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Aug 28, 2008: Xanthosoma mexicanum
Aug 29, 2007:
Erigeron peregrinus subsp. callianthemus var. callianthemus
Aug 29, 2006:
Trail to Botanical Beach
Aug 29, 2005:
Cypella herbertii
May 22, 2008 : Ixia viridiflora
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Plant Family / Families: Iridaceae
Scientific Name and Author: Ixia viridiflora Lam.
Name Location: cultivated in California, USA
Well, badthings@Flickr must be able to read my mind, because I've long wanted to have Ixia viridiflora on BPotD (original posted via the Flickr BPotD Group Pool). badthings also posts as MMW over on Two Gardens (today's image was part of this post). Thank you!
Green ixia, or Groenkalossie in Afrikaans, is a cormous perennial native to "lower slopes of mountains in the Tulbagh District of Western Cape" in South Africa. It had a slightly larger range in the late 19th / early 20th century, when it occurred in two other Districts, but it has since been extirpated from both of these areas. Like many South African flowers, Plantzafrica.com provides an excellent resource for learning more: Ixia viridiflora.
The pollination syndrome of Ixia is known as cantharophily, or, pollination by beetles. The article above points to monkey beetles (the tribe Hopliini in the scarab family) as the primary pollinators. For an example of a monkey beetle pollinating a flower (in this case, a Moraea (Iridaceae)), see Flower Pollination by photographer Colin Paterson-Jones.
More photographs of Ixia viridiflora are available from the Pacific Bulb Society Wiki. An illiustration of the plant, from the Missouri Botanical Garden Rare Books Collection, is available here: Ixia viridflora.
Photography resource link: Long-time BPotD readers may remember this entry on The Art of Christian Staebler. I was thinking about Christian a couple weeks ago and wondering what he was working on these days -- and a couple weeks later (out of the blue), he sent me an answer. scannography, the art of scanning, is a collaborative website run by Christian that highlights the work of scannographers from around the world.
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at May 22, 2008 2:20 PM
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Comments
Posted by: ingrid at May 22, 2008 3:30 PM
Wow. That vivid teal blue color is very unusual. I can't stop looking at it!
Posted by: Lynne at May 22, 2008 3:41 PM
Incredible! I love the architecture of that plant.....combined with the color i'm stumped why it's not a more popular plant? I think it would be a hit here in North America!
Posted by: J at May 23, 2008 4:54 AM
Maybe it WOULD be a hit, but if the beetles that pollinate it are not present, it wouldn't really be viable.
Posted by: Clint McInnes at May 23, 2008 5:26 AM
Ixia viridiflora - Z9 - RHS Index of Garden Plants, Griffiths
Ixia viridiflora - Z10-11 - A-Z Encyclopedia of Garden Plants, Brickell, Cole, Zuk
Ixia iks-ee-a From Gk. ixia [bird lime] referring to the sticky sap. viridiflora vi-ri-di-flo-ra. With green flowers. Dictionary of Plant Names, Coombes
Posted by: Beverley at May 23, 2008 10:57 AM
It's colour is Christmas-like ---one might also say 'elfin- looking' .
Posted by: Jason Leary at May 26, 2008 8:37 AM
The "original" link just goes back to this page.
Posted by: Eric in SF at May 26, 2008 10:05 AM
Fixed - thanks Eric.
Posted by: Daniel Mosquin 
at May 26, 2008 10:54 AM
Clint,
I'm sure it could either be hand pollinated or propagated asexually by either offsets or by tissue culture.
Also, I wouldn't rule out North American beetles acting as effective pollinators. After all, old world honey bees are effective pollinators of many new world plants, even though it took humans to bring them together in the blink of en evolutionary eye.
Posted by: Denis at May 26, 2008 3:41 PM
Speaking of pollinators, I'm wondering about the color and what it attracts. I got outbid a week or two ago on some seeds for Lachenalia viridiflora. It was nearly the same color, but has a very different structure.
Is there a connection? Are they attracting a common pollinator with that color?
Posted by: Denis at May 26, 2008 3:54 PM
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Botany Photo of the Day is a project of the UBC Botanical Garden and Centre for Plant Research, located in Vancouver, British Columbia Canada. UBC BGCPR is a department of the Faculty of Land and Food Systems within The University of British Columbia.
Beautiful coloured flower. Thanks.