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| Primulina minor from GCCC |
Here we are at our mythical Asian Violet show and Plant
Sale. The public wants Mini Violets
because they take less space and are cute.
But wait. Do you mean Mini African
Violets or Mini Asian Violets?
If you mean Mini African Violets,
then sure we have a wide range of excellent free flowering small plants. But if
you are asking about Mini Asian Violets, that’s another story.
There are no true Asian miniature
hybrids yet. We have small plants of
small varieties like ‘Piccolo’, ‘Rachel’ and ‘Loki’. But their flowering is subdued. No present day Primulina will ever be
confused with a Mini African Violet in full flower.
The future is hopeful. There is a miniature species, P. minor, with
green leaves and a tiny white flower. If
hybrid development can progress with it, Mini Asian Violets will be
interesting.
There’s nothing more stressful than unlimited potential. As far I know the
tiny species, P. minor, has not been distributed beyond China and no hybrids
have been made with it.
Superior Mini African Violets took
50 years of work. Showy Mini Asian Violets
haven’t even started yet.
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| Grown by Bobbie LaFashia - DAVS |
Do you consider P. tamiana a miniature species?
ReplyDeleteI was not thinking of P. tamiana at the time. It is small but not as little as the P. minor in the picture. Primulina tamiana is a very nice plant by itself, but I have not heard of any hybrids being made with it. There is speculation that it should not be included in the Primulina Genus.
ReplyDeleteInteresting... I had not heard before that P. tamiana might be reclassified. I'd wondered why no one was using it in hybridization. It really grows and blooms well for me.
ReplyDeletePrimulina tamiana appears to have enough good characteristics to be worth trying to cross it against any other Primulina species. How it is classified won’t matter if some nice hybrid could be made. The challenge it there.
ReplyDeleteI'm curious... What genus do they think tamiana might belong in if not Primulina?
ReplyDeleteMy best answer is I don’t know. Taxonomy is a strange science. If tamiana is not enough like Primulina then it must be in a different genus. If there is no genus that fits then a new genus must be created. As a practical matter, if tamiana can be crossed with any other similar plant, then the naming can catch up later.
ReplyDeleteHave you seen this?
ReplyDeletehttp://novataxa.blogspot.com/2016/05/deinostigma.html
Apparently, P. tamiana is now in the genus Deinostigma.
Thank you for posting this about Primulina tamiana moving to the Genus Deinostigma. I had not known about this. They are listing seven Deinostigma species --- cicatricose, cycnostyla, cyrtocarpa, eberhardtii, minutihamata, poilanei and tamiana.
ReplyDeleteIt will be interesting how fast someone can find these plants and make the first primary crosses.