botanical names are:
manfreda maculosa...texas tuberose
drimiopsis maculata...african hosta
does anyone grow texas tuberose? or african hosta?
I don,t grow them, but I sure love tuberose, they smell heavenly.
this is a polka dotted plant. in the sun the leaves are green with maroon spots!!
Oh, so it is not the regular tuberose?
I grow Manfreda maculosa--really easy from seed, gets spots second year, prefers partial shade (late afternoon) here. Also called Deciduous agave--native to south Texas. What exactly did you want to know about it?
The chopped rhizomes were once used as a source of soap and shampoo in the republic of Texas--food source for the rare Manfreda Giant Skipper (Stallingsia maculosa). Its a very different plant than Manfreda virginica.
Debbie
Goodness, the Texas Tuberose leaves look diseased with those dark spots!
=)
Necia
That's what makes the plant different--I can post a pic when it stops raining.
There is a lot of work being done by bulb enthusiasts to do intergenetic crosses between manfreda maculosa and Polianthes geminiflora (seen here second down):
http://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/index.php/Polianthes
That's one reason I grow them. Polianthes geminiflora is also a very good bulb for Texas, which I also grow.
Here is a link to Manfreda maculosa, very pretty and it is endemic to Texas.
http://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=MAMA7
PlantFiles:
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/64508/
Debbie
necia, you are right about spotted manfreda looking diseased (to some). Not me, I was enamored by the spots, but I've had to explain to a couple of curious friends that it's not sick; that it's the way it looks.
Barb I think I have it. I got it thru a DG - Terranova coop and I remember there was a big broo-ha-ha about its name, so I'm not sure of what I have. I will try to post a pic later.
Miine has not bloomed in the 2 years I've had. Mine is potted and placed against a brick wall in full, brutal Texas sun. It likes it there. It has not required protection during cold periods and I water sparingly. Since leaves are about 18-20" long at maturity, the plant would looks its best planted inground as a specimen, so at some point I am going to transplant it to show it off as it deserves.
I was given a start of Drimia maculata and after seeing this question, I started looking...
According to this, http://www.desert-tropicals.com/Plants/Hyacinthaceae/Drimiopsis_maculata.html it is the same as Drimiopsis maculata.
According to PlantFiles, Drimiopsis maculata is family Liliaceae.
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/49519/
Drimia maculata is family Hyacinthaceae. http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/154087/
They are one and the same and once again I think ?????
I love this little plant. The leaf stems are beginning to display the delicate spots and I look forward to blooms. Very pretty.
deb, i read somewhere that the tx. tuberose displays it's spots better in full sun. what can you say about that? and vossner i love the spots too. there is a picture on terra nova nursery's site that shows an agave they call SPOT. i am wondering now if it's not this plant.
the plant i bought had a bloom stalk on it. i read somewhere it;s supposed to be white. this looked yellow but that could just be from age. i bought a gallon pot because that's all they had and to me it was expensive.
i guess i am really wondering about the rainfall that it's going to get. do you think as long as i have it in a raised bed that that will be o.k.?
for some reason the links don't work for me. my computer is down and i am borrowing one for now. i'll check them all out when my computer gets fixed.
and podster...have you dug this up and looked at it? are those little bulbs supposed to be totally under dirt? and are you going to put yours outside in soil or leave it in a pot? it's supposed to be hardy here. also, i read that this one might need shade here.
yes to the question about planting in high bed.
edited to add that last year the plant got a little limp as a result of the excessive summer rains but it recuperated just fine. My camera's battery is low but I'll post a pic tomorrow fer sure.
This message was edited Jan 19, 2008 4:31 PM
In full sun in height of summer, when kept as dry as it likes it, it becomes deciduous here. Spots are just as nice in partial shade after 2pm. Now that's just my opinion--and I've given a lot of them new homes.
No ~ the D. maculata is not considered hardy by the PlantFiles info or by any other links I have found. Zone 9 -11. On a night like tonite, it would not survive in ground for me. I intend to keep it potted.
