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Sunday, August 1, 2010

Huernia finally blooms

My beleaguered Huernia is finally starting to put out flowers.  I still think it is a Huernia confusa due to the mottling of the annulus and the broken horizontal bands on the...uh...petals? 


No smell on this one, thankfully.  It's a crazy looking flower, but I love it!  The texture is firm and waxy, like plastic: it looks and feels fake...but it lives!  This plant needs a lot more water than I am used to giving succulents.  If I let it dry out even slightly, flower buds start turning red and shriveling up.  I've been making this mistake since I first potted this plant.  Better dry than dead, yes, but I've missed out on many a flower before I realized my mistake.  Oh, huernia, you thirsty lush!

A little shot of my currently blooming Asclepiadaceae ...

12 comments:

  1. I found the name for you! A flickr friend of mine loves these plants and I knew I saw it. It is called huernia zebrina ssp zebrina. Here is the link to the picture. You may have to copy and paste. http://www.flickr.com/photos/itza/4382290149/
    The color is slightly different but I think it is the brightness of the flash.

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  2. Thank you, Candy! I think you're totally right: Huernia zebrina spp zebrina, it is! The seller had it called something else...Huernia insigniflora, which I know isn't accurate. I've looked around the web, and it seems that the flowers of Huernia confusa and Huernia zebrina spp. zebrina look very similar...may never know. Thank you so much for the comment!

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  3. Dear North,
    We are hoping you can help us with a perplexing situation. We seem to have an infestation of plant lice in our office. What do we do? Please help!!

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  4. OK, funny office mates. We do not have plant lice :-) Hmmph.

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  5. Lovely pictures! I have a huernia confusa that I grew from seed and is about three years old now, I thought by now it would have flowered, what is your experience/knowledge with this? After reading this page I think maybe I am not watering frequently enough!

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