Conophytum ‘Adele’

 

Conophytum

‘Adele’

 

Conophytum ‘Adele’ (Terry Smale Xerophytes and Geophytes, List number 11, August 2009)

 

For many years, I have grown a stock of Conophytum bilobum ssp. altum that had originally been collected by Rolf Rawé 10 miles north of Aughrabies. When I started propagating plants for sale, I pollinated my stock to produce seeds. Seeds were duly sown and when they flowered, there were the expected yellow flowers but also a vigorous plant with bright orange flowers with yellow centers. The shape of the bodies was as a normal altum and the internodes were somewhat elongated as expected for that subspecies. For most mesembs, an orange flower colour is indicative of a cross between a yellow and a purple-flowered species, so I am fairly sure that this was the result of pollen from a purple-flowered cono being transferred to my altums by a rogue insect. In my early years at the North Surrey Branch of CSSGB, there were two excellent mesemb growers who inspired my interest in the family: Betty Maddams and Adele Whicher. I christened a red-flowered bilobum hybrid of unknown origin for Betty in 1988 [Mesemb Study Group Bulletin (1988) 3: 25] and this bilobum hybrid for Adele more recently.

http://www.smale-conophytum.co.uk/new_conophytums.htm