Re: Isoplexis and other Canary/Madeira plants

> Nick - any idea of the longevity of these creatures? Any idea of a
> seed-source for either or both of the two rarer spp you (tantalisingly -
> as ever!) mentioned? And do you happen to know where pics of them might
> be found?

Tim, well, they are small shrubs, so I would think several years at 
least. They might be comparable with the non-monocarpic 
Canary/Madeira echiums. As for sources of the obscure pair, Bjoern 
Malkmus, in Germany, recently posted a message to this list about his 
website centered around the Canaries and plant/seed exchange. He lists 
Isoplexis chalcantha at:

http://www.rareplants.de/plants/seedlist1999/canary_islands_endemics.htm

Bjoern, if you're reading this, do you have I. isabelliana too, or do 
you know of a source?!?

I think there is real potential for some of these Macaronesian species in
Mediterranean gardens. Just shelter them from too much sun and don't let
them dry out. Peter Lewis mentioned the genus Musschia. This is a real
wierdo in the bellflower family (Campanulaceae); the only two species are
endemic to Madeira: M. aurea grows on basalt cliffs, forms a group of
rosettes of glossy leaves, and has bright yellow flowers; M. wollastonii
has one giant rosette of up to 2-foot-long leaves and a great monocarpic
pyramid (to 6 feet) of strange, brownish flowers. The latter would enjoy
the same conditions as the Isoplexis species, probably, but in my
experience it won't take much frost (like yours, Peter, mine died). A
more hardy Madeiran wierdo is Melanoselinum decipiens (an umbellifer),
like an angelica plant elevated on a 3-foot trunk with a great cloud of
white flowers, like a Queen Anne's-lace on acid... It will take several
degrees of frost (when the leaves go an attractive dark purple color).
There are also some excellent shrubby euphorbias in Madeira and the
Canaries, some from the laurel forest and damp, shady cliffs and  some
from much more arid, desertlike conditions. If you like succulents, then
there's the genus Aeonium, like a shrubby Sempervivum...

Nick.

Nick Turland
Flora of China Project, Missouri Botanical Garden, 
P.O. Box 299, St. Louis, MO 63166-0299, U.S.A.
E-mail: Nicholas.Turland@mobot.org
Phone: +1 314 577 0269  Fax: +1 314 577 9438
MBG web: http://www.mobot.org
FOC web: http://flora.harvard.edu/china/
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