Errata, Taxonomy

I know the Errata posts are not the most fascinating, but I feel sort of obliged -- if I'm going to be responsible for spreading bad information, the least I can do is post the good information when I find what it is. Also I figure some of y'all are nerdy enough to care about these things for their own sakes.

So. In the most recent round of name changes, we have:

Maranta leuconeura kerchoviana.
Maranta leuconeura kerchovEana --> M. l. kerchovIana. It's probably a bad assumption, but I've been assuming that the "correct" version of names is probably the one that shows up most often in Google searches, at least when we're talking about spelling variants. "Kerchoveana" is also pretty widespread, and I'm not positive it's wrong, but it seemed worth changing anyway, since I was already there to update all the posts to link M. l. kerchoviana to the M. l. erythroneura profile, having realized that the odds are very, very slim that I'll ever write a separate profile for M. l. kerchoviana.

Bryophyllum tubiflorum.
Kalanchoe tubiflora has become Bryophyllum tubiflorum.

Aloe 'Doran Black.'
The eternal alternation between Aloe 'Doran Black' and Aloe 'DorIan Black' is once again in a 'Doran' phase, and this had better be the last time I have to change this, goddamn it.

Anthurium crystallinum 'Mehani.'
I've decided I'm pretty sure that Anthurium 'Mehani' is actually A. crystallinum 'Mehani,' as certain other websites claim.

Plectranthus verticillatus.
Plectranthus nummularius got switched to P. verticillatus. I've been calling it nummularius for so long that I don't expect I'll be able to remember this, but we'll see. I pretty much never shut up about this plant, so if nothing else I got a lot of practice typing "verticillatus:" who knows, maybe it'll help me remember.

Phlebodium aureum 'Mandianum.'
Polypodium aureum 'Mandianum' and 'Blue Hare' have been changed to Phlebodium aureum 'Mandianum' / 'Blue Hare.' This is also going to be a tough one for me to remember.

Albuca bracteata.
Ornithogalum bracteatum and O. longibracteatum are now obsolete names for Albuca bracteata. This is also going to be impossible for me to remember, as Ornithogalum has been the name for as long as I've been reading plant books, and has a bit better memory hook ("ornitho" means "bird;" I don't know what the "-galum" part means) than Albuca (no clue, on the meaning of "albuca"). But I will do my best.

Vriesea imperialis.
Alcantarea imperialis becomes Vriesea imperialis, which was long overdue; most people were well ahead of me on that one already.

Justicia scheidweileri.
I'd mentally switched names already, and was using the correct name in the new posts, but I finally went back and changed Porphyrocoma pohliana to Justicia scheidweileri in the old posts.

Astrophytum ornatum.
Finally, in one spot I referred to Astrophytum ornatUM as A. ornatA: ornatum is correct, and this has been changed.

I'm aware of certain other incorrect plant names being used here at PATSP, but I can only stand to change names for just so long before it becomes unbearably tedious. Also: I just don't think some of the changes can be correct (Dracaena marginata --> D. reflexa); in other cases it would be incredibly difficult to go back and make the changes to every post in which the plant appears (Dracaena deremensis --> D. fragrans); and sometimes I just find the new name aesthetically displeasing and am hoping that they'll change it back even though I don't think they will (Synadenium grantii --> Euphorbia umbellata).

Now go and get on with your Saturday.

List: Houseplants Which Have Yellow Flowers

With most of these I don't have pictures of whole plants in bloom, and in some cases, cultivars with yellow flowers are rare and hard to find, so the inclusion of a plant in the list doesn't mean that it's usually found with yellow flowers, only that yellow is a color which is known to be possible. For the pictured plants, I have gone with plants which usually or always bloom yellow, for whatever that might be worth to you.

Aloe vera. (A couple flower pictures available at the link.)

Aphelandra squarrosa.

Astrophytum myriostigma.

Columnea orientandina. (The cuttings I mentioned recently are still alive so far, by the way.)

Faucaria spp. (I know at least some have yellow flowers; I doubt all of them do but didn't bother to look it up.)

Gynura aurantiaca. (Photo of flowers here.) You wouldn't actually want the plant to flower -- the blooms smell unpleasant -- but it still meets the criterion to be included in the list, so it's in the list.

Hamatocactus setispinus.

Hatiora salicornioides. Pictures of single flowers here, though there are much more impressive multi-flower photos elsewhere on-line. My plant wasn't, let's say, fully committed to blooming. Though considering the circumstances, I'm pretty tickled that it bloomed at all.

