Nitidulas and Ericksoniae

Nigel Hurneyman (NHurneyman@softwar1.demon.co.uk)
Fri, 1 Nov 1996 13:56:52 -0000

I have Lowrie derived material from all his Nitidula subspecies and
Ericksoniae, plus something labelled D. Omissa from non-Lowrie
origins. All the Nitidulas are instantly recognisable as such from
their lime-green foliage, whereas Ericksoniae is boringly normal.
I think they must be relatively closely related within the pygmies
because they interbreed so readily - Lowrie believes he has found
two natural hybrids. When young they look fairly similar, but with
age I find that the Nitidulas grow short stems, whereas Ericksoniae
spreads itself out - I have one with a larger diameter rosette than
some of my Spatulatas. The D Omissa has the typical lime-green
Nitidula foliage and white flowers (although I understand white
flowered Ericksoniae variants exist). Regrettably I haven't studied
the flowers in detail, but I did notice the stigmas were not red so I
dismissed it as a mislabelled ssp Leucostigma.

Thanks for the reference Jan, I will try to obtain a back copy.

Regards, NigelH