_kew&output=xml_no_dtd&client=kew_website_frontend&&proxystylesheet=kew_website_frontend ,
the correct spelling is "Boophone." Other sites, like TROPICOS, http://www.tropicos.org/ , list both spellings, which just means that both versions were validly published at some time or other. We all know what we mean with either spelling.
Jim
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The name Boophane was changed to Boophone some time ago.
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Beating a dead horse but Boophane is a synonym for Boophone. Boophone was used first in description in 1821, following shortly after Boophone was Boophane in 1825, both were obviously names for the same genus of plants.