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Re: Strange plant-- Help ID?

At 09:48 AM 7/22/98 -0700, Mark Fryer wrote:
>   <snip>
>The growth habit is very familiar to a Hawaiian Silversword (Agyroxiphium
>sandwicense), having an inflorescence that erupts from a central crown of
>yucca-like leaves. The floral spike is usually red, and quite large.
>Supposedly the plants take between 3 and 5 years to mature to flowering
>size, and the total height of the plant and flower can exceed 10 feet.
>Foolishly, I wasn't taking notes during the program where I saw photos of
>this plant, but the name sounded like Xantheum or something. It's
>evidently marignally hardy in Portland and Seattle (Pacific NW, uda zone
>7-8). 

Hi Mark - 

I saw the proposal by Tim Harvey that this might be Echium wildprettii - 
actually in rereading your description, that might be a candidate.  It
made me realize how broad your description is.  I'll take a stab, but
perhaps you can elaborate a bit more?

A close up of the flowers of Echium wildprettii may be seen on the
Ventnor Botanic Gardens site (UK):

   http://www.botanic.co.uk/medit.htm

Doryanthes excelsa, the Australian Gymea Lily, might be a possibility -
see the following URL for a drawing and some information:

   http://www.anbg.gov.au/aborig.s.e.aust/doryanthes-excelsa.html

I fits the marginally hardy for Portland & Seattle part of your
description, whereas the Echium is reliably hardy in those areas.

I'm also wondering if it might be Beschorneria yuccoides, a South
American succulent with a large, branching inflorescence that is
coral red to green.  There is a photo of the emerging spike at:

   http://www.botanic.co.uk/americas.htm

Hope these help you figure it out - good luck!

Sean O.

 Sean A. O'Hara                     sean.ohara@ucop.edu
 710 Jean Street                    (510) 987-0577
 Oakland, California 94610-1459     h o r t u l u s   a p t u s
 U.S.A.                             'a garden suited to its purpose'
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