Namibian bulbs

[mark smyth]

This link was sent to the Pacific Bulb Society forum this afternoon
http://www.bihrmann.com/rejser/NAM/Bul-all/

[Tony Willis]

he is from the Netherlands and specialises in caudiciforms and has this web page which has a terrific amount of information on it.

www.bihrmann.com/caudiciforms/

[Lvandelft]

he is from the Netherlands and specialises in caudiciforms and has this web page which has a terrific amount of information on it.

www.bihrmann.com/caudiciforms/

Tony, I would rather say from Denmark.
Indeed it is a terriffic site, will need some days to look it through.

[Tony Willis]

Luit

stupid me Denmark of course!

Here is my only caudiciform, Dioscorea elephantipes in its dormant summer state. It is a winter grower. i have had it about 10 years and I was very worried last week when the heating broke down it might die.

[mark smyth]

Disguised as a tortoise?

[Tony Willis]

Its alternative name is testudinaria which relates to tortoise.

There was a wonderful one about two feet across in the cacti house at the RBG Edinburgh for many years.

[Roma]

Very nice picture of Dioscorea elephantipes, Tony. I think the two foot across one you saw at the RBG Edinburgh could have been the one we had at the Cruickshank Botanic Garden in Aberdeen.  When I started working there in 1977 we had a large collection of cacti and succulents. When the greenhouse was needed for other things the plants were given away.  The choicer plants went to Edinburgh and the remainder to the Winter gardens in Aberdeen's Duthie Park.  I have a photograph somewhere of the Discorea beeing lifted by two people into the back of a transit van.  I visited the plant in the RBGE cactus house and it looked very happy growing beside other smaller dioscoreas. I was told it had even produced seed.  When Gordon Rowley of Reading, an expert oncaudiciforms,  gave a talk to the Aberden branch of the Cactus Society he was very impressed and said it was the biggest one he had seen. 

[Lvandelft]

I am not so good in house plants, but we have one Caudiciform: Bowiea volubilis.
We got it 4 years ago as a little bulb, but it never flowered. It's just geen most time of year,
but that is why my wife now and then gives some water, because it is getting yellow .
Now I read at this website it grows on peat in nature, and needs lots of water during the growing time
in summer (winter for us?).
Here two pics of the plant:

[Ezeiza]

Hi:

     Bowiea grows in Namibia, Namaqualand and the Karroo, notorious for being desertic areas. If it favors peaty spots, it is because they receive ther the extra drop. Most important it must not be within reach of children as it is so poisonous.

    Our plants go dormant in winter then they are kept very dry and in spring it sprouts spontaneously and then they are watered again.

     Your plants look superb, such good specimens are not often seen.


Regards
Alberto

[Carlo]

I've got a bowl of Bowiea volubilis (five largish "bulbs" in a single pot), Bowiea garipensis (which I prefer...a thicker, quite fascinating growth and much less common), what is supposed to be Bowiea nana (we'll see) and Schizobasis intricata, which I LOVE--a wiry growing, free flowering (o.k. they're small, but come on...) plant with the same sort of "bulb". They are all easy in the windowsill and in good growth now, with flower buds forming. I grow them all in a free draining mix (peat??? never heard that one before) water them regularly when in growth, and very little when dormant. A little fertilizer when growing is ok, and they are relatively pest tolerant (a little mealy in the vines now and then).

[Tony Willis]

Roma that is very interesting about the plant in the RBG. I have had mine about 10 years and it was 3cms across then. It is now 11cms and this year its aerial growth is about 1.5metres long. It has not flowered and so I do not know what sex it is.

Bihrmanns comments on growing it are a bit odd because it seems perfectly straightforward. It comes into growth quite spontaneously in late summer making 2or 3 cms a day and is watered from then on all through until late spring when it turns yellow  and goes dormant.

Mine is given as  much care as the rarest of my bulbs and yet it is easy to grow. I nearly put it under the duvet with me when the heating failed.

[Lvandelft]

Thank you Alberto,
so neglect seems the word...
Here is the description on the Bihrmann website:
http://www.bihrmann.com/caudiciforms/subs/bow-vol-sub.asp

[Ezeiza]

Hi:

     Thanks for the link. A few comments. Perhaps yur superb plants have flowered, only that they are so inconspicuous, green-whitish that one can not see them unless at close quarters.

      The adult plant has no leaves, it has a many branched twining "stem" that  make photosynthesis. This is clearly an adaptation to drought as in several cacti. for young plant have normal leaves, very much like those of a Lachenalia. As they grow older these true leaves are lost.

      This plant has nt a caudex in the normal sense, it is a true bulb that grows out of the ground to amke more photosynthesis to suport the plant.

       Caudiciforms are plants that sometimes are tuberous but in most cases have swollen bases of the stem or trunk that store water, andnormally look like brown turnips. These swollen bases are undeground portions of the plants but collectors grow them exposed as the plants tolerate this.

       

Regards

[cohan]

I've got a bowl of Bowiea volubilis (five largish "bulbs" in a single pot), Bowiea garipensis (which I prefer...a thicker, quite fascinating growth and much less common), what is supposed to be Bowiea nana (we'll see) and Schizobasis intricata, which I LOVE--a wiry growing, free flowering (o.k. they're small, but come on...) plant with the same sort of "bulb". They are all easy in the windowsill and in good growth now, with flower buds forming. I grow them all in a free draining mix (peat??? never heard that one before) water them regularly when in growth, and very little when dormant. A little fertilizer when growing is ok, and they are relatively pest tolerant (a little mealy in the vines now and then).

these bowieas sound interesting, i'm only familiar with the volubilis; how nana is the nana? minis are my favourite; i have seeds of Schizobasis on the way from a friend, looking forward to those

[Roma]

I hope you will forgive me for returning to this topic after such a long time.  I couldn't find my photos of the Cruickshank Botanic Garden Dioscorea elephantipes being loaded into the van for its journey to Edinburgh, but eventually found the negatives.  It took ages to get around to having them reprinted and a while longer to work out how to get them from the printer/scanner to the computer but I got there in the end.  Unlike your plant Tony (Willis) this was a summer grower.  It grew as tall as the greenhouse - about 12 feet.  It was a nightmare picking the dead leaves from the two large Agave americana in the bed beside it.  When we got an industrial vacuum cleaner it made the task a lot easier.

I think the photos were taken about 1982. The chap on the left is Calum Pirnie who is now Head Gardener at Crathes Castle, a National Trust for Scotland property.