Phyteuma

Plant Characteristics

Origin:	✈	?

Cultivation

Exposure:	☼	?"?" is not in the list (sun, part-sun, shade, unknown) of allowed values for the "Exposure" property.
Water:	◍	?"?" is not in the list (wet, moist, moderate, dry, less when dormant) of allowed values for the "Water" property.

Scientific Names

Read about Phyteuma in the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture

Phyteuma (old Greek name, meaning simply "a plant," used by Dioscorides for some mignonette-like herb). Campanulaceae. Horned Rampion. Hardy herbaceous perennials, used for borders and alpine gardens; not much known in this country except by fanciers and those who grow rock-garden plants and alpines. Low or tall, with st. lvs. alternate, and radical lvs. larger and long-petioled, sometimes very narrow and grass-like: fls. mostly blue or purplish, varying to white, usually in dense terminal heads or spikes, sometimes somewhat unibellate, the fl. bud long and curved; corolla opening more or less with 5 very narrow segms. (sometimes remaining closed); stamens 5, free from corolla, filaments more or less dilated at base, anthers free and distinct; styles 2-3-cleft, often protruding, the lobes very narrow: fr. a caps, crowned by the calyx- teeth, laterally dehiscent. Species about 40, Eu. and adjacent Asia, mostly in the mountains, sometimes at great elevations. The flowers in phyteuma are mostly shades of blue, more or less purple, rarely white. There are two forms of inflorescence, the globular and the long-and-narrow, the former being the more interesting. The showy feature of P. comosum, at first glance, seems to be a group of colored and much elongated pistils; but these pistil-like bodies are really corollas which usually show slits at their inflated base and are narrowed above into a very slender tube from which the style and stigmas are much exserted. In this species the corolla does not open, but in the others it finally splits at the top, making a spreading or wheel-shaped flower. The plants usually seed freely and may also be propagated by division, which is best performed in spring after growth begins. They thrive in ordinary garden soil in either rock- garden or border. In an account of the cultivated species, Correvon (Gn. 63, pp. 39-41, 58) distinguishes three cultural groups: (1) the mural or wall species, comprising only P. comosum; (2) the rock loving species, comprising P. Carestiae, P. Charmelii, P. confusum, P. globulariaefolium, P. hemisphaericum, P. humile, P. pauciflorum, P. serratum, P. Sieberi, P. Scheuchzeri; (3) the open-ground species, as P. austriacum, P. betonicaefolium, P. canescens, P. Halleri, P. limonifolium, P. Michelii, P. orbiculare, P. scorzonerifolium, P. spicatum. The rock-loving species (2) require rock fissures in full sun, without damp, little soil and that only of leaf- mold and sand. The open-ground species (3) are those of woods and pastures and are easy to grow in gardens. The botanical account following is mainly derived from DC. Prod. 7:450 and Koch, Syn., Flor. Germ., with considerable additions in descriptions from Correvon. There is likely to be some confusion in the species and the forms known in cultivation. INDEX. austriacum. 14. globulariaefolium 10 pauciflorum, 5. betonicaefolium. 5. Halleri, 7. Scheuchzeri, 16. canescens, 1. hemisphaericum, 11. acorzonerifolium,3. carestiae, 12. humile, 12. serratum, 12. charmelii, 13, 15. limonifolium, 8. Sieberi, 13. comoeum, 2. Michelii, 4. spicatum, 6. confusum, 14. orbiculare, 14. CH The above text is from the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture. It may be out of date, but still contains valuable and interesting information which can be incorporated into the remainder of the article. Click on "Collapse" in the header to hide this text.

Cultivation

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References

• Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture, by L. H. Bailey, MacMillan Co., 1963

External links

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