Justicia brandegeana.

Leuchtenbergia principis. Photos of a flower here.
For the recommends and anti-recommends, I'm sort of at a loss, because I haven't grown several of these (Aphelandra, Faucaria, Hamatocactus, Justicia) and have only begun to grow (Columnea) or have had mixed luck growing (Astrophytum, Aloe, Gynura) the others. But if I must . . .

I'm very happy with my Leuchtenbergias, and they seem happy with me too, so I'd recommend them to other people. Likewise, I've rarely had problems with Hatiora salicornioides, and think it's a very nice plant. For the third recommend, I'll go with Astrophytum myriostigma, because although we've had problems, I think the problems were almost entirely my fault -- it was top-heavy, and I kept knocking it out of the pot, and then I also was watering it too much in the winter, while the plant was cold, so I was basically begging for it to rot out. Which it did.

Speaking of rot -- my anti-recommend would be Faucaria. I haven't had much direct experience with them, but my understanding is that they're inclined to rot out at the drop of a . . . drop of water, much like Lithops cvv. I don't think it's that they're particularly difficult plants; it's more that beginners tend to show their enthusiasm by overcaring, so plants that just want to be left alone aren't going to be a good match. Plus, I suspect Faucarias also want an unreasonable amount of light, though again, I don't have much direct experience.

Not pictured:

• Abutilon cvv. (a few cvv.)
• a few Adenium cvv. are yellow, though reds and pinks are a lot more common (reader suggestion)
  
• Allamanda cathartica
• the occasional very rare Anthurium cvv.
• Astrophytum ornatum
• some Begonia cvv.
• Bougainvillea cvv.
• some Brugmansia/Datura cvv. (reader suggestion)
  
• some orchids in the Cattleya alliance (C., Blc., Lc., Slc., Pot., etc.)
• some Chirita cvv. (reader suggestion)
  
• a few Clivia cvv.
• a few Columnea cvv.
• some Dendrobium cvv. (tend to be greenish-yellow, though, at least the ones I remember)
• Echinocactus grusonii
• a few Epiphyllum cvv.
• some Episcia cvv.
  
• Euphorbia grandicornis, and other succulent Euphorbias like E. obesa and E. flanaganii, usually have small yellow or yellow-green flowers; the true flowers of most/all Euphorbia species are yellow, though in a lot of cases (E. pulcherrima, E. milii) the bracts overwhelm the true flowers
  
• some Euphorbia milii cvv., bracts included, though those I've seen have been more of a pastel yellow
  
• some or all Fenestraria spp.
  
• Fittonia cvv. true flowers are yellow-white
  
• some Guzmania cvv. have yellow bracts; I'm not sure what color the true flowers usually are, but yellow is a possibility there as well
  
• some Heliconia cvv. have yellow bracts and/or true flowers
  
• some Hibiscus rosa-sinensis cvv.
• some Kalanchoe blossfeldiana cvv.
• some Lithops spp. (I think they're all either yellow or white)
  
• Ludisia discolor (partly; most of the flower is white)
• some Mammillaria spp.
• I've seen a yellow Miltoniopsis orchid picture on-line, though never in person
  
• a few Nematanthus cvv.?
• some Oncidium alliance orchids (Colm., Alcra., Alxra., Bak., Colm., Gdlra., etc.)
  
• some Opuntia spp.
• a few Oxalis spp. and cvv., particularly O. hedysariodes and cultivars derived from it. You may also be growing O. stricta without meaning to, as it's a common nursery container weed. (reader suggestion)
  
• some Pachypodium spp. (though not necessarily the ones in the profile) (reader suggestion)
  
• Passiflora citrina; maybe other Passifloras?
  
• some Phalaenopsis and Doritaenopsis cvv.
• some Plumeria cvv., though it's debatable whether Plumeria is really a houseplant or not
  
• a very few Saintpaulia cvv.
• some Schlumbergera cvv.
• a few Streptocarpus cvv.; the first one to come up in a Google image search is S. 'Seren' (reader suggestion)
  
• some Thunbergia alata cvv.
• some Tropaeolum majus cvv.
• Uncarina spp. are usually yellow, though there are some pink ones out there as well (reader suggestion)
  
• some Vriesea cvv. have yellow bracts and/or yellow true flowers
  
• the true flowers of Vriesea splendens are yellow, though the longer-lived, more dramatic bracts are red
  
• some Zantedeschia cvv.
• some Zingiber spp. (reader suggestion)
  

I'm sure I've forgotten all kinds of things, so if you can think of others, say something in the comments.

