A young plant of Aloe longistyla in flower in my collection
Long style. as the name suggests
After fertilisation the plant shows the characteristic large fruits of the species.
Contents of the Winter 2015 Northants News
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Aloe longistyla Trevor Wray |
When I was at the
(Inter)National Convention in 2014 a speaker showed us the small growing Aloe
longistyla
flowering in habitat. It was attractive and new to me. Just by coincidence there
were reasonably priced seedlings at the sales and I bought two. Well they were
cheap.
Now, in early March, (2015) the first is in flower and the other will follow shortly. I might tickle them, the seed pods are supposed to be huge and a distinguishing feature. The big Aloe book gives the distribution as the Western and Eastern Cape of RSA, so quite widespread. You only have to look a bit closely at the flowers to see why it is a ‘longistyla’. The anthers are pretty long as well.
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A young plant of Aloe longistyla in flower in my collection |
Long style. as the name suggests |
After fertilisation the plant shows the characteristic large fruits of the species. |
So nine months from purchase to flowering is
pretty good for an Aloe seedling. They seem pretty tough as well, mine growing
in full sun on a cold shelf, (and down to -2ºC this winter).
As the flowers opened on the second plant I
tickled the flowers with my finger, (paint brushes and cotton buds are for
people with money to spare). Hey presto; a few months later I had the huge
fruits typical of the species. (Right) And enough seeds to give everyone an Aloe
longistyla.
Trev
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Postscript to
Aloe longistyla Left:
How
are the seeds of Aloe longistyla spread?
As the song goes... ”The answer is blowing in the wind”. Right: |
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Update on Viscum minimum LLoyd Gordon |
Ed:
You will remember that
Lloyd wrote us an interesting account (which you can read here)
of how he ‘sowed’ seeds of Viscum
minimum on
Euphorbias, (with inherent problems as he lives in Canada). We left the account
waiting for something to happen.
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After
a few months, I figured the seedlings were on their own. No misting, just
the usual plant care. I noticed some seedlings withered and dried up,
others stayed green and plump. The haustoria on the Euphorbia
horrida seemed
to be coming a bit off despite the epoxy glue. Nothing happened for a long
time. Then
I noticed a green bump on the whitish integument of the E.
polygona. Sure enough, there were multiple growth points
on both plants. Success! More and more have shown up on the E.
polygona while the E.
horrida just has two growth points, one right next to a haustorium and one a bit
away. Lloyd |
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Ed: You can guess I rushed to inspect my own sowing of Viscum. Not a sausage! Well no sign of new growth. Yet.
