Lanzarote

[David]

Colin -
I have had plant of Umbilicus horizonthalis since Jan'05 (brought a baby seedling home!). Dormant April to September. It flowered in the early spring last year, but I did not take a photo. However, the dead flower stalk is still attached, and I can confirm that the flowers do stick out horizontally from the vertical main stalk - in fact they point slightly upwards.

Moreover, it seems to be self-fertile, and has set seed; there are three tiny seedlings in the pot.

David Greenaway.

[iann]

There are several native Sedums from the very common to the very rare. Things like S. acre and S. album are probably native but probably also naturalised way beyond their original locations, and are in every garden centre. Things like S. villosum (see BCCSJ June 2006) are extremely rare and almost unknown in cultivation.

[David]

When in Lanzarote at the beginning of the month we visited an English couple in Haria, in the "Valley of the Thousand Palms". This small part of the island is quite untypical of Lanzarote - a sort of oasis in the desert.

Fifteen years ago they bought a very old and interesting house in town and set about creating a garden of native plants, which are mostly non-succulent. The have one succulent species endemic to Lanzarote that is of special interest if only because it is so rare - Aeonium balsamiferum. Once cultivated there and on the neighbouring island of Fuerteventure to extract the sticky balsam as a preservative for fishing lines, it is now hardly to be found (the goats like it). Somehow David traced a plant and set about propagating it; now he has many mature specimens. He has been the gardening correspondant for the Lanzarote Gazette for the past year and it was his article describing this venture and offering rooted cuttings to local residents that led me to contact him.

It has been suggested to him, perhaps jokingly, that he may now have more plants of Aeonium balsamiferum in his garden than exist in the rest of the world. Wanting to spread this rarity around he tried to supply small plants to the local garden centres, but they refused as they are not allowed to sell them - because the species is protected. Catch 22?

My picture shows a length of their garden path bordered on both sides by the plants. Identification of the species is easy - the leaf rosettes exude a strong smell of balsam. I now have a couple of cuttings at home, both sprouting roots.

David Greenaway
Oxford Branch.
[attachment 1876 Aeoniumbalsamiferum2.jpg]

[Maria J]

Wow, what a fabulous project! I'm sure many species are saved by people like them! Funny though how sometimes legislation backfires on itself...

[Julie]

Wow... what a garden. If I lived there I'd never manage to do a single thing after breakfast... until I got hungry for lunch.

I never realised we have succulents here... I thought they all came from exotic places.

Not allowed to sell them??!?!?! Does the same rule apply here, David? You could sell or swap them at BCSS get-togethers.

[iann]

Aeonium balsamiferum is available for sale elsewhere in Europe, I imagine this is just a local regulation to prevent habitat stripping. It is listed in the Bern Convention, which requires member states to protect habitat, make wild collection illegal, and to control the posession and sale as necessary.

[Colin Walker]

Hi Maria,

There are roughly a dozen native British succulents: Umbilicus as we've discussed, then several Sedum spp.

Added to this are the naturalised ones, and then we're into tricky territory because where do we drawn the line?

Carpobrotus edulis is certainly naturalised in frost-free coastal areas. I know of a thriving population on Anglesey for instance.

An Australian alien as I've called it in the past is Crassula helmsii. This was used as an oxygenator in fish tanks/ponds, and has escaped and is now a pest that blocks waterways and covers ponds. This pest will be very difficult to get rid of now.

For me the interest in this plant and its relatives (strictly members of the genus Tillaea split off from Crassula) is that they're aquatic succulents - now how bizarre is that??!!

[Victoria]

Lets not forget Salicornia (licks lips and rubs tummy!)

[Bill]

[quote]Colin wrote:
Carpobrotus edulis is certainly naturalised in frost-free coastal areas. I know of a thriving population on Anglesey for instance. [/quote]

That's the Hottentot fig isn't it, I know it's a problem in the Channel Islands and the southwest of England, but did not know we had it up here, we have enough problem with things like Rhododendrum in the National Park.

[Colin Walker]

Hi Victoria,

Yep, you're right, Salicornia should be on the list too.