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September 15, 2008 : Brunsvigia josephinae
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Plant Family / Families: Amaryllidaceae
Scientific Name and Author: Brunsvigia josephinae (Redouté) Ker Gawl.
Institution: University of California Botanical Garden at Berkeley
Name Location: Berkeley, California, USA
Thanks again to Ruth S. for today's write-up. Also, big thanks to J.G. in S.F.@Flickr for sharing two of his photographs with us today (original 1 | original 2 via the BPotD Flickr Group Pool). Appreciated once again!
Ruth writes (touching on a topic introduced last week -- geophytes):
Geophyte (geo- or earth and -phyte or plant) is a term used to describe plants with underground storage organs. The term most people commonly use for these underground storage organs is "bulb", but, scientifically, the terminology is extensive. For example, in Gladiolus, the organs are actually corms, while in Iris, they are typically rhizomes. Brunsvigia josephinae, it so happens, has a true bulb.
Also known as Josephine's lily or the candelabra lily, this member of the Amaryllidaceae is a winter grower from western South Africa. During the winter rainy season, the leaves emerge and help provide food to the bulb. The leaves die back in the early summer before flowers shoot up in later summer months (note: the apparent leaves at the base of the plants belong to different plants: Aloe mitriformis). Plants of Brunsvigia josephinae are able to survive through extremely low temperatures as well as drought outside of the rainy season due to their specialized energy storage organ.
The floral architecture is arranged in just the right way to seduce sugar-birds. The birds attracted by the red color, then search out the sugars in the nectary spur (the tube opposite the petals) of the flowers. Upon visiting the flower, they clumsily transfer pollen from the anthers to the stigma, thereby fertilizing the flower. If one was to grow the flowers in areas supporting hummingbirds, they would be the most likely pollinators.
For more, read about Brunsvigia josephinae on Plantzafrica or view more photographs via PBSWiki: Brunsvigia.
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at September 15, 2008 9:09 PM
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Comments
Posted by: Ewa at September 15, 2008 10:10 PM
Majorly cool plant. Superb photos.
Posted by: van at September 15, 2008 10:51 PM
eu amo essas fotos!!!!!!!!!
Posted by: SIU at September 16, 2008 4:19 AM
Fascinating!
Posted by: Meg Bernstein at September 16, 2008 4:49 AM
what a wonderful picture to start the day with, thanks, Scott.
Posted by: Scott McGillivray at September 16, 2008 10:19 AM
Reminds me so much of the pink naked ladies here (properly called Amaryllis Belladonna, I think). The flower stalks pop up out of bare ground during August and September. Their season is starting to wind down here now. (San Francisco bay area)
I'll have to pay attention to whether any hummingbirds are busy fertilizing them.
Posted by: Katherine at September 16, 2008 10:39 AM
Where do you think I could get one of these?
Posted by: Connie at September 16, 2008 7:52 PM
Where I live, in South Australia, this is said to be a common garden plant/garden remnent/garden escape, but I've never seen one! I want it! Commercially, it costs about a day's wages. It resents being moved, I am told, and even mature bulbs take 7 - 12 years to flower. Wet winter, bone-dry summer.
Posted by: Don Fenton at September 17, 2008 2:34 AM
On our island of Trinidad, I've seen this plant a lot, but never the flower. Your photo is beautiful. I must look out for the flowers ... as you said, in the later summer months.
Posted by: Flavia at September 17, 2008 6:19 AM
A VERY cool plant! Perfectly suited to California's coastal and lowland valley climates! In response to Katherine's post, Brunsvigia is closely related to Amaryllis belladonna (aka naked ladies)... and, in fact, there are intergeneric crosses between them, known alternatively as Brunsdonna or Amarygia. In my opinion, Brunsvigia josephinae, and most Brunsvigias are relatively uncommon, at least they have been here in California. The Ruth Bancroft Garden in Walnut Creek has one (photo link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ruthbancroftgarden/1821210993/in/set-72157602835573854/ ) as do I (photo link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/amarguy/2834501207/in/set-72157601294500593/ ) I believe both of ours are about the same age (mine is 14 years old) and are offspring of a plant that belonged to well-known horticulturalist Wayne Roderick of the Bay Area. At one point, Annie's Annuals offered seed. Patience is required to grow this to blooming size. My largest bulb bloomed at 10 years. The first few years the plant produces small, narrow leaves. After that, they become larger and add an attractive blue-grey winter foliage interest in the garden, which one must enjoy until they reach blooming size. (foliage photo link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/amarguy/2196181281/in/set-72157601294500593/ )
Posted by: Ken at September 18, 2008 4:40 AM
Hi
B.josephinea is pollinated by Sunbirds. It is almost never visited by sugarbirds. Flowers are visted by the local endemic orange breasted sunbird or the larger mlachite sunbird.
Only perhaps when nectar is scarce, sugarbirds will visit B.josephinea, but normally they stay in the proteas even if the brunsvigia plant is just along side it.
Posted by: sjirk at May 19, 2009 1:26 AM
Please share your comments about the photograph(s) and accompanying write-up. Telling a story about the subject of the photograph(s) is also much appreciated! If you have a gardening question, the best place to ask is on the UBC Botanical Garden Forums. Thank you!
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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.
This plant is so unusual - thanks for sharing the picture and expanding the knowledge.