Wednesday 16 March 2005

Meconopsis wallichii - Photos In The Garden

White form. Pale blue with fern like foliage.
Flowers late June / July. Seedlings mid winter - the middle rosette is M. wallichii, quite distinctive from the rest which are all M. napaulensis (Hort).
Flowering at the RBG Edinburgh in 2010. The flower colour is similar in M. wilsonii ssps as well as M. violaceae. The leaf lobing separates but this needs clarilfying. This is the more compact mauve flowered form of M. wallichii (see also the longer petioled and pale blue type) Both of these have been in cultivation for many years. Taylor lumped this in with M. napaulensis - (wrongly) It is sterile if crossed with that in the garden hybrid form.

The leaf lobing may well be critical in separating this from M. wilsonii (a newly described species by C. Grey- Wilson - which cv.) This last species is variable and has already been split into 2 or 3. As there are two quite distinct types of M. wallichii as well as the elusive M. violaceae, all of these need a proper re-assessment and a new type of key.