For those of you interested in purchasing plants, here is an alphabetical list of things we will offer. I will be adding to this list as the sale approaches. Don’t miss the unusual flower pictured at the end of the list!

Agave Victoria-reginae var. compacta, a prolific miniature century plant

Alluaudia humbertii, from the spiny dry forests of Madegascar

Assorted Bromeliads and Cacti, tough plants that let you get away with an occasional vacation

Barbacenia purpurea, an indoor plant from Brazil relatively new to cultivation

Beschorneria albiflora, a dramatic drought tolerant plant that attracts hummingbirds with huge, red inflorescences from Mexico

Brighamia rockii, just a few seed grown plants of this Hawaii native on the verge of extinction in the wild

Davallia figiensis, a miniature form of rabbits foot fern

Drosera binanta ‘Giant’  to catch small flying insects with it’s tentacle-like leaves

Gunnera killipiana with large umbrella-like leaves and flower spikes with maroon tassels from Mexico

Hatiora salicornioides, the drunkard’s dream plant with tiny bottle-shaped stem sections in a “bottoms up” position

Kalanchoe tubiflora, mother of millions eventually bearing many red-orange tubular flowers, Madagascar

Lapageria rosea, the elegant and much sought after national flower of Chile

Medinilla cummingii from high elevation Borneo with pink flowers and purple fruit

Musa vellutina, a dwarf, ornamental banana with flamingo pink inflorescences, but inedible fruit, alas

Phaedranassa dubia an Amaryllis relative from Ecuador with red, tubular flowers designed for hummingbirds

Pinguicula primuliflora, a butterwort that catches small insects on fly paper leaves

Quercus agrifolia, small coastal live oak trees -plant one to start your own carbon sequestration program!

Quercus lobata used to be widespread in CA at low elevations and along streams. It’s now rare and endangered!

Sansevieria trifasciata ‘Hahnii’  a dwarf mother-in-law tongue plant that tolerates low light and neglect indoors

Sarracenia species including: leucophylla ‘Tarnok,’ the double flowered New World pitcher plant with elegant white tipped leaves

Sarracenia oreophylla, a golden-chartreuse New World pitcher plant now rare and endangered in its FL home

Sarracenia  Xreadii, a vigorous natural hybrid with S. leucophylla with more red in the leaves and maroon flowers

Tillandsia usneoides, or Spanish moss, that can be grown draped on other plants with regular misting

Tradescantia zebrina, extremely easy to grow with purple and white striped leaves in hanging baskets

*Xerophyta (Talbotia) elegans, the marvelous desiccation tolerant plant for shade that can be dried out completely, folding up and turning a nice shade of purple, then revived to lush green in hours with watering. Researchers in South Africa are attempting to transfer the genes responsible for this amazing ability to crop plants.

And here’s a treat for those who have read this far -our Bulbophyllum echinolabium , with flowers some describe as smelling a bit like dead fish, has flowered for the first time at SFSU and may be flowering for the Plant Sale in which case it will be on display:

I. Landscaping around the New Greenhouse will eventually represent plant communities from Earth’s five   Mediterranean climate zones. With a lot of help from volunteer, Mischa Kornievsky, installation of the first area devoted to plants of South Africa is nearing completion and emphasizes the incredibly diverse Fynbos shrublands of the west, but with a few representatives of the Afromontane Forest, and eastern South African plant communities as well. This site is just to the west of the Head House with a zig-zag path that leads to the top of the slope. The SFSU Bio. Dept. GH has one of the most unique and extensive collections of fynbos plants outside South Africa, most with collection data.

A fynbos slope along the Sleeping Beauty Hiking Trail in So. Africa	Protea cynaroides, Sleeping Beauty Trail
Klattia stokoei is in cultivation at SFSU and nowhere else in the entire world	along with Nivenia inaequalis!

It is a joy to be planting them in an area with perfect conditions for their growth (acidic, sandy, low nutrient soil, and cool nights with added precipitation from fog). We need volunteers to help with clearing, mulching, weeding, and planting, as well as generating text for labels. With more area brought under horticultural control, we can expand planting to include our holdings from Australia, Chile, and the Mediterranean proper.

II. The largest area will be devoted to California native plants. Dr. Tom Parker is contributing plants produced by his seed bank studies of coastal California including many manzanitas (Arctostaphylos species). Volunterrs Lauren Gellespie, and Mandana Alaudini have helped with propagating plants for the site as well as potting up the plants from Dr. Parker. We need a lot more help with the California planting. There is an urgent need for weeding and mulching, as well as plant propagation. Appeals will be made to the SF branch of the California Native Plant Society, but the weeding of Oxalis pes-caprae needs immediate attention.

III. The idea has been suggested to turn the enclosure within the Science Building GH into a “Plant Shop” where priced plants would be kept available for sale any time staff or volunteers are available to handle transactions. There’s no reason soil, pots, fertilizer, etc. could not be kept there for sale as well.  I think this could be very beneficial to plant sale income. We need a small team interested in helping to turn this space into an inviting sales display room. The plants now inside will need to be moved, the floor weeded and cleaned, and plants groomed and priced. A large sign over the doorway is needed and inside the room smaller informational signs for the basic types of plants: succulents, carnivorous plants, etc.,would be helpful.