List: Houseplants Native to Mexico

This is not even remotely an exhaustive list: Mexico is big, and diverse, and is home to a substantial chunk of the world's succulents, and a really stupidly large percentage of the world's cacti. Also, the Chihuahuan and Sonoran Deserts both straddle the U.S.-Mexico border, so some of their plants do as well, which means that some of these "Mexican" plants might be perfectly normal residents of the U.S. too. Which is fine. They can do that if they want.

As before, I'm happy to add additional plants to the list, if anybody wants to suggest any in comments.

Astrophytum myriostigma (bishop's-cap cactus).


Beaucarnea recurvata (ponytail palm).


Chamaedorea metallica (metallica palm).


Echinocactus grusonii (golden barrel cactus).


Pedilanthus tithymaloides (devil's backbone).


Sedum morganianum (burro's tail, donkey tail).


Selenicereus chrysocardium (fern-leaf cactus). Also Central America.


Tradescantia zebrina cv. (wandering Jew)


Vanilla planifolia, variegated (vanilla orchid). Also in Central America, I believe.


Zamia furfuracea (carboard palm).

As far as a favorite three of these goes, well, longtime readers will not be surprised to find out that Pedilanthus tithymaloides is number one. After that it gets hard to pick, since I have all but one of these (I don't own a Vanilla) and like most of them. But the #2, 3, and 4 spots would go to Chamaedorea metallica, Astrophytum myriostigma, and Selenicereus chrysocardium, not necessarily in that order.

Not pictured:
Agave americana (also United States)
Agave attenuata (foxtail agave)
Agave victoriae-reginae (also United States)
Astrophytum ornatum
Beloperone guttata (shrimp plant)
Chamaedorea elegans (parlor palm)
Echeveria spp. (some spp.)
Euphorbia pulcherrima (poinsettia)
Graptopetalum paraguayense (ghost plant)
Mammillaria spp. (some spp.)
Pinguicula spp. (butterworts) (some spp.)
Sedum rubrotinctum (jellybean plant)
Tradescantia pallida (purple heart, purple queen)
Yucca guatemalensis (spineless yucca; still called by its old name, Y. elephantipes, quite a bit) (also Central America)

New blog & new plants

I am extremely pleased to announce the debut of a new blog, Life Among the Leaves, which is written by frequent PATSP commenter, Garden Webber, and all-around fine person Karen715. So go see. Say hello. Compliment her Hedera helix varieties.

I'd also been planning to show pictures of some of my newer plants for a while. I'd held off because a few haven't photographed well (Neoregelia NOID, Phlebodium aureum) and I was hoping for better pictures, but time is short, so we'll just go with the two most recent. The Neoregelia and Phlebodium can catch up later.

This one was first. The husband and I went up to Cedar Rapids a while ago to check Piersons and Frontier and Lowes, which is something we do from time to time, and stopped at an Earl May garden center on impulse. Good thing we did, because I managed to find this cute little Astrophytum ornatum.


I'm a little nervous around Astrophytums for some reason: I've had an A. myriostigma since December 2007, and it's done okay: not a lot bigger, but it's survived both a very minor mealybug problem and getting repeatedly knocked off a windowsill (until I learned not to put it on the windowsill). For some reason, I'm under the impression that Astrophytums are touchier than most cacti, though that hasn't really been the case with mine, and I'm not sure where I heard this. So I hesitated on buying for a little bit, but it was too cute to pass up.


Good thing, too, because I didn't find anything I wanted at any of the other three places.

Next up is the eagerly-anticipated Vriesea ospinae var. gruberi, which I have been excited about since I found out they were on the availability list at my former job. They didn't disappoint, in person:


I don't know if they're especially easy or difficult or whatever -- in my experiences with the genus so far, Vriesea seems to have an undeservedly difficult reputation, but I know next to nothing about this particular species and variety, and there's little information on-line, so we'll see.


Meanwhile, as I write this, it's Friday, and I have 248 plants yet to check for water, most of which will probably need to be watered, which means bringing them into the kitchen and watering them one at a time in the sink, because it is now too cold to take plants outside and go over them with the garden hose, itself a fairly time-consuming process. We're working on installing a shower in the plant room, so I can water that way, which is how I did it in the apartment, but we're not there yet. So: kitchen sink. Wish me retroactive luck.