Tuesday 1 February 2005

Meconopsis horridula - Photos In The Garden

Seedlings of any species sown too quickly tend to damp off ( M. horridula Hort ).THIS SPECIES IS LIKELY TO BE VERY DIFFICULT IN CULTIVATION SO THIS SPACE IS BEING USED FOR MORE WILD PICTURES. Plant from Quinghai at high altitude. This is a typical scapose dwarf plant. This may be the species now called M. quinghaiensis but appears just another variation on the very complex group that includes the high altitude M. horridula. Maybe all these should be just varieties of a species in rapid evolution. Ron McBeath.
Another high altitude plant from Quinghai, China. Very similar to the high altitude plants from the Himalayas though looking slightly more robust. Probably just another variation on this highly variable species or group of species. Ron McBeath.Typical form at high altitude from Makalu in the Himalayas. Ron McBeath.
Bhutan 2009. This plant is actually a raceme not with basal scapes. The stem is however agglutinosed. At high altitude (above c 5000m.) this species is always with basal scapes but lower down turns into M. racemosa which seems rather dubious taxonomy. Margaret Thorne.A John Mitchell (Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh) picture. This and the next two pictures from the same source show colour variations of this superb high altitude species.
Another colour variation. John Mitchell.A superb form and colour of this high altitude plant. John Mitchell.