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Roscoea alpina is a widespread species. Stocks in cultivation were once confused with
Roscoea scillifolia , but nowadays the differences are better appreciated. The photo
shows a fairly typical plant with mid purple flowers supported on a long floral tube
and standing well clear of the leaves. One of the more attractive features of the species is its tendency to have several flowers open at once, which contributes a lot to the floral display. The online 'Flora of China' says "Flowers purple or lilac, opening one at a time." so there is still some scope for clarification. It gives the distribution as: "Coniferous forests; 3000--3600 m. Xizang [Bhutan, India, Kashmir, Myanmar, Nepal, Sikkim]." Jill Cowley says: "Roscoea alpina is a common species in the Himalayan range from Pakistan and Kashmir in the west to Bhutan in the east, at altitudes fromm 2000m to 4300m. It flowers at any time from the end of May to mid August... According to The Garden, 1914, Roscoea alpina was introduced into cultivation by Bees Ltd. saying that it was "a very hardy free-growing plant with fine purple flowers. Himalayas."... This species can be found in forest clearings or among low herbaceous plants in Betula woodland and Rhododendron or conifer forests, in open meadows in dry peaty soil or in short, damp grass." Gary Dunlop says: "It does not usually increase vegetatively, but spreads rapidly by self-seeding in the garden. Whilst the flowers are exserted from the foliage at the top of the pseudostem, the seed capsule develops near its base, just above ground level. The expansion of the seed capsule usually forces the pseudostem apart, which is a quite distinctive characteristic." Edward S. Lyttel writes in thje Bulletin of the Alpine Garden Society: "First collected by Royle, and later by Forrest, Rock, and Kingdon Ward. It is very variable in height and colour. The best form is dwarf, with pinkish sessile flowers which appear in long succession from June to August." |
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| 6th July 2002 | ||
