Re: Strelitzia dead-heading

-----Original Message-----
From: Dave Poole <dave-poole@ilsham.demon.co.uk>
To: medit-plants@ucdavis.edu <medit-plants@ucdavis.edu>
Date: 26 August 2002 12:10
Subject: Re: Strelitzia dead-heading


>Jason wrote:
>
>>Isn't there an unusual arborescent Strelitzia - not S.
>>nicolai - that grows along the south coast of South
>>Africa, where winter and summer rainfall zones
>>overlap? I recall seeing a slide show once in which
>>this plant was pictured. Perhaps it has been subsumed
>>under S. nicolai.
>
>There is Strelitzia alba (augusta) which can reach over 10 metres and
>bears very large purplish spathes from which arise white sepals and
>petals.  The inflorescences are very short stalked and are clustered
>within the leaf axils.  The large, banana like leaves are carried in a
>distinctive fan-like arrangement and are readily torn into ribbons by
>the wind.
>
>Strelitzia caudata is similar but rather smaller in overall dimensions
>(to around 4 metres) with rose coloured spathes and all white flowers.
>It may be a sub species of S. alba.  Both species are more northerly
>in their distribution than S. nicolai and are less tolerant of cool
>temperatures.
>
>
>David Poole
>TORQUAY  UK


Actually the S alba is the one that grows along the garden route & is the
one Jason enquired about.
I know it from forest fringes there & doesn't seem to form the huge forests
of S.nicolai you get on the coastal cliffs, further east in what was the old
Transkei. I would rate the two as equally drought hardy, even if the
S.nicolai is from a more pure summer rainfall zone. Does perfectly well in
my garden on nothing but benign neglect.

PS - I had dinner last night with David Feix &  his party of San Fransisco
plant people on a SA wildflower tour. Lovely people. Really enjoying
themselves & overwhelmed by the local plantlife.

Regards

Glenn Breayley. Ragnarok & Valhalla Research.
POBox 26158, Hout Bay, 7872, Capetown, South Africa
Ph/Fax SA 021 7904253 E-mail valhalla@iafrica.com
Wholesale nurseryman & Tillandsia specialist wholesale & retail grower.
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