Hippeastrum: Is this "Salmon Pearl"?

I repotted a huge pot of this amaryllis for a friend who was about to kill them with the wrong kind of "care". [ we'll say ;-)) ]

From what I can find out about Salmon Pearl (darn little!) it has small blooms (these are 4" across), often blooms three times a year (this is the second flush this year for these) and will bloom from what one writer called "tiny bulbs" which was defined as 6.5-7 inches in circumference, one of these bulbs is only 4.5 inches around and has a scape emerging.

Take a look:

Salmon Pearl is described by one source as "frilly edged". This looks a little frilly.

Note the red highlight around the greenish central star. Nice!

Salmon Pearl isn't grown that much commercially because it doesn't want to stay dormant in storage. A problem for them, a plus for us!

The topmost tepal really curls around.

So, what say you, Hippeastrophiles?

Salmon Pearl, striatum (rutilum), gracilis, something else?

Robert.

Robert, I found a pic of Salmon Pearl and it looks very different.

http://www.usna.usda.gov/PhotoGallery/HippeastrumGallery/AmaryllisQ-Z.html

H. striatum on the same page does look very close.

There does seem to be some species that have been around for a long time, and no-one knows what they are. I've come across a few, they are that colour.

It is lovely, the petals look striped which could indicate a 'striatum'. Love the green star too.

H. punecium has twisted petals

http://www.usna.usda.gov/PhotoGallery/HippeastrumGallery/AmaryllisM-P.html

wallaby~

Not that I think the US government doesn't know Hippeastrums........but I am going by the picture [illus. 4-7] and description [page92] in Veronica Read's _Hippeastrum (the gardener's amaryllis)_ [Timber Press-2004] and both match what I have shown here as far as I can see.

Also in Van Dyck's 1997 catalogue they featured it on page 57. Again a match.

Here's a look at the second day of a bloom. The "head" tepal has uncurled a bit, the flanking tepals have reflexed in at the sides and the tips have twisted.

From the reverse.

The frilliness has developed further.

Another view.

The government's "striatum" sure looks like most of the striatums I have seen.

V. Read gives the bulb's breeder as "unknown" but has its registration (will have to check to see if this is an American or British registry) as 1997. It might just be a selection of striatum that was given the name by a bulb grower.

If you ever come across H. "Movie Star", you'll see what has been chosen to fill the place of Salmon Pearl due to it's more desired (commercially) storage dormancy.

Robert.

That's a plus having it bloom regularly! The constraints of marketing!

Looking even better. It could be a selection, the cybisters have been named as selections too. Three of them I think La Paz, Reggae and Lima could be the other

http://www.jacquesamand.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=JAUK&Category_Code=Hippeastrum

Ohh! Look at "Rosario".

Mmmmmmm.

I have "La Paz" (blooms don't last very long.....) and "Chico" (all the blooms were open at once---what a terriffic show!)

Van Dyck's no longer stocks "Salmon Pearl" (at least it wasn't on their website last time I checked) and have only found a couple sources that sell it here. One of them is the National Gardening Association:

http://nga-gardenshop.stores.yahoo.net/salmonpearl.html

Robert.

Just to finish up here:

As far as I can gather, this is NOT "Salmon Pearl". The throat coloration is too yellow-green, for one, and the bloom size is much larger that I first posted. SP has an creamy ivory white throat (in at least one description).

In this round of blooms, the max number of buds per scape was four, mean was 3 and smallest bulbs produced only two blooms. SP averages 4-6.

They blooms averaged 5-6 inches across and 7 inches in length. SP is supposed to be about 4 inches in diameter. This is of course confusing! Diameter across or top to bottom? I always think "across" or widthwise, but diameter is across in any direction isn't it? And if your're not measuring a perfect circle, there'll be more than one diameter, right?

So anywho, this looks like another wonderful "striatum" clone. But under what name was it circulated, I still wonder.........

BTW, I've crossed these striatums with pollen I saved form various Hippis that I had bloom earlier this year and most of the crosses seem to have taken. I'll be returning the bulbs to their owner after I've collected the seed.

Robert.

There are many it seems of older cultivars which are unknown, probably have the same parentage on at least one side. You are hybridising, people in the past have done it, it's anybody's guess.

Nice bonus to get seeds!

Beautiful flower, Robert! Definitely a plus if it blooms more than once a year. My kind of plant.
:) Donna

Yes, whatever this one is, (I think we're going with H. striatum) it has bloomed twice now this year and not all that big either.

I was afraid to give it right back after the repotting as all the bulbs lost all foliage--I was a taken a bit aback at that. But soon enough, new leaves emerged and then these blooms, the last flower just fading today. That was two weeks of bloom outdoors in mostly 90F degrees+. Each bloom went for about a week at those temps and would surely have lasted longer indoors or in cooler temps.

I'm hoping to convince the owner to give them more light in the future and to take them outside in the summer. They were kept in an office well below the window and the leaves were very long and weak. The window gets good winter light, but the pot will have to be elevated for it to benefit them.

I haven't asked her if they bloomed for her more than once a year, but I will definitely do so.

I insisted on babysitting them until they were back to good health (they were really close to death when I got to them) which basically meant growing a whole new set of roots due to they're being in a pot of terrible soil in a cache-pot that had water standing in it--EEEEK! Lots of rot!

Anyway, I get to keep a start of this one. I am a fan of striatums (and other species) and have two other striatum cultivars for comparison (though they're a year from flowering of not more.)


Robert.

Robert, all the time I was reading I was thinking, surely after you revived these poor bulbs you get to keep some! I think 2 would be nicer than one, how many are there? Insurance against future loss.

The owner may never learn to look after them properly, some people just think if a plant looks ill it needs more water, and food which too much of can harm.

A stressed plant can shed foliage so it can put effort into growing roots, they want to live.

I like striatums, I like most of the species, they have more appeal than hybrids in general, although there is the occasional gem.

I got a packet of Hipp seed from The Reunion Islands, French, an ebay seller. Only 10 seeds but 3 species unnamed, a striated one, white, and don't remember! Could be red. When I was sowing some seed I had them on top of a bin, a strong gust of wind blew them off, not far but I found all packets but this one. They were in a small, hand-made, pink paper envelope and search as I might I couldn't find it. Weeks later it was just sat there on the ground, turned orange, I haven't a clue what it was that moved it from it's hiding place. Possibly a creature of some sort? I searched amongst foliage, between pots, you name it, several times. I sowed the seed but no germination yet.