Some notes on Massonia species

[Aiko]

Anyone else here growing Massonias? I really like these winter active bulbs a lot!
Currently the naming of species is quite a mess, according to things I hear. Lots of changes being made, lots of species being lumped and splitted again.

Massonia roggeveldensis
In the summer of 2015 I acquired a few plants of Massonia sp. Roggeveld. This is a species that was likely to be lifted to a species status and would be named in due course.
It turns out, this has happened.

This species is now named: Massonia roggeveldensis.

Anyone interested in some seeds of this plant should keep an eye out on my free / swap seed list. I expect to have seeds available somewhere during spring. Late 2015 I had cross-pollinated my plants, and if it looks like the seed capsules are developing.

Massonia tenella / Massonia citrina
Also I received word of African Bulbs that seeds of Massonia tenella they distributed a few years ago, turn out not to be Massonia tenella. It turns out to be Massonia citrina.

I noticed the yellow flowers too (and the lemmon / citron smell), when my plant finally flowered this weekend, after being in bud since October! I have a picture of my plant on the forum of Succulenta: http://succulenta.nl/forums/topic/masso ... 6834e7a283" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; (the text is in Dutch though, but the pictures are international).

Not so strange it took a while for M. tenella to be in disguise. In the last few years I could hardly find anything about Massonia tenella online at all. It is only since very recently that I disovered that the Pacific Bulb Society has added some text on M. tenella on their Massonia page, see: http://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswi ... p/Massonia" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;. Here one can see the inflorence to be much different compared to 'my' M. tenella, and for me the pictures presented are the only pictures I have yet seen of this species.

Unlucky enough this is the second time a plant I bought named M. tenella which turned out not be the name given. I recently acquired some M. tenella seeds from ADBLPS, hoping the third time would be a charm.

Massonia bifolia / Whiteheadia bifolia
And it seems Massonia bifolia now has been switched to the Whiteheadia genus, now named Whiteheadia bifolia. Not so strange considering the appearance of the inflorence, structurally so much different compared to other species. Still a very beautiful plant I probably still keep on calling Massonia...

[Aiko]

Massonia bifolia / Whiteheadia bifolia
And it seems Massonia bifolia now has been switched to the Whiteheadia genus, now named Whiteheadia bifolia. Not so strange considering the appearance of the inflorence, structurally so much different compared to other species. Still a very beautiful plant I probably still keep on calling Massonia...

Here are two pictures of my Whiteheadia [Massonia] bifolia.

A very thirsty plant, with droopy leaves:


A flower up close. Note a small droplet of water (nectar? It does not taste sweet...) between the most bottom stamens (it is very slightly a reflective). There is a drop of moist between every one of them:

[Aiko]

Massonia roggeveldensis
In the summer of 2015 I acquired a few plants of Massonia sp. Roggeveld. This is a species that was likely to be lifted to a species status and would be named in due course.
It turns out, this has happened.

This species is now named: Massonia roggeveldensis.

Anyone interested in some seeds of this plant should keep an eye out on my free / swap seed list. I expect to have seeds available somewhere during spring. Late 2015 I had cross-pollinated my plants, and if it looks like the seed capsules are developing.

I have now been able to harvest some fresh seeds of Massonia roggeveldensis, and have offered seeds (to swap) in the thread: http://www.cactiguide.com/forum/viewtop ... 55#p321255" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[kristian_Fossmo]

Looks really interesting!

[Ivan C]

Anyone else here growing Massonias? I really like these winter active bulbs a lot!
Currently the naming of species is quite a mess, according to things I hear. Lots of changes being made, lots of species being lumped and splitted again....

I have just acquired a Massonia hirsuta which is or used to be Massonia echinata and I'm not really sure what to do with it. From what I read I should plant it into fairy large pot. I'm guessing 20cm x 25 cm deep. But I only have 1 bulb and that seems quite large. I also understand it should not be watered at all right now. Perhaps just placed in damp soil? Any suggestions or hints, Aiko?

[Aiko]

Just put it in a 'normal' pot. If the pot is too small, the leaves will just droop over the edge of the pot. That is not a problem. It might be more appealing if the leaves could lay horizontal. Only then a wide pot might be a choice. But not needed. The bigger the pot, the harder the soil dries out (although it likes to drink a lot when in active growth). My full grown Massonia's are in pots of 10 by 10 cm wide, and 8 cm high.

The dormant bulb goes underground. Could be halfway deep in the pot, or just a bit below the soil. I don't think it matters much. It should indeed not be watered now. It will show itself in late summer / early autumn. Around that time you might give it a splash to wake it up a bit, but should only really water it when you see the leaves appear above the soil. So keep it totally dry for the next few months.

[Aiko]

I just heard of a new Massonia species: Massonia thunbergiana. Not much to find on it at the moment, though...

[Aiko]

I just heard of a new Massonia species: Massonia thunbergiana. Not much to find on it at the moment, though...

There is now a picture on the page: http://massonia.com/gallery?page=1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Aiko]

I just heard of a new Massonia species: Massonia thunbergiana. Not much to find on it at the moment, though...

In the mean time I have seen the plant in active growth and flowering. An interesting plant. The one I saw was quite big. What I did find very interesting was the smell of the flowers. Certainly not sweet as other species of Massonia (for as far as I know). Quite an odd smell, more the smell of some spice. I liked it, but I can imagine some will think it is smelly. A good indicator to tell it apart from other species, I think.

[Aiko]

I just heard of a new Massonia species: Massonia thunbergiana. Not much to find on it at the moment, though...

There is now a picture on the page: http://massonia.com/gallery?page=1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

And here is an even better picture: http://www.imgrum.org/media/14022638177 ... 3026554858

[greenknight]

Those are great - really weird plant, I love it!

[Aiko]

The smell of the flowers are the most interesting aspect of this Massonia, compared to other species in the same genus.
I would not call the smell nice (it definately is not sweet), but it is a very interesting smell nonetheless.

[Ivan C]

Here is mine.

M. hirsuta.jpg (66.45 KiB) Viewed 5850 times

[Aiko]

On Massonia.com there is now a list available of current recognised species of Massonia: http://massonia.com/species

Two new species have just been described; Massonia inaequalis and M. visseriae, both maybe vissually not the most outstanding species addition to the genus...

[Aiko]

The Massonia page on the Pacific Bulb Society page has been updated a few weeks ago: https://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/pbsw ... p/Massonia. It includes quite some more species, of which the above mentioned Massonia visserae. The only true M. echinata should come from Oorlogskloof. In practise almost all M. echinata in cultivation will not be M. echinata. As are mine, unfortunately...

It is not a definite list, but as definite as it currently can be. See the note: "Massonia spp. as stated above (because this genus needs a lot of work) includes many species that we cannot either place into a species or that are new species to be described". Quite interesting if you are a Massonia enthousiast as I am, and will be getting more interesting in the future, I hope.