So cool!

I thought this one was a deformed brug at first. I would love to see this one up close and personal!

"At first glance, a flowering specimen of this rare plant from Costa Rica resembles the Angel’s Trumpet (Brugmansia spp.) of the tomato family, Solanaceae. Vegetatively Osa pulchra looks similar to coffee (Coffea arabica) and in fact they belong to the same family, Rubiaceae. Osa is a genus of only one species and belongs to an alliance of New World genera that occur mainly in Central America, Mexico and the West Indes. All members of this group are evergreen shrubs that bear showy and often very pleasantly fragrant flowers."

From
http://www.huntingtonbotanical.org/Conservatory/about.htm

Holy Cow, Kell....

I LOVE IT!

I'm not into the Brugs yet as I am with my Morning Glories, even though I do have quite a few Brugs,
But this one I GOTTA HAVE....

Thanks for sharing the link.

Emma

Emma,
You would have to mount a night raid. Would it survive in Jacksonville? It is lovely!

Kell, was this something you ran across while cruising the net or did you see this up close and personal? I wish my DH had more interest in plants. I would love to go on a tour of botanical gardens.

Hi bettydee,
I was reading a little about this plant last night, actually this morning, before I fell over asleep and was so excited about this beauty I never thought about it being hardy. I would say it is not, but I'll just add that one to the hundreds of other Tropicals that I have to over-winter every year.

I even wrote Dr. Creech and Greg Grant with SFA Mast Arboretum in Nacogdoches not far from me suggesting he/they check into one of these plants as they do grow some really exotic plants there.
This is what Dr. Creech wrote in his reply to me this morning

Interesting . . . we like rare . . .

Dave Creech
Director, SFA Mast Arboretum
PO Box 13000
Stephen F. Austin State University
Nacogdoches, TX 75962
936-468-4343

Wonder how long before someone can start selling this baby.

Emma

Emma, that is too cool! I hope they get one. And I bet Osa pulchras are available soon so we can get one too!! Veronica, I was on the Huntington site reading all about the incredible event when their Amorphophallus titanum bloomed.
http://www.huntington.org/BotanicalDiv/TitanIntro.htm

I just got an Amorphophallus titanum so I was reading about it and dreaming of the day mine blooms. LOL!! In less than 7 years, I got my hands on a plant that was so rare in just 2000. So there is hope for us to all get a Osa pulchra I would think.

Veronica, you should team up with another Daver in your area and leave your DH behind! That is what I do. LOL And he is glad I do.

So many needs, so little time.

Wow!!! what a cool plant :D I found a picture of it on the www with a hand on them. They are real big. Say, Kelley, are these by any chance in the same family as the plant which was posted here a few years ago, which was not a solanaceae, but looked like B. sanguinea? Do you remember that one? Is it not funny, how plants can look alike, but come from different plant families and grow hundred of miles apart?

There was one that Trish posted a couple of years ago that looked like a sang, I think. I will email her and see if she knows what I am talking about. It was a pale yellow or maybe white as I recall.

I think that was Pentlandia or Cubanola (also Rubiaceae).

Ah Alistair, you are so right. Were you around when she posted it?? I just looked on the homepage of Trish for her PF entries and found it. Cubanola domingensis

http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/59896/index.html

Yes, Alistair, it is the Cubanola Domingensis...more recently re-named Portlandia.
See: http://davesgarden.com/pf/showimage/123954/
I have recently lusted after this one, and Trish told me she had it, but parted with it...aggghhh (LOL)
I bought seeds and as a matter of fact they arrived today.
I have to start them asap as I have read they don't last too long. I am still debating making the purchase from Top Tropicals, but I am afraid DH would really have my head LOL.

Kell, we were posting at the same time, LOL.

Small world, Jackie! LOL. Listen, lust after Osa pulchras and find us one of those too. LOL. I think it is soooo cool the more I look at it.

Ah yes PORTlandia lol thanks. It resurfaced recently somewhere: was that you Jackie?

Rubiaceae is a huge family which has many REALLY weird and wonderful plants amid a lot of very ordinary ones!

Aw shucks, Alistair, it was me ...
Lusting for plants all over the place LOL
Kell, I think I'll have to turn my lusting power into overdrive for the Osa Pulchra...LOL

Thanks for refreshing my memory, Kelley :) Also thanks Trish for making us aware of this interesting genus.

Yes, you are right, Alistair, Cubanola. Look, a google search brought a lot of pictures. I hope the link will work: http://images.google.dk/images?svnum=10&hl=da&q=Cubanola&btnG=S%C3%B8g

Also the red portlandia: http://www.plant-talk.org/webpix/44portc.jpg

Yes, these are really worth a second look. Wonder, how many times á year they are blooming? LOL

The have such exotic names too: Cubanola, Osa. Like kinds of dance, or cocktails (or breakfast cereals lol!)

