Psiguria umbrosa

This is a psiguria umbrosa vine that I got from my friend at the botanical gardens. She/they had it growing two stories up into the upper balcony in the glass conservatory/butterfly exhibit. (The glass two story conservatory has since been torn down and they are re-doing it to make it more accessible to the handicapped.)

Notice the little cutie pie bug on it, posing! It kinda looks like he's smiling! lol...

here is a great informative article about psigurias. This is the orange one(psiguria umbrosa), and the red version is psiguria triphylla.
http://www.pwbelg.clara.net/psiguria/

By the way...its importance to butterflies is that it is a host, nectar, AND pollen source...
most plants are one particular source, or maybe two(like passiflora), but rare to have one that is all three.
-T

Taylor, you may not have luck with cobaeas but you certainly have shown us two new vines I have never seen before. The bright orange is gorgeous and I bet the hummers love it too. Hey I did write you a little note on the cobaea thread here in this forum. :) Joann

Hey Taylor, your bug looks like a little bitty allegator with a short tail!
LOL!

That plant is a find! So pretty and so useful! What kind of butterflies does it cater to?


Kay

Taylor you always find the neatest vines. It is beautiful

Hi Joann!All your little babies are happy at my house, lol...
thanks! I'll go read your note!

Kay-the article says heliconids. I'm not that knowlegable about butterflies. My favorites are the sulphurs and cabbage butterflies(SO common, lol...).

So, that should about show you where I stand with butterflies, lol...But, I am trying to learn more.
These vines are supposed to be preferred over any other source, if those butterflies can find it...She let me take some seeds, because she wanted me to "help pass it along to the world, and help the butterflies".

Donna-that is very sweet of you to say so Donna!
This is how I acquired it:

Last year at the TX state fair I was in the glass conservatory. It is nice year-round, but each year for the fair they import really beautiful tropical butterflies and they flutter around in the two story glass conservatory...breathtaking with all those plants and butterflies. It is magical.

I overheard one of the volunteers mention how it would be the last time it was open for a number of years. I gasped when I heard the whole thing was coming down in a few short weeks...

I waited until the fair was over and then called the head of horticulture. She gave me a private tour of the entire place and I got to go up two stories and walk around the "catwalk". The catwalk is a thin, tiny balcony at the very top, that went around the entire conservatory. It has been chained off and "forbidden" to anyone for years. It was a real treat!!! While I was up there, I had to be careful not to step on all the pods from the psiguria.

It had draped itself over the railing and little "cucumbers" were dangling all over the rail and draping onto the floor. Of course, seeing that there were so many, and knowing it would be destroyed in a matter of weeks, I asked for some pods!, lol...I just couldn't help myself! lol...
She was very gracious and said she'd be happy to, and hoped I'd spread them around the world.
:)

-T

Kay-
I couldn't resist...here is a unretouched closeup of him smiling! lol...

He IS smiling. So cute, T, your private tour of the conservatory sounds awesome. I find gardeners to be some of the most generous people in the world. (Including someone here, i know.)

Joann-
ISN'T he?? (*giggle, giggle)...he really is! I forget what the name of these bugs are...knew it once, but my brain got too full, lol...

yes, it was awesome for me...I wanted to share my experience with every one in the world, and on the other hand, quite enjoyed that it was "private". I had fantasized about going up on that catwalk every single year I visited the fair, since I was a teenager...It was a small dream come true for me.

I took home vanilla vines, blue water lotuses, the juanulloa, and tons of other stuff including MANY seeds...

I donated a dicrostachys cinerea tree, some passies, and a strongylongdon vine, among other things...It was really fun and a day that will probably always stick in my memory. Certainly one of those memories you like to "replay" often...

I need to dig up a couple of pictures I took from up on that catwalk...it is especially neat that I have some pictures of it, since it has now been torn down...
-T

Oh yes would love to see some pixes.

What an amazing time you had. Definitely more pics and info about your "MANY" seeds you got.
:) Donna

Joann-
Here you go...unfortunately my camera battery ran out just as I was taking these, so only got two shots...I couldn't believe it! My hubby had told me to recharge them, but I insisted there was enough juice in them, ...ugh..!

This one shows the psiguria triphylla up by the spiral staircase, and all the other vines up on the balcony are psiguria umbrosa.

This one is a veiw from up on the balcony standing behind that wall of psiguria umbrosa...
you can even see a spring of it in the lower left of the picture! lol...
These pictures were taken just one week before the plants were all cleared out and it was torn down... :(

There are no butterflies in these pictures, because they'd already spent two weeks netting them, and sending them (back through customs) back to south america...
-T

And here are some pods and seeds...
The umbrosa(orange flower) on the left, and triphylla(red flower) on the right...
I think she didn't mind me taking some pods, because there were hundreds of them, and she knew they'd just be destroyed...
-T

What a awesome conservatory. Glad you got something to remember it by.
:) Donna

It had been there since the early 1900's when it was first built...sad to see it go...
you had asked what other seeds I had gotten...I can't remember them all, but here are a few(some are plants):
white beauty berry
clerodendrum tricotomum
vanilla vine
swan milkweed
red wing vine
araujia sericifera
matelea vine
blue water lotus
psigurias
red shrimp plant
dombeya tree
discorea elephantipes
passiflora biflora
dichondra silver falls
gurania species(similar to psiguria, but fuzzy leaves and flowers)
cestrum nocturnum
odontonema, purple
and probably more I cannot remember right now...
-T

my goodness what a collection, you were certainly at the right place, at the right time, you must have lots of room for all those seeds, and plants. be sure to post pics.


Doris

Taylor wonderful tour, thank you. I hope you have tremendous success germinating all those exotic seeds. Are you saying they are going to tear down the conservatory? Are they planning a newer or bigger one? Why do they want to tear it down?

Joann-
It is ALREADY torn down...they are re-doing it so it is more handicap accessible...
...won't be ready, again, for several more years...
-T

Taylor, what a wonderful experience you had. And all those wonderful seeds. I hope you have great sucess germinating them. keep us posted on how they do.

Patricia

You ladies are welcome to some...just please let me know what you'd like(since some were plants, not seeds) and If I have them, I'll share for sase, or trade...
-Taylor

seedpicker -- Hints on growing psiguria umbrosa from seeds? It isn't in the PlantFiles. Sometimes planting them at the wrong time doesn't get the best results...or even seedlings! lol

Soozer-
They are very rare, and you're probably not going to find much information on them at all...
however, they are in the cucumber family and grow in the rain forests of South America.
Soooo....they probably germinate best in warm temperatures and germination requirements should pretty much be like a regular cucumber...
-T

You're right about that, seedpicker. Wondered why...

Time to plant now and hope for good results.

Thanks.