DOG DAY FLOWERS AND A GROWING SOWING by Steven Hammer

摘要

Flowers are thin on the ground at the moment --it's the Ides of July, and muggily hot -- but what is in bloom is sufficiently unusual to merit reporting. One of my favourite tufted mesembs, Ruschia polita, bears pale pink ribbony petals, with rose-tipped filaments in a cone. The flowers resemble those of several Braunsia spp. but the non-warty seeds would seem to contradict a placement in that genus. The leaves are pale greyish-blue, as smooth and polished as the name suggests, with just a few baby crenulations at the tips. Prof. Nel got the original plant near Touwsrivier in the western Little Karoo; mine (Hammer and Vlok 1235) came from Allemorgens to the southeast, and Vlok has recently seen it in the same area. The species deserves more study and a much wider circulation than it has had. For anyone who grows it I'll note that it is easily killed via underwatering, being one of many mesembs which are not as succulent as they look.