Some interesting species bulbs

I have got them all planted, but took some pics of the bulbs, as these are species and have very different forms.

They are now minus some scales, 'when' I get around to it they will be on their way.

L. majoense

L nanum Bhutan

L. poilanei

L. pyrenaicum

L. rosthornii

L xanthellum var. luteum

Wallaby, now those are some beautiful bulbs there. I need to study up, though to see what exactly, type they are. Species, oh yes.

magnolia, you will find them all on this link except for ther nanum Bhutan form and xanthellum var luteum, but the straight species are there. Click on the names and it gives all the info

http://www.deflorum.com/lilium/species.html

You can find the pics on the site I got them from

www.rareplants.co.uk

Wallaby, I enjoyed both of those links. Is Rare Plants your favorite bulb vendor? They have a lot of unusual bulbs there. I should have studied Latin in college :0) then I'd be better suited for these species names. The first bulb you have up there is my favorite of what you have listed there & what a beauty it is! Thanks again for sharing those links.

That's a nice looking bunch of bulbs!

I'd say that rarebulbs here is the best rare bulb supplier I have found.

The latin names often have nothing to do with the plant other than being named after the person who 'discovered' them. I think poilanei is one by Poilane, rosthornii another by Rosthorn. They just stick an 'ei' 'ii' or something similar on the end.

pyrenaicum, comes from the Pyrenee Mountains.

To make it easier I will post a link to each plant where it tells the story.

L rosthornii

http://www.deflorum.com/species/rosthornii.html

L. poilanei

http://www.deflorum.com/species/poilanei.html

L xanthellum (which pictures var. luteum )

http://www.deflorum.com/species/xanthellum.html

L nanum, the Bhutan form I think is more spotted (nanum from nanus being small)

http://www.deflorum.com/species/nanum.html

L.pyrenaicum

http://www.deflorum.com/species/pyrenaicum.html

L majoense (from 'major', because of large flowers ...I would have thought an area in China!)

http://www.deflorum.com/species/majoense.html

Yep Moby, I would say they are 'attractive'! Whatever takes our fancy.........

Hmmmm, some nice ones there!

Most of those bulbs are really hefty too, for species. Good score, Wallaby! I so wish I could get people interested in species in our Northstar Lily Society.

Botanical Latin isn't quite the same as spoken Latin, but you certainly could grasp the meanings a lot easier. From the mother language, it incorporates such things as adjective agreement with the noun, which is where all the "i", "ii", "...s", "um", etc. come from. Probably the most comprehensive(and still growing) source for meanings of Latin epithets is
http://davesgarden.com/botanary/

Another one that attacks the words a little differently is
http://www.winternet.com/~chuckg/dictionary.html
This one can be especially good for rock gardeners, as the epithet listing comes mostly from names of alpine plants. I like it because I have this thing about languages, and it explains a little of the grammar part of it. Plus it is written and maintained by a friend of mine here in Minnesota.

Remember too that while there is a reason for every species name, that doesn't mean the reason always ends up to be a good one. Many plants are named for the place where they were first "discovered", even though they might be far more plentiful a great distance away.

Rick

Lefty, I was surprised at the size of most of them. I expected most to be much smaller, and they are very fresh.

Notice how the colour of the flower is often reflected in the bulb, xanthellum var. luteum is quite yellow and majoense is nearly beetroot coloured.

Your lily society might be more interested when they see what you are accumulating in the species. Sometimes people can get all consumed with the hybrids, but when they see the beauty to behold of species they will be drooling. Have you seen the species gladiolus? Sooooo orchidilustrous.

I will do my 'utmost' to get those scales in their separate bags, you will be getting some.

Adore L. majoense and L. n Bhutan but I read these are hard to cultivate, so that pretty much eliminates me, plus the cool weather. sigh

I have been looking at pink leucojum, since white does so great here, I'm wondering how well I'd do w/ the pink.

