Saturday 15 January 2005

Meconopsis florindae

Taxonomy

Single locality (Tra La) in SE Tibet from woodland at around 3,500 metres. Effectively a yellow flowered M. lyrata. There is very good image of this plant on page 121 of the Alpine Plants of China edited by Zhang Jingwei (Chang King-wai) published by Gordon and Breach, New York in 1982 isbn 0-677-60190-5. I have always been suspicious of yellow plants in a group that is normally all blue. Crosses between a blue species and a yellow one (in many cases the M. integrifolia/ M. pseudointegrifolia group) are always a pale yellow. The plant illustrated, particularly the seed pod reminds me of M. integrifolia. Crosses of blue species ( like M. betonicifolia and M integrifolia) are fertile. New species can evolve by hybridisation and maybe one day this species can be tested using modern genetical techniques to detect it's hybrid origin.

Cultivation


Map Location


View Meconopsis World florindae in a larger map