[pbs] Cryptostephanus
James Waddick
jwaddick at kc.rr.com
Wed Sep 12 14:59:29 EDT 2007
Dear Pieter,
Your note made me go back and re-read Harold Koopowitz'
account of the genus in his excellent book 'Clivia' (Timber
Press,2002). This book is a must for Clivia fans and sure to induce
clivia-envy.
He mentions that hybrids between Crypt. and Clivia have been
tried, but no success reported. Apparently the '3rd' species C.
densiflorus has never been in cultivation. Oddly both C. densiflorus
and C. haemanthoides are deciduous unlike C. vansonii or Clivia sp.
Harold also mentions Cyrtanthus herrei (seen at
http://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/index.php/CyrtanthusSpeciesTwo#herrei)
. This was originally described as a Cryptostephanus and looks
remarkably like Clivia caulescens. !
I grow a 'so called' pink C. vansonii, but the color only
shows up if the bloom is during a cool period. IN warmer weather the
flowers are essentially white like the 'typical' form.
Intriguong plants. Thanks for the info. Jim W.
>To answer your questions, there are 3 species of Cryptostephanus, C.
>vansonii from Zimbabwe, C. haemanthoides from Tanzania and C. densiflorus
>from Angola, the later has also been reported to occur in Northern Namibia.
.....
>As for hybrids between the different Cryptostephanus species, the other two
>species are still so rare in cultivation that I doubt anyone has attempted
>this. I suspect that such hybrids would produce some very interesting
>results.
>
>I have no idea how variable C. haemanthoides or C. densiflorus are, but I
>know that there are certain forms of C. vansonii with much darker pink
>flowers than usual.
>
>Pieter van der Walt
>
--
Dr. James W. Waddick
8871 NW Brostrom Rd.
Kansas City Missouri 64152-2711
USA
Ph. 816-746-1949
Zone 5 Record low -23F
Summer 100F +
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