It requires "high" shade or bright light but not direct sunlight and no, the bulbs are not under the soil. At least one half or more of the bulbs' bodies are resting out of soil. When they grow in this manner, I really can't imagine them being cold hardy.
Mamajack ~ would you share where you are getting your info on the D. maculata? When I was given this jewel, I researched it heavily but found little reference to it. The most info I gleaned came from some of my older succulent books.
If you like plants like this, have you seen the Ledebouria socialis or Scilla violacea? http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/2117/ It is another favorite I grow. I love its' purple blooms in early summer. These delicate bulbs rest on top of the soil also.
podster, i love daves plant files, i really do, but i quite often find the hardiness zones wrong. and i am really only ultimately interested in plants that are hardy to zone 8a. i go through spurts and i try different things but after a year or two i find myself trading anything that won't grow outside here.
my computer is working again and now i can go and look at all the sites ya'll found. i was getting conflicting information on zone hardiness with my online searches so i was curious who was growing either of these outside.
I find them wrong to - one or two of them I have found say they will work here but really dont. When in doubt I dmail htop and she always knows everything about Texas plants, she really is our guru in a lot of ways. She does not get to post much anymore but she is a big help.
True, I wish that she would come back, I know she was very busy a while back.
I have a friend in Tucson that started M maculosa from seed when I first started mine a number of years ago--his go deciduous on him in winter--but have always returned. I think starting from seed makes a big difference on most bulbs and rhizome-type plants. I grow a lot in ground that I started from seed that don't usually survive here. They go almost deciduous on me in Sept if its really dry--but always come back. The older leaves on mine look pretty bad after the freeze the other night. This is an adaptation of this plant, though.
This is a plant I do feel I know a lot about though.
:)
Me too Josephine - she was a wonder on plants for Texas.
I wonder where the PlantFile info comes from... I discount the zipcode reports because I might say I grow Drimiopsis maculata but it doesn't indicate indoors or outside. So for that reason, I find I rarely add a zipcode report. Guess I should make comments tho.
Yes, to Htop ~ I have had wonderful assistance from her in the ID forum many times. A valuable asset to DG. She has been missed here too!
True - the zip codes are hard, people wayyy up north say they grow something and you know it must be a house plant...
Over all the plant files are still the best on the web I have found. The other place I go is Texasstar.org seeing that she added several places to look for plants, they just have to be native to Texas.
Pod--dmail me if you are looking for the M maculosa and haven't made up your mind--I owe you a plant. I do know a little about the other one too. I have almost year old seedlings on it and D kirkii too--but I make no claims yet on their hardiness; here or anywhere else. They both are still on my "watch and learn" list.
Deb
M maculosa is also native to Mexico.
dmj - I am always in awe of the plants you have, good to have you on the forum to share from that wisdom.
And Debbie's website is really nice too, You go Girl.
Thanks you too--I have worked and redesigned the site in the last couple of weeks. Still have a lot to add on there--sometimes it makes my eyes go "crossed" and have to stop and either play flip-words or visit here for a while.
=)
Debbie - what is your site? Would love to see it - I had no idea!
It's on my homepage Mitch--I'm not supposed to promote myself. It's only about 1/3 finished though right now; it's the time of year most of us work on them. That one big "Z" area needs to be done for sure.
=)
I just checked your site Debbie, it is really pretty, and i hope you do well with it.
Very nice... very very nice. I can what is the red flower on the home page? Never seen anything like that one.
Mitch--it's Sprekelia formosissima:
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/447/
I should probably label that--thanks for bringing that to my attention. It also has yet to be added. =)
Thank you both again--I hope I do well too, since its my only job now.
Great flower, can it be grown in a pot and brought inside for winter care?
Actually it's pretty tough--you can dig it up in late November, let it dry in single layers in a box (kind of like a canned soft drink case box), and plant about April 1 up your way. Always blooms within a week or two for me following this procedure. I've also got some in the ground here that make it through the winter rains too.
dmail sent!