Hope that some of you have grown this plant and can give me some info. I saw these used in flower arrangements at a wedding reception here in Conway. The strange thing is that the seed pods were used and not the flower. The florist gave me several seed pods which I have since planted and fortunate for me they have germinated. I understood him to say that they grow wild in a field. Hope that I can post a picture of the arrangement.
Thanks for any help!
Photo of arrangement.
Wow .. I never would have considered abutilon in a flower arrangement. It's hard to see in the picture which ones you are talking about.
I grow abutilon .. they are pretty care free .. just keep them moist. I found they can tolerate full sun for a few hours but seem to do best in dappled shade. I've never grown one in the ground. I have mine in a 1 gallon pot and they thrived being really root bound. I'm going to root prune the ones in the 1 gallon pot and give them more room this year. They root from cuttings readily. the Abutilon and Abutilon pictum flowers can be wide open or bell shaped and have 1 seedpod per stem. The Abutilon megapotamicum which is a trailing abutilon seems to flower more vigorously in shade than in full sun and has multiple seed pods per stem .. that might give you a clue to what you have.
X
Are the seeds you are speaking of the large round objects in the arrangement? We have a native abutalon down there but it has much smaller seed pods. I would love to see the flowers that make such large seeds.
Ardesia, you are correct. The seed pods are the large pale green round "things" that are on long stems. Probably 6-8 per stem. The yellow/orange is a cluster of flowers I was not familar with. This wedding was in Nov. so I assume this is the normal seed pod on this plant. I am familar with the red Chinese lantern which I think is Abutilon, but not this. The florist that gave them to me said they were in a field in NC. The actual seed pod is on the inside and looked like a small okra. I sat it out to dry thinking that there was one large seed in the pod. Forgot about it and went in the greenhouse weeks later and saw the strangest thing. It looked like a giant dandelion after it opens. Just a cloud of this white puff and on the tips were black seeds. If I get these things to bloom you bet I'll send pictures and save you all the seeds you want. My niece works at the Roper Mountain Science Center in Greenville and I have sent her seeds to start in their greenhouse. Wish me luck !
I'm with Ardesia, I've never seen an abutilon with a seed pod that big .. can't wait to see the flower so we can identify it.
X
Is it possible that this is the flower closed up on this type of plant since I found this okra shape seed pod (?) on the inside ? I was just told that the big round thing was the seed pod. What think you ?
Perhaps the florist made a mistake as to what it is. I took the liberty of lightening up the picture and enlarging it. As Ardesia pointed out .. they look kinda big for abutilon.
X
BSD, why don't you email your photo to Dr. John Nelson at the AC Moore Herbarium at USC and ask about those pods. He identifies all sorts of plant material and he has a Mystery Plant column in the Post & Courier.
www.herbarium.org
This message was edited Feb 11, 2010 6:51 AM
Followed your advise, Ardesia. Will let you know what he says.
Here is our answer. Florist was wrong. Not Albutilon
Barbara
The seed pods are from a plant called "Balloon plant", or Asclepias
physocarpa, which is NOT native to North Carolina. It is not Abutilon,
and it is not okra. It's in the milkweed family. Getting to be real
popular now in arrangements. The follicle, when ripe, will break open
and let the seeds out, each one with a fluffy tuft of hairs, then they
float away. Just like with our native milkweeds.
Beautiful stuff. I have, however, heard that this species is
potentially invasive, but I don't know for sure.
John Nelson
Is anyone else not seeing the pictures in this thread?
X
That's strange, i am not seeing them and they were there earlier.
That's great that John Nelson got back to you right away. I am going to have to google that Asclepias and see what the flowers look like.
Looks like the picture came back up. If you don't see it I'll post it again.
Here is some info:
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/61453/
