Drimia: Another day - another theory!

Hi All,
 
Greetings from the Algarve, Portugal currently 6pm and 24'C (75'F).
 
I've been walking in Drimia/Urginea country today and looking at plants and thinking. The plants were growing on open dry stony ground which is typical. 
 
Most bulbous species pull themselves down into the soil with contractile roots as they grow to maintain themselves at the "correct" depth. But, in stony ground this must be difficult or impossible especially for a very large Drimia bulb. So my thought today is not that they need or "want" to be exposed on the surface but rather that they can survive being exposed if they cant pull themselves down. The fact that they are poisonous to grazing animals and rodents means that they can survive on the surface unmolested. The stony ground means that there are few competing plants to shade out the leaves and compete for water and nutrients.
 
Thats my thought for the day.
 
....by the way they looked lovely...sorry I didn't have my camera with me - I could have shared a photo or two.
 
Best wishes
BrianO
 
 
Hi Brian,

I think you are right about means of dispersal.  I found my Drimia on 
the Island of Crete near Sitia when my husband and I went hiking in 
the hills.  It was just lying on the surface, and we thought perhaps 
it had been kicked up by goats.  I had no idea what it was, and the 
hotel manager told me the flowers would be yellow and fragrant.  I 
brought it home and it turned out to be what I managed to identify as 
"sea squill".  That was more than 25 years ago.  It has been very 
happy on my unwatered slope in coastal Los Angeles and has 
multiplied.  I enjoy the handsome big leaves as well as the flowers.  
This year there are far more flowers than usual and I don't know 
whether to attribute it to my winter temperature of 24 degrees, the 
lack of rain (three inches here), or the recent heat wave (100 degrees).

Cathy


On Sep 17, 2007, at 6:03 AM, Brian Ottway wrote:

> Hi Moira,
>
> This idea of baking of the bulbs makes sense and you're probably 
> right ....but...I do wonder if this is the answer in the case of 
> the Urginea. Where I live, anything in a rocky stony sandy soil 
> will be baked over the summer down to quite some depth - no need to 
> be above ground level. Could it be a dispersal mechanism, with 
> offsets being knocked off by passing animals?
>
> Thats my thought for the day!!
>
> Good growing
> BrianO
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