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Mon, Mar 28, 05 at 10:52
I bought this plant at the local grocery store. Its called a Sunstar on its tag, but no Latin name. The label said it was South African, myself I have no idea if it really is. Last year I got one and it died back and seems dormant. The bulb is solid and we keep hoping it will come back. Can anyone tell me what it is? Any tips on bringing it back? Thanx!
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Follow-Up Postings:
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- Posted by georgeinbandonoregon z9 OR (My Page) on Wed, Mar 30, 05 at 0:01
| looks somewhat like ornithogalum dubium---did the tag say anything about care??? this plant needs a dry, cool, dormant period after flowering (in which the leaves die back)---withhold water until the plant begins growth again then water and fertilize. you might consider bringing the dormant plant outside (after the danger of frost is over) and let normal rain and weather conditions help stimulate the plant into growth again. |
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| Hi It's Ornithogalum dubium (or a cultivar thereof). It's a winter grower and will have to be kept dry in summer. Start watering the dormant bulbs in autumn and keep them cool but frost free during growth. Maddy |
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| Not meaning to be argumentative, I believe it is Ornithogalum maculatum v. splendens. Note the lighter colored blotch at the base of each petal. |
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| 1) Asking aunt GOOGLE for "Ornithogalum maculatum var. splendens" was unsuccessfull. 2) Asking aunt GOOGLE for "Ornithogalum maculatum" yielded a plant with totaly different growth characteristics 3) O. dubium is available in different color ranges from pure white, creamy white, yellow, bright and dark orange. A differentally colored blotch becomes insignificant in the brightness of this diversification |
Here is a link that might be useful: Ornithogalum maculatum
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| If I knew how to post a picture I would post O. maculatum v. splendens from Geoff Bryan's 2 volume classic BULBS. |
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| I totally agree with you haweha it's certainly not Ornithogalum maculatum. The plant in the photograph has flowers in a conical raceme, whereas O. maculatum has flowers in a subcorymbose raceme. It's worth looking at other structures too and it becomes more likely to be O.dubium. I would suggest a more specific book should be tried, one of Peter Goldblatt might help. |
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You may be right about it being O. dubium; but this is why I thought it is O. maculatum v. splendens.  |
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| The above photo of O. maculatum v. splendens, and this enlargement of one blossom are scanned from BULBS by Geoff Bryan
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| Unfortunately just looking at the flower is not always a very reliable way to identify a species, many, especially South African plants are so closely related that other more specific features have to be taken into account. Taxonomists are having a heyday since they learnt how to differentiate species from DNA, and it's a constant battle trying to keep up with the new binomials. |
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| The book to which Marc is referring is JOHN (not Geoff) Bryan's book, "Bulbs." I have both the 2-volume and single volume versions. In the picture of O. maculatum v. splendens, there is a definite whitish area around the middle of the flower petals. However, in the above picture what looks like that whitish color on a couple of petals is only a reflection. In addition, the above flowers are orange-yellow and in the O. maculatum v. splendens picture they are orange-red. The above picture is DEFINITELY O. dubium or a cultivar thereof, as stated by maddy and confirmed by others. The picture of O. dubium in Manning, Goldblatt & Snijman's book on bulbs matches the above picture, while the O. maculatum picture does not, and they do not even mention O. maculatum v. splendens. |
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- Posted by ccathy So Cal (cathyterv@aol.com) on Thu, Jun 7, 07 at 12:29
| I just bought this plant at Trader Joes and was looking for info on it. I found your question and then found this one that has it has info on the care etc. http://www.billsphotoaday.com/Sun_Star/ This is a quote from the above site.. >> Sun Stars are a perennial bulb a hybrid of a common cut flower called Ornithogalum. "combining the dense floral display and large flowers of Ornithogalum thyrsoides, compact habit of O. multifolium, and intense orange color and short stature of O. dubium." -U.S. National Arboretum << |
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