How cute is this little fella? Ursula, lookie what is blooming now...
Epi phyllanthus var. phyllanthus
It is very cute!!!!!
Is it the light or is yours a bit yellowish?
I am glad it is doing well!!
Ursula
Thanks, Ursula! I knew that two buds were forming, but this one surprised me by opening earlier than I expected. I'll be watching the other one carefully and will try to get a picture of it at night. I took a picture of this one at around 10:00 a.m., and it does indeed look a bit yellow, but the camera was facing into the sun so it isn't the best picture. I wanted to move it, but the container is heavy now, and every time I move things, I tend to break leaves, it seems. It smelled sweet, like a daisy. I love it.
Clare,
nice pic!!
DH took my picture this Summer with the mother plant as backdrop.
http://www.kammlott.net/Epis2006/Epiphyllanthusandme.jpg
The seed pods are edible, they just taste a bit flat. We tasted one.
I had seeded one out about 2 Summers ago, the largest pot started to flower this year on the deck. The flowers looked just as cute as those from the mother plant.
Ursula, that is a wonderful picture of you, and your plant is gorgeous behind you. Do the flowers self-pollinate, or do you have a pollinator there in your area? I also have many little babies getting bigger. Some were unhappy with getting so much water this summer that they rotted, but the other ones in the same pot are doing fine. I noticed that this one seems particularly sensitive to my winters on the patio so I may have to bring it in or make room for it in my temporary greenhouse.
You are brave to taste the seedpod! LOL! It's good to know that the seedling flowers are identical to the parent plant. That makes me think that it must have both male and female parts and must self-pollinate.
Clare,
the flowers do self-pollinate. Not only that, they can also be cleistogamous. Sometimes we thought a bud was ready to flower that night - we looked at 7 pm, 10 pm, 12 am, no sign of opening, at 4 or 5 am hanging down, and there was a pod developing on that spot. Luckily only some of the phyllanthus flowers do that.
Btw this Epi stays in a warm and comfy spot indoors, a small test -pot overwintered in the garage with the other Epis didn't do so well last winter, it became compost.
Ursula, I had to go look up "cleistogamous"! You are so smart! You keep me on my toes. That is so interesting. I didn't know that plants could or would do that. I'll have to watch for that. Thanks for the info. about the test pot. That is good to know. I'll definitely be protecting mine then as soon as temps drop. Another bud will be blooming any day now. I'll post another pic when it does, and this time, I'll try to catch it at night. I think the flower is probably more white at night. We've been having some pretty strong winds today, and the second bud is looking a little droopy, but I hope that a little water will make it perk up some.