Sunday 9 January 2005

Meconopsis x Cookei


Photographer : Martin Walsh

Taxonomy

A naturally occurring and garden produced hybrid with M.punicea and M. quintuplinervia. Usually has rather muddy pink flowers in cultivation but can be perennial. Martin Walsh has photographed an attractive series of plants in the wild. This has always been described as muddy purple pink. This series are a lovely blue purple. The top image of the 4 picked flowers however, clearly show the dark purple Papaver like colouration around the ovary of M. sinomaculata ( q.v. ). There is a recorded hybrid between this newly described species and M. punicea which has a hybrid shape but the colour of M. punicea.

Photograph Information : Martin Walsh, Sichuan.


Cultivation

This is perennial in cultivation and Leslie Drummond of Forfar has produced a series of back crosses to M. punicea resulting in plants that are perennial but closely resemble M. punicea as well as classic garden plant 'Old Rose' which has been awarded the R.H.S. Certficate of Preliminary Commendation.