code: 957
The nectar-filled flowers are intricately veined bizarre
Family: Melianthaceae
Common name: Honey bush
Plant Classification: Hardy perennial
Minimum Height: 60 cm
Maximum Height: 90 cm
Packet Content(approx.): 5 large seeds
Curious maroon-brown flowers, with chocolate bracts and green stamens, produce unusual inflated fruits above attractive, musky-perfumed deeply-fingered foliage on this very rare plant. In addition, this South African native provides many odd details in its life cycle. Compared with the more well known and widely available Melianthus major, this seldom-seen beauty is more reasonably sized for the smaller garden, and has lovely fuzzy apple green leaves as opposed to the glaucous grey-green of the major. The nectar-filled flowers are intricately veined bizarre beauties of green, brown, and deep purple, which are followed by large cubical green seed pods that are puffed up, and pop like a balloon when pressed. The black nectar bulges out of the mouth of the flower, spilling out as the lower flowers on the spikes slowly rotate from right side up to upside down over the course of a day. Melianthus are apparently the only genus in the plant world that have this mysterious rotation, which would make a perfect subject for time lapse photography.
Sowing advice:
These seeds have already been thoroughly cleaned and cold-stored for several months. They should be sown into a well-drained, sandy compost at any time of the year, and covered thinly with sand or grit and kept moist. Keep at between 15 and 20 degrees C. Germination usually occurs within 4 to 6 weeks although some seeds may take much longer.
Culture
Easily grown in average, medium moisture, well-drained soils in full sun to part shade. Plants prefer cool summer climates. They are intolerant of the extreme heat of the deep South, and do not perform well south of USDA Zone 6. They appreciate part afternoon shade in hot summer climates including Missouri. Plants typically need regular and even moisture. Deadhead spent flowers to encourage additional bloom. Plants are often short-lived, but will easily remain in the garden in optimum growing conditions by self-seeding. Seed may be planted in the garden in late spring for bloom the following year. Plants will spread in the garden by creeping roots. Plants may be propagated by cuttings, but division of mature plants can be difficult.
Noteworthy Characteristics
Campanula rotundifolia, commonly called bluebell or harebell, is a rosette-forming, upright perennial that typically grows to 20″ tall. It is noted for producing attractive, bell-shaped, nodding blue flowers (each to 1/2″ long) that bloom singly or in small clusters from the stem tips throughout summer (June-September). This bluebell is native to a variety of different environments including meadows, grasslands, rocky slopes, crevices, alpine areas and sandy shores in the northern parts of North America, Europe and Asia. From a basal rosette of small, rounded, long-stalked, basal leaves (to 1″ wide) rise wiry, thread-like stems clad with narrow, alternate, linear leaves (each to 1-3″ long). Basal leaves usually wither early and disappear before the flowers form. This plant is also native to a small area in the Ozarks in Shannon County where it is found on north-facing limestone bluffs along the Jack’s Fork River.
Genus name comes from the Latin campana meaning bell in reference to the bell-shaped flowers.
Specific epithet is in reference to the rounded basal leaves.
This bluebell has a large number of common names. Harebell may relate to the fact that this plant is sometimes found in areas inhabited by rabbits (hares). This same plant grows in Scotland where it is popularly known as the bluebells of Scotland or Scotch bluebell.
