Putoria calabrica & Peonies
- To: m*@ucdavis.edu
- Subject: Putoria calabrica & Peonies
- From: "* T* <n*@lehmann.mobot.org>
- Date: Wed, 27 Jan 1999 18:31:51 CST6CDT
- Priority: normal
Putoria calabrica is actually in the family Rubiaceae (bedstraw family). I
know the plant from Crete, where it grows in limestone rock crevices, often
on vertical cliffs. It forms flat cushions pressed against the rock, with
showy pink flowers on very short stems in summer. I've also seen it growing
in alluvial rubble by the Sarandoporos River in NW Greece. There it was
forming slightly laxer cushions with slightly taller flowering stems (i.e.,
up to 4" / 10cm).
As for peonies, I grew numerous plants from seed in the U.K. in the late
80s and early 90s. The seeds came from various sources, including the wild.
If you sow in autumn/winter, they should produce shoots the spring after
the one immediately following, i.e., sow in November 1999 and expect shoots
in spring 2001. I believe there may be some root action going on in the
first season, but no shoot. I sowed seeds individually in 3" (7cm) plastic
pots, covering the seed with its own thickness of soil and top-dressing
with gravel (to retain water and deter moss and liverwort growth). The pots
stayed in a shady cold-frame. The seeds that germinated stayed in the pots
for 2 or 3 (shoot) growing seasons and were then planted outside in the 3rd
season. They first flowered, on average, in their 6th season of shoot
growth.
The species I grew from seed were: P. broteroi, P. brownii (died), P.
cambessedesii, P. clusii subsp. clusii, P. clusii subsp. rhodia, P.
coriacea, P. ludlowii (shrubby), P. mascula, P. officinalis, P.
parnassica (died), P. tenuifolia. All are still alive (in my parents'
garden in the U.K.) except for P. brownii, which died at the seedling
stage, and P. parnassica, which succumbed soon after planting out. All the
survivors have flowered, I think: P. cambessedesii and P. tenuifolia were
the longest wait (sown 1989, flowered 1998), but it does depend where you
plant them; these two are in a rather dry part of the garden.
Nick.
Nick Turland
Flora of China Project, Missouri Botanical Garden,
P.O. Box 299, St. Louis, MO 63166-0299, U.S.A.
E-mail: nturland@lehmann.mobot.org
Phone: +1 314 577 0269 Fax: +1 314 577 9438
