Wednesday, 4 January 2006

Evergreen Leaves + Red Pink Flowers

Leaf rosettes of what we now realise are hybrids probably containing a lot of the pink M. staintonii, M paniculata and possibly M. napaulensis or even others in the pink/yellow/white group of these plants. They are known in gardens, seed lists and commerce as M. napaulensis. They mainly come from the mid Himalayas and none are Chinese. This group will be written up by Paul Egan who has been substatially involved in the new Flora of Nepal and travelled widely looking at these species. They do not appear to hybridise with the blue|purple species in this group. There are wonderful colours in these hybrids (as well as some species that are not currently in cultivation). They range from an almost black red to the most delicate pastel pinks and white. A lot of the pink colours are probaly derived from M. staintonii and not M. napaulensis which is yellow.