Some shots from around the plant rooms this week, including some of the new Begonia species that will be available. Many of these are unique seedlings from single batches of seed. It seems common for species occurring in Indonesia grown from seed, to exhibit a high degree of variation in coloration. Color variation often falls into one of four categories: solid green, solid red/maroon/purple, spotty green, spotty red/maroon/purple. Sometimes it will be an even split between two or three of those, and other times it will be a single seedling that expresses the differing coloration.
A special one from Yamor, in West Papua. This seedling was unique among a larger batch of seedlings, and I’m not sure if it was just a distinct clone of a variable species or if a different species seed got mixed into that batch of seeds. I just have the one plant, and am hoping to get seed soon as it does not reliably propagate from leaf or stem. Like most of the Begonia species coming out of this region, the flowers are a wonderful vermillion.
An array of flowers this week,
The ovary below is has two lobes/a forked lobe! Not a great picture but the way this one was growing, I was afraid to move it and causing damage to the flowers. It’s from a unique seedling of Begonia gemella, with more red and a slightly different leaf shape. I wish I had been better about documenting variation in Begonia flowers as they occur in my plants, as it’s very common and always interesting to come across. This is the first time I’ve noticed this particular variation, though. Other variations include an ovary with what looks more like pollen at the ‘stigma’, ovaries with a varying number and symmetry of wings, and flowers with varying numbers of petals/tepals. Sometimes the flowers will also occur at unexpected points along the flower stalk, with very short or non-existent petioles. Variation seems more common in flowers with ovaries, maybe because they have more ‘features’ then pollen containing flowers and so more opportunity for variation (?). With pollen-containing flowers, the most common variation seems to be an ‘extra’ short petal on the abaxial side of the flower.
For years, I’ve stayed away from Orchids, as it seemed like such an enormous rabbit hole to jump down. This winter the time seemed right, though, and with newly set up racks, there was space and air circulation enough to start growing some out. In the future, I hope to have many more, mostly warm-growing species available. Miniature Bulbophyllum, Pleurothallids, Angreacoids, and Dendrobium will be the focus, and any species with unique foliage.
Some of the jewel orchids that have been newly added to the shop this season.