Ursula is selling seeds of a yellow rhodofiala that I would love to try my hand at. I'm not much into seeds at all, but this one I'd love to try.
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/670153/

as always, Janet, great links.

Indeed, once a good portion of my species seedlings are blooming, I will be promoting them highly. Since I live so close to the arboretum here, I am already thinking ahead to the time when I will write an article for our newsletter. An article in which I invite anyone to stop by when they go for an arboretum visit. I hope everyone here at DG already knows they are welcome. Beaker has come by, although it wasn't lily blooming time yet.

I did notice the seeming color coordination of bulb and flower on your pics, even without you mentioning it. I wonder though . . . if bulb color might also have to do with age and other environmental factors. In fall 2004 I had dug a mature Lilium x marhan seedling that had divided into two. It was growing in dry part shade and the bulbs were nearly white. I gave one away (traded) and replanted the other in full sun, but with lots of mulch and ample water. In fall 2005, when I had prepared a new garden for it, I dug it up again, and to my surprise the bulb had doubled in size with a dark yellow color. Makes one go: hmmmm . . .

As far as I have found, there is only one species of gladiola that is winter hardy here: Gladiolus atroviolaceus. It is thriving multipliciously in my garden since 1998. Someday I will get some of those most wonderful less hardy species in hopes of cross breeding hardiness into them. But I really don't know anything about which species might be compatible yet, so that's on hold.

voss, L majoense I was looking for world wide, little did I know it was on my doorstep! As Lefty said, they are far more plentiful in other places than their original site 'perhaps'. This one appears to be like gold dust but it is around, just not readily available in most places. You could have a problem with your heat.
You could do well with winter rainfall species galdiolus which require hot, dry summer spells.

Lefty it would be interesting to do a study on several species Lilium to compare young with mature bulbs. You could be just the person to do it!

I like your idea of cross breeding the species Gladiolus, this is how many a less hardy beauty has gained market status, very often one person with a passionate interest to carry it forward. I have bought seeds of 30 species which is going to keep me quite busy along with growing everything else under the sun, including lilium seeds! I started a thread on the bulb forum giving links to pictures of the latest species I have acquired (seeds). The G arcuatus has lost it's cookie but can be found on the site in Sth African bulbs (English flag).

http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/669986/

I have come across some sites with compatibility studies on Gladiolus species, but very little info available. The google scholar search function might come up with more. I have bought the book on Sth African Gladiolus by Goldblatt & Manning, it is quite comprehensive in that it gives close relations to other species, history, distribution etc. which may be helpful in deciding which to ry crossing with. Some of them are hardy to z7 or less, still not quite your depth of freeze. In the front of the book there is a Classification list arranged in 7 sections and 27 series for 163 species. Species outside Sth Africa include 10 in Eurasia, 9 in Madagascar, 83 in tropical Africa plus Arabia (6 shared with Stn Africa). Current total in the genus 255.

On top of that there is a list giving chromosome numbers in Sth Africa species. A section on Ecology. Pollinaton and flower Form. Relationships, subgeneric classification, phylogeny, and radiation. With all this information and your training, when do you start?

This might be interesting

http://aob.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/97/3/317

It is a good thing I just started working again...................I KNOW where most of my checks are going to be spent!

You mean you had self control when you weren't working?

I didn't have any choice!!!!!! (I did spend a lot of DH's income though!) But, with money in my pocket...............well, it won't be there for long!

Wallaby, you know what I like! And I get off on that technical stuff too. There really is a lot of useful information in that "Radiation of Pollination Systems in the Iridaceae of sub-Saharan Africa".

wallaby--your species collection looks incredible! Can we see some pics when they bloom in your garden?

Hoho, try to stop me, my camera becomes a part of the daily ritual.

Lefty you will be receiving a 'toy' with any luck, I hope you have fun playing! It's on it's way.

Woo Hoo! A future American source of cool species lilies(hopefully).

That's what I want to be when I grow up.

I don't understand the concept of grown up.

