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Can you guess what this flower is?
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Posted by Joanmary_z10 z10 Ft. L. Fl. (My Page) on Sun, May 15, 05 at 13:25
| This is the first flower of the season. Can you guess what it is?
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Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Can you guess what this flower is?
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| I know what it is. Did you know you posted in the UK forum? This plant is grown as a conservatory plant here, although maybe a few souls in the warmest spots have tried it outside. Reminds me, got to go check the hostas ... |
RE: Can you guess what this flower is?
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| Looks like Vigna Caracalla - Corkscrew Vine. Any UKers who want seed, drop me a line through 'My Page' as I have masses. |
RE: Can you guess what this flower is?
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RE: Can you guess what this flower is?
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| Ooops. Still back in the Dark Ages - Phaseolus was the only label to come to mind. Bothersome botanists! |
RE: Can you guess what this flower is?
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| I know it as Snail Vine. And I know it as Phaseolus. Is that not the correct name any more? |
RE: Can you guess what this flower is?
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| My understanding is that Corkscrew vine, which is fragrant, is the Vigna Caracalla; the Snail vine being the Phaseolus Caracalla which is not fragrant. There is so much confusion about the correct botanical names for both of them as you point out! Vines of the world by Edwin A Menninger says this: ‘VIGNA: Vigna is separable from Phaseolus only by the keel petals which are not spirally twisted, though often incurved’ By rights, we should id them as given here, Menninger being at the top of the list, horticulturally speaking! The nurseries here in the States id the Corkscrew vine as the Vigna Caracalla for the most part. The vines I bought fairly recently –re the photo – were identified as ‘snail vine’. Before I bought them I tracked down one person who knew something about them. He said that it IS the snail vine, but it's fragrant. Totally contradictory! Anyhow, the snail vine is fairly rampant and the corkscrew one is tidier, I have found! I have checked quite a few of my books and they confuse me even more, calling the snail vine Phaseolus as well as Vigna. So I am still confused, but I just go with the flow here!!! Joanmary |
RE: Can you guess what this flower is?
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| The Plant Finder has Phaseolus caracalla now correctly Vigna caracalla. Presumably the fragrance is just a variation. Did you know our climate in the UK is nothing like a US Zone 8, so we can't grow the same plants as you do? We are still having frost at night, snow in some places, hailstones here today with a daytime temperature of less than 60, with cloud and rain year-round. Our summer temperatures may reach 100 if we have a heat wave, and our light levels are nothing like you have so near the Equator. |
RE: Can you guess what this flower is?
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| CrazyLady, I suppose there are ++ and -- no matter where one lives. I have lived in England and love the climate. You have the mist; we have the hurricanes! But its quite a lovely picture of the flower, isn't it! Joanmary |
RE: Can you guess what this flower is?
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| The phaesolus not only has no fragrance, but the flowers are completely different. The color is uniformly violet and the petal texture isn't fleshy as in vigna. I'm not sure how they were ever confused as the only thing they have in common is a sort of spiral growth of the flower. |
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