Schizanthus

Plant Characteristics

Lifespan:	⌛	annual, biennial

Cultivation

Scientific Names

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Schizanthus (pronounced /ˌskɨˈzænθəs/),—common names butterfly flower, fringeflower, poor-man's-orchid—is a genus of plants in the Solanaceae (nightshade) family.

Many flowers have been compared by writers to butterflies, but it is only this one that has received the name of butterfly flower. The butterfly weed Asclepias and the butterfly bush Buddleja are so-called not because they resemble butterflies, but because they attract them.

The flowers of Schizanthus are available in a wide range of colors and sizes, and are delicately spotted and blotched like the smaller butterflies. The blooms on a well-grown plant are produced in such profusion as to completely cover it. For the garden the dwarfed varieties should be chosen as the tall sorts grow rather slender and crooked. The leaves are attractive with soft green, deeply cut and fern like that are often covered with fine hair.

Read about Schizanthus in the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture

Schizanthus (Greek, split and flower; from the incised corolla). Solanaceae. Butterfly Flower. Erect half-hardy annual herbs, more or less glandular-viscid, grown outdoors and also in the greenhouse for bloom. They can be trained into immense pot subjects. Leaves frequently pinnatisect, the segms. incised or dentate: cymes terminal and open: fls. incised, showy and variously colored; calyx deeply 5-cleft, almost 5-parted, the lobes linear; corolla-tube short or elongated, cylindrical, the limb spreading, oblique, somewhat 2- lipped, laciniate; perfect stamens 2, exserted; disk inconspicuous; ovary oblong, 2-celled: caps. membranaceous-chartaceous; seeds numerous.—About 7 species, all from Chile. These choice plants are of easy cult. in any good garden soil. They are also useful as pot-plants for spring flowering, the seed being sown in early fall and the plants kept in a light house and given plenty of root-room as they need it. There is a strain offered in trade under the name of S. hybridus, Hort., which is not readily placed botanically. It does not appear to be specific in rank and apparently consists of a series of large-fld. garden hybrids. It is offered in several variations. 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 It may be out of date, but still contains valuable and interesting information which can be incorporated into the remainder of the article.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.

Species

• S. pinnatus
• S. wisetonensis

Hybrids:

• Schizanthus × wisetonensis

Gallery

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References

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

External links

• w:Schizanthus. Some of the material on this page may be from Wikipedia, under the Creative Commons license.
• Schizanthus QR Code (Size 50, 100, 200, 500)