Two to guess!

[Chad]

OK,

Following on from Charlies 'one to guess' here are two to tax you all.

Both are choice, neither are 'weeds'.

1.



2. And two pictures of it.






Get to genus level and post.

Huge kudos for species level!

Chad

[flounder]

Because the second one looked like hogweed, I concentrated on that. The umbels seemed too rounded for a lot of the lookalikes, but I reckon it still is some sort of heracleum, maximum maybe?

[Paul S]

First one is curious. The flowers are *exactly* the same as Beschorneria yuccoides but everything else is wrong. I'm leaning towards Bomaria or Polygonatum?

[Chad]

Excellent logic Flounder, and you have the right genus.

This is from Bob Brown at Cotswold Garden Flowers; Heracleum stevenii.

He assures it me it lacks the prickles that both the native H.sphondylium and the much maligned and majestic H.mantegazzianum have. It does still have the same chemicals in the leaves though so I'll be cautious and not handle it in the sun. H.sphondylium is renowned for causing a phytophotodermatitis. Despite the popular press regularly blaming H.mantegazzianum for this, when I was a casualty officer each of the cases for which I could confirm the source were the native H.sphondylium. The worst cases were people who had strimmed them in the sun while wearing only shorts and shoes.

Heracleum stevenii shouldn't do it from simple contact, and I doubt I will ever need to strim it.

I saw it in Bob's 'stock' beds last year; an almost hemispherical dome of umbels within umbels. The seeds heads were looking good long after it had flowered.

I'm hoping mine will do the same and I'll have seed to grow more than one plant next year; here is hoping it doesn't hybridise the wildling over the fence!

Chad

[Chad]

Paul,

You are leaning in the right direction and you have seen its parent in flower at Tregrehan.

Chad.

[Tony King]

Could it be Alstroemeria isabellana? I think it was once classified in Bomarea and I have read accounts saying it is a hybrid between Bomarea and Alstromeria called 'Fred Meyer'.

It is a plant that I only got to try this year and the foliage on my small plant looks a bit like that in the photo though of course I don't have any flowers to compare! If it is that then I am happy to see what the final blooms might look like.

Mine is potted as when I bought it that is how the growers keep their's though said that it might be worth a try outside in the ground in milder areas. But as I am usually plagued with slugs/snails on such looking plants I would have to be very watchful if I ever did try a bit outside.

[Chad]

Some one who should know better ID's Tom's plant [the parent of mine] as Bomarea boliviensis.

As far as I know Bomarea boliviensis is not in cultivation [all the pictures on the web are Alstroemeria isabellana].

Plants from seed from Dan Hinkley's plant came to the UK via Crug under that wrong name.

That plant is Alstroemeria isabellana which is a widely variable species [see for example the forms at Brazil Plants ]. The form we all have via Crug is being called 'Fred Meyer' and comes true from seed. It looks like this;


Far Reaches Farm explain the Fred Meyers link like this;

'We got this from Maggie at Western Hills some years ago and finally can offer this goody. She said this was a hybrid by noted California breeder Fred Meyer between the vining Bomarea and the non-vining Alstroemeria and we have sold it in the past as Alstroemeria x Bomarea 'Fred Meyer' and more recently as Bomarea "Fred Meyer". The great thing about putting a plant on the internet is that all sorts of smart people read about it and very nicely suggest the correct name. This is a surprisingly hardy Brazilian species and Fred Meyer collected in Brazil quite extensively. Good cut flower with long clean stems. We've had this growing happily outside for years and going through single digits in winter with mulch.'

The plant I have shown above is Tom's wild collection and is a Bomarea that is 'erect' and non climbing.

I can classify down to the section of the genus with confidence, but the species is speculative.

It is a Bomarea from section Wichuraea, and the speculative species is Bomarea dulcis.

I would have been selling Alstroemeria isabellana 'Fred Meyer' at Tregrehan last week were it not for the plague!

Chad

[Tony King]

Chad, thank you for that information, it is nice to have some more background to the plant I am growing.

Mine cam from Julian & Sarah Sutton at 'Desirable plants' this march so it is still a new one for me. trying to keep the slugs away from it, even in its pot!!!