Tuesday 18 January 2005

Meconopsis gracilepes


Taxonomy

Khorlak region of central Nepal. Evergreen monocarpic similar to M. dhwojii but with more delicate and evenly divided leaves. It lacks the purple pigment spots on the leaves of it’s close relative. Taylor described it as most similar to M. robusta and M. longipetiolata.

Cultivation

No reason to suppose it is any different from the other relatively easy evergreen monocarpics but true wild collected seedlings need to be grown in isolation or they will hybridise. 35 years ago plants in the St. Andrews Botanic Garden (from cultivated seed) showed a more delicate leaf structure and lobbing compared to the rather coarser M. dhwojii. Recent seed collected in the wild purported to be this species showed a very similar growth habitat to M. dhwojii as well as showing some purple leaf spotting on a proportion of the plants. Ref. Curtis Botanical Magazine (2002) 23,176.


Map Location


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