Not a False Sea Onion!!!???!!!

Discussion in 'Plants: Identification' started by raichael, Jun 7, 2004.

  1. raichael

    raichael Member

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    I have been walking by, for a year or so now, a plant which I assumed was a false sea onion. (Watch out for those assumptions, they sometimes bite.) It is growing in the ground outside in Chico, California.

    I had always thought it a little huge for a false sea onion, with its many bulbs it is five feet across and about three feet tall. The largest leaves are four to six inches wide and three to four feet long.

    So, the leaves and plant look just like a false sea onion...but today I was walking by it and found that it is flowering. It does not have false sea onion flowers on it!!!!????

    The flowers look just like Easter Lily (the large white trumpet Asiatic lilies), on four to five foot tall stalks, coming out of the side (rather than middle) of the plant.

    Any ideas on what it could be???

    Thank you and have fun,
    raichael
     
  2. hungry hippo

    hungry hippo Active Member 10 Years

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    Hi Raichael,
    I have seen other Ornithogalum species that have flowers that more closely resemble asiatic lilies.... maybe it could be one of these?
     
  3. raichael

    raichael Member

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    I am reasonably sure that it is not an Ornithogalum. The closest is O. nutens looking at just the flower, but the size of the plant and flower is much too small.

    As an amendment, the flower shape is more like a foreshortened Amaryllis belladonna (naked lady lily) flower trumpet, with the flowers on the top of a bare flower stem, only the flowers are arranged on the top of the stem along one side for 6 or more inches. Rather than, as it is on the belladonna, all originating from the same place on the flower stem. The overall look of the stem of this "not-a-false-sea-onion" is very similar to the naked lady, with its large base and slow tapering toward the top. Additionally, the flower trumpet droops slightly, the upper petals are slightly smaller than the bottom, and the stamens are not brightly colored (i.e. yellow or orange) as in Asiatic lilies, nor as regularly arranged as in Ornithogalum.

    I did just have a thought, could it be an Amaryllis??? Off I go to look.

    Also, I will attempt to get a photo posted, but I do not really have the technology at present, nor the time (I am taking summer classes at Chico State).

    Have fun,
    raichael
     
  4. CcDry

    CcDry Active Member

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  5. raichael

    raichael Member

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    Still working on it...

    Thanks for your guess, but definately not a soap plant. The edges of the leaves are not wavy, they look identical to false sea/pregnant onion, only the largest I have ever seen. The flower stalks are much fatter then in Chologalum spp. Additionally, the flowers are pure white and trumpet shaped, at least as much as Asiatic lilies are, but the anthers and stomata are white or just off-white.

    However, one correction: the flowers do indeed eminate from a single place at the top of the stem--umbel in shape as Brodiea.
     
  6. raichael

    raichael Member

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    New Ideas...

    I found one at a local nursery (non-profit and non-labeled) and someone there suggested Acidanthera, which it most certainly is not. However, I looked into Agapanthus, none of the species I looked at were the plant I am looking at for two reasons. Number one, the individual flowers are larger with larger petals. Second, the points of the leaves are very sharp, along with the new leaves being distinctly folded in half when emerging.

    Also, it is growing in pretty dense shade, and obviously happy there, but sometimes it is hard to tell what the real exposure is in town, because of the concrete all around.

    Thank you and have fun,
    raichael
     

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