Do you have any Trailers?

Primulina diffusa described by GCCC

Do you have any trailers?

In the future when the Asian Violet Society of America (AVSA) holds judged flower shows and plant sales, there will be hobbyists looking for trailers.  What will that mean?

Our mythical plant society will someday rival the African Violet Society.  Maybe even take it over.  Most of the members of the Asian Violet Society will have come from their interest in African Violets.

African Violet trailers are collector varieties that are interesting when each crown makes continuous side crowns which can make a dense cluster of plants.  Therefore a lot of flowers are possible.

We already can see that the genetic pool of Primulina species is far greater than the species pool of Saintpaulia.  There are blue, white, pink and yellow flowers.  Bracts can be big and will enhance the flowering.  We have plain green and highly variegated foliage, big and tiny plants.

And yes, we have trailers.  The species P. diffusa and P. hoehiensis feature stolons and form clusters of adjoining plants from sideward stolons.  There may be other species that have stolon capabilities and this trait will carry into hybrids.

In African Violets, single crown plants dominate commercial production.  So far single crown Asian Violets are preferred.  But who knows what will happen when trailing species find their way into Primulina hybrids.

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Primulina hoehiensis (L) from GCCC