Re: I.D. Help Required
Glenn Breayley wrote:
>
> Hi All
>
> I have three plants which have me a little flummoxed, so any help would be
> appreciated.
>
> 1/ Salvia sclarea ' Turkestanica '. Betty Clebsch gives this as being white
> or with a pink tinge. I have a form I received as ' Turkestanica ' but with
> pink/violet bracts, a white lip & blue ' hood '. Definitely far grander than
> the normal clary sage I've grown in the past. Would this be the ' Vatican
> strain ' she talks about ? Given that I'm frost free, how truly perennial is
> it ?
>
> 2/ I have a plant I bought as Megaskepasma erythrochlamys. The flower looks
> very similar to photos I have of this ( similar to Odontonema strictum ) but
> is in a rich violet colour. A soft, tropical looking shrub & seems to flower
> year round. Any ideas ?
>
> 3/ I have a climber sold to me as Lapageria rosea, which I was very excited
> to get, especially when it really thrived for me. Its not though. It has a
> similar looking, mauve, fox glove type, flower but these are borne in
> definite panicles, arising in spring, from the woody stems. Leaves are
> opposite comprised of 5 leaflets, two being opposite pairs & one terminal.
> Entire & deeply veined. Again, any ideas ?
Glenn
3/The _real_ Lapigeria rosea is I think quite unmistakable because of
the extraordinary texture of the petals which look as though moulded out
of wax. I know of nothing else remotely like them. There are red pink
and white forms and the red kinds are often noticeably spotted with
white. The corolla is bell-shaped and consists of separate overlapping
petals, rather than the fused corolla found in things like foxgloves.
The leaves are bright green and very shiny and appear to be mostly
alternate on quite stiff cane-like stems.
Just a wild stab at identifying your climber. What about Thunbergia
grandiflora?
Botanica says frost tender and needing protection from drying summer
winds.
Moira
--
Tony & Moira Ryan <theryans@xtra.co.nz>
Wainuiomata (near Wellington, capital city of New Zealand)
