Weird conphytum flowering

[ralphrmartin]

One of my Conophytums is flowering today - and it has 2 colours of flowers on the same plant. (I'm sure there is only one plant in this pot). I've had it for many years, and it has never done this before as far as I know. This year, it also has a purple flower (and more purple buds coming). It is a hybrid, but even so, it seems very strange behaviour. Have some genes switched off (or on) in just one part of the plant? Do flowers change colour dramatically after being open for a long time? Any other explanation?

[ChrisR]

You've somehow got two different clones there Ralph. No doubt Terry will offer an explanation and tell you the history behind this as I believe he's responsible.

[rodsmith]

Looks like two of your conophytums are flowering today, Ralph.

[ralphrmartin]

I assure you this is a SINGLE plant, with ONE main stem..

[ralphrmartin]

PS I originally got it from ChrisR in 2010.

[Terry S.]

The parent material was originally distributed by Steven Hammer as C. tantillum form from Eenriet which in itself seems dubious as a locality, although Graham Williamson was meticulous in what he did. This is the first time that I have seen the suggestion that it is a flavum hybrid. I have two plants which may or may not be different clones but I interpollinated them and obtained seeds. The offspring could be divided into two groups: one with larger bodies than the original but retaining purple flowers; the other with better-marked small bodies but orange to red flowers. I am still not sure what happened, but the result suggests strongly that the original plant(s) was a hybrid. Like Chris, I feel fairly sure that you have got a volunteer seedling in that pot. If not, then it is certainly a weird happening. I did distribute the orange and red flowered seedlings as "C. tantillum hybrid" because I thought they were rather pretty. The larger purple ones were discarded.

[ChrisR]

I still grow these clones Ralph - the original purple one and a couple of Terry's odd coloured progeny. I usually sent out multiple cuttings when ordered, not just single heads. They are interesting as cultivars but their confused provenance has always annoyed me and although a few people have explored the Eenriet hills since, no one else has found such plants. You have now provided the impetus for me to pass them on!

An edited afterthought.......I understood it to be considered a form of tantillum ssp.heleniae or more likely a hybrid between that and C.flavum ssp.novicium, hence the orange flowers. Except ssp.heleniae is only known further west and ssp.eenkokerense further east and as I said above, nothing similar has been reported from Eenriet or any adjacent hills before or since. Maybe one day.......

[ralphrmartin]

Thanks, Terry and Chris, for the background info. I will go back and re-check whether I really have a single plant or not - but if part of a variegated plant can revert to green only, I still believe a similar mechanism could also cause a colour change in flower colour in part of a plant.