The Ideas Genie Community Forum

General Category => Questions and Answers => Topic started by: Palustris on August 04, 2009, 05:07:04 PM

Title: ?Leycesteria formosa alba?
Post by: Palustris on August 04, 2009, 05:07:04 PM

(http://i703.photobucket.com/albums/ww32/Owdboggy/both.jpg)
(http://i703.photobucket.com/albums/ww32/Owdboggy/both2.jpg)

These are pictures of Leycesteria formosa, the red one and a variation which has appeared in my garden from seed collected from a plant elsewhere. I am not sure if I have a different L.formosa or whether this is a different speices,
The choices of species are
            Leycesteria formosa brachysepala
   Leycesteria formosa glandulosissima
   Leycesteria formosa stenosepala Rehder
   Leycesteria glaucophylla
   Leycesteria gracilis
   Leycesteria limprichtii
   Leycesteria sinensis
   Leycesteria stipulata

Now I know it is not glaucophylla (wrong coloured leaves or gracilis (wrong shaped leaves ) but I can find no easily (to me) available info on the others. Anyone any ideas?

Title: Re: ?Leycesteria formosa alba?
Post by: ideasguy on August 05, 2009, 08:35:43 AM

Ive done a broadcast with this message, Eric, so all members get to read it. Hopefully one of our members will be able to give a suggestion.

Title: Re: ?Leycesteria formosa alba?
Post by: peter1925 on August 05, 2009, 07:07:26 PM

Great picture! I think this is also called Himalaya Honeysuckle. Very interesting blooms  nor easy to see around.

Title: Re: ?Leycesteria formosa alba?
Post by: newplantguy on August 06, 2009, 03:02:38 PM

Leycesteria formosa, this does have white flowers, the red colouring you see are bracts which are more noticeable than the white flowers.
Your plant has paler bracts and white flowers I would think that this is a seedling variant. An interesting find as Leycesteria is not a plant you see every day. Continue to grow it in your garden, Leycesteria formosa - the form with the dark bracts has an AGM.
Not something I would be interested in trialing at the moment - do you have a picture of the whole plant??

Title: Re: ?Leycesteria formosa alba?
Post by: Palustris on August 06, 2009, 04:44:16 PM

The whole plant looks very much like L.formosa except that there is a light 'speckling' in the leaves. Funny thing to me is that I grew about 12 plants from the same lot of seed and they all appear to be this pale bracted variant, so far.
Thanks all the same, I was really more interested in finding out if it was formosa rather than one of the others, than commercial possibilities.

Title: Re: ?Leycesteria formosa alba?
Post by: newplantguy on August 07, 2009, 05:46:43 PM

I think it is L. formosa looking at the flowers, interesting none the less.