Who is growing Asplundia insignis?

[doranakandawatta]

On more time I admired this Asplundia insignis and I dream about getting one plant, but… 
How to grow them ? from seeds?

Nice palm-looking plant, but a Cyclanthaceae.

 

 

 

[Donald Sanders]

I have been growing and attempting to collect cyclanthus plants for over 30 years.   Every time I try to respond  about this family on this site, I am corrected and proven wrong.    I am a novice horticulturalist and I have concentrated my attention to about 5 families of tropical plants, cyclanthus is one them.   The photo you posted has many names.   Several years ago thousands of clones were released to the wholesale trade.   I forget the company that cloned and released them, something like Agroresources or something like that.   They sold the plant even in big box stores.    I bought 3 for $5 each at Walmart.   It was called "Jungle Drum".  The company that cloned them referred to them as 'cyclanthus bipartitus' in their data.   I saw this referral myself years ago when researching 'cyclanthus bipartitus  

on line.   I am not expert but in the years that I have been growing cyclanthus as well as plams, nomenclature changes and is not written in stone.

I have been growing the plant in the photo for many years.   It like lots of water, good drainage, and filtered light.   I live at 1500 ft on the west side of the Big Island and it has survived temps as low as 57'.    You see the name Harling on the tag in the photo.   He did the most research on cyclanthus genera.   He describes the climbing cyclanthus as Asplundia and cataloged about 90 different climbers.   Look it up on Wikipedia under Aspoundia.

For readers wanting to correct me again, please note I am only sharing info that I am aware of.

There are many different cyclanthus plants that are both terrestrial like in the photo or like vines.   All are beautiful and palm like.   If any one out there would like some more info from me, feel free to contact me.    Thank you, Mahalo and good luck

aloha,   Don

[The Silent Seed]

I love these - but have yet to own one. Hope to change that soon! The issue is finding them.

Thanks for sharing! 

[XYZ]

Don and Philippe.

Asplundia insignis is indeed a perfectly valid name. As can be seen on the tag, it is a terrestrial, insular species from Guadeloupe, Dominica, Martinique, Grenada and St. Kitts. It's ubiquity in older wet forests on the Lesser Antilles favors its presence in a European glasshouse. Most terrestrial asplundias are near look-alikes, but there are some very striking ones like the Panamanian A. allenii. However, in general it is not one of the more striking cyclanth genera, in spite of being species rich.

There is a major consolidation of all cyclanth species currently in cultivation (many more than some might expect, including all genera save one) as a recent initiative of a well-known US botanical garden. Most of the material being shared are basal offsets or stem cuttings of some of the epiphytic liana types, but some new seed grown accessions and legal imports are also involved. As a minor participant in this initiative, I have swapped out bits and pieces of my material for some of the more interesting species being grown in the US. I am also propagating a few larger, tougher species of highland plants that are probably suitable for outdoor cultivation in some parts of the San Francisco Bay Area.

I do produce seed from my plants on occasion in both countries. Luckily, the orchid greenhouse where my plants are located in San Francisco harbors at least one type of beetle pollinator since they have selfed two genera here recently. Some cyclanth seed, contrary to what Harling wrote in his monograph, can take well over a year to germinate. It can be tricky to store for any length of time and vexing to work when newly-sprouted.

Cheers,

J

 

 

[Donald Sanders]

Thank you for sharing info on cyclanthus.   Living on an isolated island with few others interested in cyclanthus, your info is valuable.   Any chance you can share what  well know US botanical garden is doing the research and please if you have any source of cuttings and plants.    Thank you ,  Mahalo   Don







D                                                                                    

[tropicbreeze]

I got a small one of these many years ago. It grew well in a pot and flowered a lot regularly. Never produced any seed that I noticed. A few years ago it had got quite big and I put it in the ground. It's still growing well, but has never flowered since. The soil would be a bit drier than what it had in the pot, it's got competition from tree roots, and it has stronger light although not really direct sunlight. I'm surprised that it hasn't got back to flowering yet.

I've also got 3 other Cyclanthaceae: Ludovia lancifolia, Cyclanthus bipartitus and Carludovica palmata.

Have never been able to find any others here.

[XYZ]

Don:

I'll let the garden in question decide when they wish to emphasize this collection initiative. The US public collections with noteworthy cyclanth collections currently include Missouri, Atlanta, Marie Selby, the Huntington and Fairchild. A few university BGs have the odd cyclanth or three in their research greenhouses. Due to the challenges that many of them pose for any but the warmest, wettest, shadiest and spacious garden or greenhouse, private collectors of any but the most commonly-cultivated species appear to be few and far between. This is one of the reasons I am focusing on the compact and cold-tolerant species rather than the giants.

There will be some interesting plants available sometime this summer. You will, no doubt, have to satisfy the requirements of Hawaiian ag red tape to get them into your hands. I assume that this is feasible, if perhaps a bit of a PITA.

Cheers,

J

[The Silent Seed]

I would love to be informed when some become available! I'm more fascinated the more I read here.

[strandoo]

I have always assumed that these plants are asplundia,spp.   are they?

 

 They are starting to look good again after a stint as indoor plants at my daughters unit in town. I bought them as somewhat sorry unidentified specials at a local nursery some years back. One of them is starting to clump the other is a single.

Regards John K.