Patagonian alpine seeds

[Lori S.]

Holubec's seed list from Patagonia has been added to his website.
http://www.villevekster.com/patagoniaseeds.html

If only I didn't have far too many seeds already!

[McDonough]

Holubec's seed list from Patagonia has been added to his website.
http://www.villevekster.com/patagoniaseeds.html

If only I didn't have far too many seeds already!

Fantastic.  What better way to torture an unemployed guy  

A number of years ago, I grew several items on this list, and they flowered... Perezia recurvata, Nassauvia lagascae, and Olsynium biflorum, which gives hope that some of these are growable.  Couple times germinated Anarthophyllum desideratum, but they didn't last long... one can at least dream of successfully growing a scarlet gorse. Some super items in the list, thanks for posting.

[Lori S.]

Do tell!  Did you happen to take photos of these wonders?

[McDonough]

Do tell!  Did you happen to take photos of these wonders?

I did take photos (well, 35 mm slides).  I have one of those basic all-in-one HP printers with document copying, scanning, scanning to PDF, etc., but it doesn't have a slide-scanning attachment .  The Nassauvia lagascae was just a tiny hummock in 4 years, and the weird little serpentine stem and few tiny off-white flowers was no great shakes, but it did flower.  I grew this in a tall pot with some pumice-based soil mix.  The Perezia recurvata grew nicely outside in a raised sand bed, and even though rainy in Seattle, it grew and flowered with just a few of those starry light blue flowers.

The winner was Olsynium biflorum.  It just took me 20 minutes racking my brain to remember the spelling of the peculiar genus name I got it under, finally able to find it via Google, it came as Phaiophleps biflora, seed came from Kew.  I found a link showing a decent looking specimen, but mine was prettier, with large white flowers tinged pink, but those candy-striped red bulbs are really something.  Not sure where this stands in the Phaiophleps = Sisyrinchium = Olsynium makeover, but I'm guessing it is Olsynium these days.

http://www.srgc.org.uk/discus/messages/283/11506.jpg

[Lori S.]

I understand completely re. the old slides - fabulous photo quality with such depth and clarity, but it all seems rather inconvenient today, compared to digital, doesn't it?

I found photos of a couple of the ones you grew.
Nassauvia lagascae looks like it can be absolutely fascinating.  That sort of plant form (rosulate?) seems as though it must serve some advantage in the climate, as it seems to be utilized in various genera.
http://www.ubcbotanicalgarden.org/potd/2009/04/nassauvia_lagascae.php

Perezia recurvata:
http://images.google.ca/imgres?imgurl=http://magnar.aspaker.no/Perezia%2520recurvata.jpg&imgrefurl=http://magnar.aspaker.no/perezia_recurvata.htm&usg=__aXJQbSisw7VIlMNl0y6zg2ht4v8=&h=425&w=567&sz=354&hl=en&start=1&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=kFL1vfaGvIYu7M:&tbnh=100&tbnw=134&prev=/images%3Fq%3DPerezia%2Brecurvata%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dsafari%26sa%3DN%26rls%3Den%26tbs%3Disch:1

[McDonough]

I understand completely re. the old slides - fabulous photo quality with such depth and clarity, but it all seems rather inconvenient today, compared to digital, doesn't it?

Not to mention, my slides consist of a couple huge boxes filled with a jumble of those little cardboard (eventually plastic) boxes that held 32 slides each, it is near impossible to find anything I'm looking for.  Thank goodness for digital photography.

The link to Naussauvia lagascae shows a much prettier pink-flowered plant than what I grew (mine looked close to the duller white form scrolling down in that link).  The growth form was as a hummock, not rosulate.  The flowering stems remind me of whipcord growth, as one sees in some Hebe species.  On the SRGC site, there is a photo of one that truly is a weird whipcord thing, Nassauvia glomerulosa:  http://www.srgc.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=3022.15  That same link has some beautiful Olsynium photos.

The Perezia link shows a plant with brighter blue flowers than what I grew, but also much more open growth.  Mine grew as a relatively dense hummock, worth growing for the foliage alone.