From www.mobot.org:
"Approximately 9000 species of flowering plants are now known from Costa Rica. Most of these species are known also from adjacent countries or even from far away tropical countries, but a few, like this one are known only from Costa Rica. These are called ENDEMIC species.

Osa pulchra, a member of the Rubiaceae (coffee family) is one of Costa Rica's most spectacular and rare endemic species of flowering plants. The genus, named ofter the Osa peninsula, was formally described in 1979, and has only this one species. Pulchra, of course, means beautiful. Until recently, the species was known from only one small population of about 8 plants on private property not far from Rincón de Osa. Fortunately, the owners and others in the area are aware of the uniqueness of the species, protect it and have it carefully marked for visitors. In November of 1996 another small population was found on the Atlantic lowlands, near Puerto Viejo de Limón. Except for its huge flowers and elongate green, capsular fruits, Osa pulchra looks very much like a coffee plant and would seem to be an excellent canditate for cultivation for tropical gardens and green houses. "
1996

Tonny, that red portlandia is beautiful too, thank you for the links.

Thanks Jackie - v interesting. And yes the Portlandia is a lovely plant: thanks Tonny.

Lol Alistair, the names are just as attractive as the plants.

Bikkia is another. I have seen these growing on raised coral almost on the beach in Vanuatu

http://images.google.com.au/images?hl=en&rls=GFRC,GFRC:2006-51,GFRC:en&q=bikkia&btnG=Search&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi

Bikkia sounds like dog biscuits lol

Alistair, the Bikkia are awesome. It is very interesting that they have four petals. Some of those pictures illustrate this well. I am also impressed at the fact that they love the coral or limestone as a base.
Thank you for the link!

We did flower the white coastal one at the botanic gardens in Sydney some years ago, but its a very hard thing to grow...

Fun links all!!

What a pretty intro the Missouri Botanical Garden has! Looks like a white fairy land. Hard to think it is so cold there, it is so pretty.

OK, we need to go to Costa Rica then for our seeds. LOL. We would have the best time there looking all over. I understand that if you need a lot of dental work or even cosmetic work, a lot of Americans go there and get it done very inexpensively and then get to vacation too for less then it would cost here to have the work. And here doesn't include the vacation looking at all their tropical plants.

LOL that's what people do in Thailand from here!!

Alistair, the white flowering Bikkia, does it have succulent leaves?

Here we go to Poland, when we want a good dental work, but I am not sure, what exotic plants grow there LOL The nature there are pretty much as in Denmark, but ... I could of course bring my own Angels Trumpet ;)

I vote we all go to Thailand with Alistair. Poland just doesn't hold the same allure. LOL. No offense meant! I have been seeing the most incredible plants in the Thailand outdoor markets for sale. I would be arrested for sure though trying to get home with my clothes falling off me so full of plant contraband. Just some of the staghorns I have seen for sale there make me swoon.

LOL Kelley, that was just what I meant. Thailand sounds great, but given a choice I would prefer Colombia above all. B. aurea Country LOL

Tonny the leaves are not really succulent, but quite thickly leathery (if I remember correctly - it was in 1989!).

Sorry Kell, but I'm going to Colombia with Tonny! I suppose I had better go and break a tooth now...

Let me remind you boys, man does not live by brug alone. LOL!

Hey I am easy, I will force myself to go to Columbia with you too. I am sure I will be able to find lots to entertain me.

All my bags are packed, I'm ready to go
I'm standing here outside your door
But the dawn is breakin, its early morn
The taxis waiting, he's blowin his horn
I'm leavin on a jet plane
I don't know when Ill be back again

But I'm leaving on a jet plane
(Ah ah ah ah)
Leaving on a jet plane
(Ah ah ah ah)
Leaving on a jet plane
(Ah ah ah ah)
Leaving on a jet plane
(Ah ah ah ah)

OK, I am ready. LOL

LOL! Let's go then.

I can see myself falling down a lush green hill into uncharted jungle when reaching for the perfect bloom. (Shades of Romancing the Stone)

COW-A-BUNGA Kell!!! My My!

Oh Mary, that is why going with 2 big strong men will be a huge advantage. They will let us stand on their shoulders to reach that bloom. LOL.

Hey, I remember that very scene!! Oddly enough, Mary and I look incredibly like Kathleen Turner! Now which of you guys look like a young Michael Douglas??

Hey Brin, are you in?? LOL

I look like an older version of Rowan Atkinson. Will that do? :-)

Shockingly, I really do not look like Kathleen Turner, Alistair, so you will do just fine! LOL

However Mary does!!

Sadly, Mary doesn't. (I'm the one without the beard)

A most glamorous couple!!

Oh all right, here I am! (I'm the one in the middle)

Now let's see you!!





This message was edited Feb 22, 2007 5:01 PM

I think I can help arrange transportation down there.

If enough of us want to go, we'll have to ask for a little help from a few of our friends. (Burt Rutan's birthday party)

Or, we could hitch a ride on some friendly water mammals.