IV. It has been one of my goals to recruit community volunteers experienced in growing unusual plants to act as growers for sale plants. We welcomed our first recruit this month, Carlos Rendón, an extremely accomplished grower who has volunteered many years for UC Berkeley Botanical Garden and still does volunteer with the SF Botanical Garden. He will be working Tuesday afternoons and initially focussing on Lapageria rosea and Vireya Rhododendrons. He will make an excellent mentor for any student interested in growing!

V. Mandana Alaudini has been making very good use of Freecycle and has arranged the donation of materials for 2 large work tables and a wheelbarrow for moving mulch. If FOTGH comes up with a donation wish list, Mandana will try to find the listed items. She needs help in the form of short list of people with a car or truck to pick up donated items when needed. Also she now receives weekly donations of containers and plants from Trader Joe’s and we need help in processing these donations.

VI. It’s an unfortunate fact that the New GH does not include any green building features and we would like to change that. The first modification could be installing cisterns to hold rainwater from the GH roof. The Urban Farmer Store sells kits that use recycled industrial containers and has offered us a discount. But it might also be possible to obtain the same industrial containers and make required modifications ourselves. Other options needing more research include solar panels and/or bird-safe wind turbines to supply some portion of the large amount of energy used by the GH lights. And what a benefit to students to be able to see such systems in use and learn about them! We need a small team to look into these ideas.

FOTGH will soon be choosing the day of the week for meetings during Spring Semester. Please respond to the survey when you receive it so that we choose a day and time you can attend. If you don’t receive a survey, contact Alex Busuttil: alex.busuttil@gmail.com

Flowering at the Greenhouse this week: Blandfordia grandiflora, Australia

Last flowering of the season for Stanhopea tigrina, Mexico

And Tigridia (Rigidella) Orthantha, Mexico & Guatemala

FOTGH is planning to host an Open Greenhouse for students, staff, faculty, and the public on Sept. 23 from noon until 5 PM. FOTGH members will act as docents and lead tours through the three rooms of the teaching collection offering information about some of the most interesting plants to be found there.

Other activities to be going on in conjunction with the Open Greenhouse will be a Pineapple Tasting. (Yes, another fruit is ripening as I type.)

And a Venus Flytrap Feeding -like the Lion Feedings that used to be held at the SF Zoo, but a lot safer for all involved!

Traps big enough to nibble a thumb!

Flies are preferred, of course.

These plants will snap at anything!

Martin

Thanks,

Martin

Enjoy a quick recap of our patient vigil leading up to the brief spectacle of a Titan Arum flowering from a different perspective. It’s probably a good thing we couldn’t capture the scent for you!

Here are some of the pics I took with Nichole Roether’s great camera -Thanks Nichole!

Martin

There are other rare, odd, and interesting botanical events in the making at the SFSU Greenhouse! Just last week the Stanhopea tigrina orchid (pic Marty Epstein) initiated inflorescences of its own (more on Stanhopea: http://stanhopea.autrevie.com/). In many ways Stanhopea flowering is the inverse of that in Amorphophallus that sends its shoot up like a spire while these amazing orchids send their spikes down through the side or bottom of slatted pots where they dangle enormous spotted blooms. Instead of stinking, the flowers produce a heady, exquisitely sweet fragrance that will fill the entire room on the morning of opening. But as in Amorphophallus, individual blooms are short-lived, overconfident, if you will, that the strength of their scent will command the presence of their pollinators, post-haste. The pollinators happen to be iridescent, often blue-green Euglossid bees (more: http://stanhopea.autrevie.com/Stanhopea_Pollination.html). The male bees go so far as to gather the scent of Stanhopea orchids to use in courtship!  Having seen them in the wild, I wish there were some locally that could visit, but they are not that far off, as Stanhopea tigrina grows naturally just over the Texas border in Taumaulipas, Mexico. Because of this, it is exceptionally cold hardy and could be grown outdoors over much of the Bay Area with confidence were it available. I hope to keep you posted on the flowering of our plants so that you will have a chance to sample the scent female Euglossids find irrisisitable!

On another note, The SFSU Greenhouse is in possession of a taste-altering Miracle Fruit tree and usually has the berries available that can change your taste buds (for 30 minutes to 2 hours) so that sour and/or bitter foods taste incredibly sweet. I have organized tastings in the past, inviting people to bring sour foods to sample before and after a bit of Miracle Fruit, but we need someone to organize these events in the future as I am too busy and no students are available to do so. If you’d like to organize, or just help with such an event, please contact me.

Martin

The inflorescence had not completely closed by 9 PM Sunday, but the remaining odor was slight. I jumped the gun last post in stating that the male flowers were releasing pollen, but they will be doing so soon. Over the next week the inflorescence will slowly decline, the spadix collapse, and then the entire structure slump over. We will be keeping our overhead camera going through this process as well. Stay tuned for the time lapse footage to come later. There will be a last viewing (wake?) Monday afternoon, July 6, 2-6 PM. Come say goodbye to the Titan. Thanks to Sergei Zavarin for the pic below taken at 10 AM today with the Titan early in it’s closing process.

Martin