I awoke early this morning and realised I had forgotten gloriosoides, how I did that I don't know but I was in a hurry to get packed and I did remember Bellingham Hybrids. If I find I have seeds from the philippinense-gloriowhatsits pod I might remember then, there is something strange happening to my memory when it comes to that one. It is supposed to be on the slightly tender side, but who knows unless you try.

The seed pod is getting very fat, weather holding out, I think I will have lots of seeds. The #2 pod is swelling, #3 also but is smaller and doesn't look good, #4 is not swelling at all, the stem below the pod is rotting. Worth noting that I didn't pollinate that one. The others I pollinated #2 with pollen from #1, #3 with #2 pollen. As there does look to be variation in all of them who knows which pollen has worked.

Isn't it interesting what a night's sleep can do for you - it's like defragmenting (defragging) your brain. I experience it regularly.

Polinating one flower of a lily with pollen from another flower of that same lily, is still self-pollinating. But as pollen and stigma of the same flower may not mature similtaneously, It might be a good thing you did what you did.

I did get two small gloriosoides bulbs from Chen Yi (China) this past spring. Hopefully, they are what they are supposed to be. They are being mulch well, as are my other treasures from there. And we'll see what comes up next spring.

wallaby

It seems to me that if I search the forums for the threads you participate in or start,I can read about the most incredible and interesting subjects.

Does this make me a stalker?

Perhaps a lurker?

I don't mind lurkers, thanks for coming out into the open! I'm pleased you find the subjects interesting, I too have learned many interesting things on DG, we do have some interesting people on here!

Very nice selection of species lilies you have there Wallaby. I have ordered many times from Paul Christian Rare Plants - they have a great selection of plants. I have quite a few seeds of lilium langkongense if anyone in the UK would like some.

Hi Galanth! haven't seen you around for a while!

I did buy some L. langkongense from lilyseeds.com, I imagine they will grow! I hope they will grow..how long do yours take from seed to flower?

Thanks for offering, half tempted 'just in case'!

llilyfan, if you buy more bulbs, are they going to spend the winter out on your bridge? Inquiring minds want to know.

No Wanda..................Those were some who were destined for a different location and a number of things came up that sidetracked me. They were (if it helps any at all) stem bulblets from one area, to be shared with another area. ALL of my new and or expensive and or species bulbs were planted immediately and carefully. I hope this satisfies that inquiring mind of yours....................Love ya

Very nice selection of species. To bad it costs $50+ to ship :*( Rare plants didn't seem to list hardiness either.

Sue, but you are so fun to tease. And no one sees my mistakes....

Lily Nook has L. leichtlinii but http://www.deflorum.com/species/leichtlinii.html says it is difficult to grow, but does not expound as to why. Anybody buy species from The Lily Nook before?

The reference on this site to that information (1) says it could be outdated. I don't know why it should be grown in a greenhouse border here, and be hardy to zone 5. It may have been information placed on that site from the RHS site reference. It likes woodland edge conditons, and no hot midday sun. That should be easy enough here, most locations are not below zone 8 and we don't get much scorching sun.

http://permaculture.info/cgi-bin/eden?plant=3793

I also don't think it is that rare now, Bloms bulbs here has it in their latest catalogue at 3 for £3.95. Species lilies are becoming more popular as we speak.

It is not a drop it in the ground type of bulb, but definitely doable.

I have both a yellow and an orange leichtlinii. I treat them like any other lilium - no extra care, no tlc. they both do very well.

You can just see a bit of the orange one behind George Slate here.

inanda

I also had the orange leichtlinii var. maximowiczii. It is the more common one. Yellow is harder to find, even though it is what the straight species is. Seems easy, although mine never got large enough to bloom. Last summer (2005) I accidently pulled it while weeding. (Well, no one has the monopoly on stupidity!) I don't think it reappeared this past season at all. Anyway, I received the bulblet from a friend in St. Paul who has grown it for years, so it is definitely hardy in zone 4.