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I have banged my head against the pastel orange walls of South African bulbs until I have tritonia-tinnitus.
I feel that I have learned nothing and am left with an inexplicable urge to crush a satsuma with a mallet,
This might be the apricot flowered form of T. securigera, and I have no concrete reason to doubt it, or it might not. Something leaves me a little uneasy.
If I manage to put my finger on it, I will note it here. There is said to be a bright red form as well which I would rather like! I got the vexing, bilious blob of delight from Desirable Plants and their label says: "Winter growing corm with beautiful veined orange-tan fls in May. 30cm. Sun, good drainage, suit pots." The Pacific Bulb Society (haven of sanity in a world where screaming frustration is the common currency) say: "Tritonia securigera (Aiton) Ker Gawl. is another reddish-orange to salmon and sometimes yellow flowered species with many flowers in a spike all facing to one side. It has a yellow throat and large axe-shaped calli on the lower segments (the Latin name means 'carrying an axe'). Height: 15-40 cm. It grows on clay slopes in mixed rainfall areas (the Karoo, coastal Southern Cape to the Eastern Cape). It blooms late spring to early summer." Carrying an axe. Don't tempt me. If you are interested, the PBS site shows flowers of a fairly convincing axe-wielding flower in habitat. |
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| 16th May 2010 | ||
