Sunday, March 16, 2008

Random plant event: Philodendron hastatum(?) flowers

One of the many, many (many!) down sides of spring is that I'm so busy I don't always get a chance to see every plant in the greenhouses every day, which is something that I used to be able to do, more or less. So I used to be able to see things like this coming, but instead, yesterday, I'm bopping around the greenhouse doing something or another, and see something weird on one of the tables, which upon investigation turns out to be the prettiest Philodendron flower I've ever seen:


Granted, saying "prettiest Philodendron flower" is sort of like saying "bounciest Metallica song" or "most personally rewarding spam e-mail." But still. Some definite Georgia O'Keefey goodness there.


I'm a little fuzzy on the ID of the plant: it was there before I started working there, but WCW said once that when it arrived, it was named P. glaucophyllum or something like that. I've also seen a similar plant (not necessarily the same one) called P. 'Silver Metal.' I have it on fairly good authority from ExoticRainforest.com that P. hastatum is the correct identification. (P. glaucophyllum is an invented name, though it's still sometimes used in the trade; 'Silver Metal' is one that I've only ever seen at Asiatica Nursery and is probably also an invented name for marketing purposes.)


I'm not complaining about the surprise, but I do kinda wish I had known this was coming, so I could have taken pictures as it happened. Ah, well.


2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Definitely more attractive, IMO, than a peace lily flower. I like it.

Anonymous said...

That is a pretty flower. Have you ever seen Philo 'Red Imperial' bloom? It's similar but red - really awesome. I have one I tend in an atrium that blooms a couple of times a year.