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jblaschke

Tenuiloba!

jblaschke
16 years ago

Some of you know that in addition to salivating over big, flashy passion flowers, I've also developed an obsession for odd, rare or obscure passis from the decaloba group. P. tenuiloba is a Texas native, but it doesn't have impressive flowers, isn't cultivated and isn't all that common even in the wild. I've killed several plants over the past several years while trying to figure out how they like to be treated. Imagine my delight when I discovered this:

I had no idea they produced flowers in pairs. That's not a common trait among passis. If anything, they're known for their elongated leaves, which gives them the common names of "bird-wing passion flower" and "slender-lobe passion flower." Will post pics once the buds open. But yeah, I'm excited.

Comments (9)

  • passioncrazy
    16 years ago

    wow that is amazing...please let me know when you get so cuttings...i have cuprea that i just got...willing to trade?thank you by the way for the info on identifying that passi i asked about...i think it is definitly alta or quad...thank you got online pics of the leafs and stems...very similar...wow you have an impressive selection...who like to see more pics of them...do you have any links on your website?

  • jblaschke
    Original Author
    16 years ago

    Well, I've got two other tenuiloba plants, so I'm hoping one of those will start blooming so I can get some seed (although neither is growing as well as this particular one). I'm leery about trying cuttings with this one, because the stems are just so darn slender. I've had little luck rooting cuttings from thin-vined plants. I've yet to get my affinis to root from cuttings. :-(

    Thanks for the kind words. I guess I do have a somewhat extensive collection--although passi enthusiasts tend to view such in the context of "which ones DON'T I have?" My collection of passis would be more impressive if I wasn't so skilled at killing them--oh, the horror stories these passis could tell. But since you asked so nicely, here are photos of those I've managed to get to bloom for me.

    P. incarnata (my so-called "Texas Giant," late season flowers):

    P. incarnata ("Texas Giant," early season flower):

    Incense (with pipevine swallowtail):

    P. edulis var. flavicarpa:

    P. gibertii:

    P. sanguinolenta:

    Inspiration:

    P. foetida var. gossypiifolia:

    Lady Margaret (in the rain):

    P. caerulea:

    P. caerulea var. "Constance Eliott":

    P. citrina:

    Amethyst:

    P. coreacea:

  • ninecrow
    16 years ago

    VERY Nice...
    I'm Hopping to get my hands on a peice of Dad's Amethyst





    Only it's in France.... LOL

  • passioncrazy
    16 years ago

    how do you manage to kil them.passi are usually extremly adaptable....im struggling with a white powdery diesease rite now on my insence...have no idea what it is...anyhow....just a question...ur passi you named amethyst looks alot like lady lavender...are they similar?my lady looks exactly the same even the leaves..dunno just asking you sound alot more experienced than me...

  • jblaschke
    Original Author
    16 years ago

    There are many ways to kill them. Too much water. Too little water. Too much sun. Too little sun. Many passis are extremely forgiving and adaptable. Others aren't. I've got one large vitifolia that's never bloomed for me. It's set buds, but they've invariably dropped. It didn't like something I was doing to it.

    Amethyst and Lavender Lady are extremely similar. Amethyst is an antique hybrid dating back 150 years or so, whereas Lavender Lady is a recent hybrid by Patrick Worley. Amethyst is fertile, and will set fruit with a few viable seeds within. Lavender Lady is infertile, but supposedly more vigorous. The flowers and foliage are almost identical. To confuse matters, Lavender Lady was, at one time, an informal name of Amethyst. So you can see why there'd be a bit of confusion where these two are concerned.

  • ninecrow
    16 years ago

    jblaschke Dad's Amethyst sets fruit so it IS Amethyst



  • jblaschke
    Original Author
    16 years ago

    The tenuiloba started blooming like crazy over the weekend. The twinned flowers don't open simultaneously, it seems. Rather, they're stagged a day apart. Not terribly dramatic as flowers, but I saw a pic of one online where the darker base of the filaments had a more maroonish tinge to it.

    Still, I like 'em.

  • ninecrow
    16 years ago

    jblaschke, Subrosa does that too re Twin Flowers opening about a day apart...

    Think the two would cross?
    NC

  • jblaschke
    Original Author
    16 years ago

    They might, but from what I understand, tenuiloba has 20 chromosomes (a really odd number for a passi--it could be a naturally mutated tetraploid) and doesn't readily cross with much else. Not that many people have tried, obviously. I've heard that it's been successfully hybridized with megacoreacea (another obscure species) which I think could produce some really fascinating foliage.

    But yeah, I'm going to try and cross it with any decaloba I have blooming at a convenient time!

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