Edraianthus wettsteinii?

[Lori S.]

I bought this as Edraianthus wettsteinii a couple of years ago.  Whaddaya think?  I suppose the foliage is silvery, and the flowers are somewhat hairy, both of which are supposed to distinguish it from Edraianthus pumilio... ?  Thanks in advance.

[Maggi Young]

Previously, ZZ has stated that this photo from Franz Hadacek of his plant of E. wettsteinii is the true plant:
( taken from Franz' website )


ZZ wrote in an earlier thread : "Surely the most attractive (new because of DNA test) member of this group is E. wettsteinii from Sutorman and Rumija Mts. in southern Monte Negro. The species resembles E. pumilio but solitary (or 2-3) flowers are densely hirsute. Nice plant is seen in the gallery of Franz Hadacek in a noble Vienna trough. E. wettsteinii ssp. lovcenicus from Lovcen Mts. is not so compact and it is taller."

There is a type sheet  here : http://plants.jstor.org/specimen/k000781249 which is not generally accessible  but even seeing the thumbnail pic shows the close , tiny nature of the foliage.
Looks like yours, eh?

Should have included Franz Hadacek's website address : http://www.franz-alpines.org/

[Lori S.]

Thank you for the references, Maggi.
Comparing to Franz's photo, mine appears more silvery, though the buds are less furry (and both buds and flowers are lighter coloured)... individual differences, perhaps?
The flowers are mostly solitary but some stems have up to 4.
This AGS article suggests that E. pumilio should have solitary flowers:
http://encyclopaedia.alpinegardensociety.net/plants/Edraianthus/pumilio

[Maggi Young]

I think that the tighter foliage that yours displays is nearer to Franz' plant than any of the other types, Lori.  Acceptable variation, I hope!

[Great Moravian]

There is a type sheet  here : http://plants.jstor.org/specimen/k000781249 which is not generally accessible  but even seeing the thumbnail pic shows the close , tiny nature of the foliage.

JSTOR images are not generally accessible there, but the final sequence consists of
the herbarium acronym followed by identification number.
In our case the herbarium acronym is K and identification number 781249.
The search of herbarium K leads to Kew, and searching
Edraianthus wettsteinii in Kew yields the desired result with identification
number 781249 .
Full-size image can be found here.
http://www.kew.org/herbcatimg/367830.jpg