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Roscoea tibetica has recently been imported in quite large quantities from nurseries in China and as a consequence has become widespread in cultivation recently. It is a splendid little plant, and
imports have arrived in a number of different forms bearing many wonderful and imaginative names. This picture shows a more or less typical form. The seedlings shown are approximately six months old. Approximately 60% produced flowers and then set viable seed before the end of their first season. The seed was produced by self pollination of my first plant and the seedlings were remarkable for their uniformity. It was much more vigorous in the greenhouse than it has been in the garden. Jill Cowley says: "This is one of the most widespread of the Chinese Roscoea species in the wild, but is still little known in cultivation. It is certainly not one of the more showy species, but it can tolerate both shaded and open areas and deserves a place in the corner of the rock garden. In the wild, this species, which is widespread in southeastern Tibet, Burma and western China, can be found growing equally happily in the deepest shade of a pine forest or in open meadows. The first introduction of this species to cultivation appears to be by the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh in 1981, probably from the SBEC expedition (Lancaster 1989). The plants were collected at Huadianba above Lake Erhai in Yunnan. Roscoea tibetica occurs in southeastern Tibet close to Yunnan, in Burma along the Burma-Yunnan borders, and in China in Yunnan and Sichuan Provinces. It grows on open, dry, sunny, grassy or rocky banks, or in moist alpine meadows near rivers or on flat plains. It can also be found in clefts and along cliff ledges on mountain slopes, or in valleys at the margins of, in clearings within, or in the shade of pine and mixed forest or scrub. It has been collected at altitudes between 1800 and 4270m, and flowers from late May to August." |
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| 1st July 2005 | ||
