[pbs] Massonia
Mary Sue Ittner
msittner at mcn.org
Sat Apr 19 17:08:31 EDT 2008
The Massonia Dylan asked about is one that I grew from seed from Bill Dijk
that was labeled Massonia pustulata. My attempt to key it out from my keys
made me think it was more likely to be M. echinata since it has such short
filaments. The various descriptions for M. echinata give a lot of leeway in
variation: smooth, hairy or pustulate-hairy, sometimes spotted leaves for
example. Filaments in the Cape Encyclopedia description for M. echinata are
4 to 10 mm long and for M. pustulata (10) 15-24 mm. long and that is how
you are to tell them apart in the key. I could be wrong, but tried to hedge
my bets in my wiki description and would be happy to rename it if others
feel it is indicated. It's not all that easy to measure filaments in
flowers like these and impossible to tell how long they are from a
photograph. M. hirsuta is a species I know nothing about. Perhaps Dylan can
add pictures or information about it to the wiki? Since my plants were
grown from seed there is always the possibility that they are hybrids.
Mary Sue
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