Question (about Echiums)

>Date: Thu, 27 May 1999 19:21:22 -0700
>To: medit-plants@ucdavis.edu
>From: Jane Reese <jreese@silcom.com>
>Subject: Question
>Is there a red echium?  I saw a plant with a dramatic inflorescence that
>looked like a red Christmas tree.  It was 7 feet tall.   I thought it might
>be a Puya.  Someone else identified it as a Echium. I keep seeing blue
>Echium where the  inflorescence is the same shape but never any other
>color.  This appeared to jave a single inflorescence to a plant, as opposed
>to the Eschium that I see that have muliplie inflorescences.  I saw this in
>Lompoc Ca (Sunset Zone 24).  A man there working in his yard said it came
>easily from seed, but could not remember the name.
>
>Does anyone have any ideas?
>
>Jane
>Santa Barbara, CA

Hi Jane - 

Sorry to take so long in responding to your question.  There is a 'red'
Echium, E. wildpretii.  Actually, there are other, more red than this,
but not for mediterranean climates.  E. wildpretii is fairly common in
gardens in California.  It is also know for suddenly giving up the
ghost for no apparent reason.  This seems to me to be due to the little
known fact that this particular species of Echium prefers to grow in a
very sandy soil (what it is found growing in on the Canary Islands).
It also likes good sun and warmth.  The dense, silver tufts of hairy,
lanceolate leaves eventually produces a single terminal spike of many,
tiny, soft brick-red flowers (sort of a coral-red).  Lots of seed is
produced and a fair bit self-seeding is expected.

E. pininana, which also flowers in a single spike, is larger and
'looser' in all aspects.  The leaves are wider and longer, greener,
and more widely spaced on the tall stems.  The flowers tend to be a
lavender color.  This plant seems very happy in heavier soils, cooler
coastal exposure and even partial shade.

I have a plant in my garden which is just finishing its flowering.  I
thought is was E. pininana, which is what is seemed to be when young.
It came from a garden which had specimens of both pininana and 
wildpretii.  After seeing it complete its growth and flower cycle, I
am convinced it is a hybrid of those two species, being somewhat
intermediate between the two.  The leaves were not quite as large as
pininana, but I thought this was due to the dry soil and south-west
exposure.  The flowers were a pale reddish-lavender and denser than
pininana (i.e. more like wildpretii).  I'll have to see what the seed
(if any) yields in the next generations!

I am also a great fan of E. fastuosum, which is quite common here in
the SF Bay Area.  There are a variety of colors, from rich electric
blues, lavender blues, purples, even pinky-violets.  I once saw a
plant which bicolor pink and white flowers growing on the cliffs
above Bolinas beach but it was too high to reach for a cutting!  You
never quite know what you're going to get from the seedling grown
plants usually available.  Does anyone have experience in rooting
cuttings from this plant?  I know people do it but I have yet to have
much success.



Sean A. O'Hara                       sean.ohara@poboxes.com
h o r t u l u s   a p t u s          710 Jean Street
'a garden suited to its purpose'     Oakland, CA 94610-1459, U.S.A.
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