Disterigma rimbachii - Paramo heather

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Stone Jaguar
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Disterigma rimbachii - Paramo heather

#1

Post by Stone Jaguar »

Neotropical blueberries have a bit of a following among rare plant collectors right now, largely due to past efforts by NYBG's indefatigable James Luteyn. There are some truly spectacular flowers in this group of ericads, most of which are from wet premontane and montane forests in southern Central and NW South America. There are a few spp. that occur together with stem succulents in central and southern Mexico, most notably the handsome small flowering tree, Bejaria aestuans and the common montane shrub, Cavendishia bracteata.

Almost all of the species of Neotropical blueberries in cultivation today are hemiepiphytes or shrubs, and grown exclusively as potted plants in climate-controlled greenhouses. Only a few of the species from paramo and high elevation elfin forest are in cultivation in the 'States as far as I know. Due to there comparative rarity and high cost, they have not really been trialed as garden plants outside of a handful of cases that I am aware of.

One of the species that I grow in California is the Ecuadoran endemic, Disterigma rimbachii. This species gets about 2'/60 cm tall and occurs as both a terrestrial and an epiphytic plant. Last year I planted a few 5"/13 cm starts outside in a mixed xeric garden on the Peninsula. Since these plants occur as high as 10,700'/3,300 m I had little concern about their ability to handle freezing temperatures, but was unsure how well they would handle the summer highs in the SF Bay Area, particularly since they are exposed to direct sun for much of the day here and are on timed drip. I am pleased to report they took several prolonged spells of 110-112 F/~44 C in their stride, making them an interesting alternative to native ericad groundcovers like bearberry (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi) and some of the dwarf, prostrate manzanitas in parts of the western US.

These are still young plants. They can get quite expansive in nature, Pretty plant, pretty flowers, pretty pale blue fruits later in the Fall.
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Jay
Stan
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Re: Disterigma rimbachii - Paramo heather

#2

Post by Stan »

Resembles my old Agapete serpans. THAT is not drought tolerant or low water needs. I am reading more of the tropical blueberry's more and more. I had one species 15 years ago,that had actual blue berries. As a neophyte then Jay,and being I was doing just care taking of the plant in the greenhouse I never did get the name.
Agapete's have big caudexes.
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Re: Disterigma rimbachii - Paramo heather

#3

Post by Epiphyte »

Great write-up! I had Disterigma pentandrum for around 5 years in hanging pots. It tolerated the heat, a decent amount of dryness, and the winter cold/rain. During the early part of Spring this year I think I let it get too dry. I wonder how it differs from Disterigma rimbachii.

I successfully established a few different tropical blueberries epiphytically. Most of the ones that I tried had no problem drying out between waterings. But it was the prolonged dryness that did them in. I generally severely cut back on watering when the temps start get cool. So in order to keep the blueberries going epiphytically I'd have to have a section of the garden that I continued to regularly water even during cooler temps.

My friend Dave lives in my area and he successfully grows a few different tropical blueberries outside year around. He grows them all in pots or hanging baskets. Early on he was super proud of one of his hanging specimens. I told him that it looked a lot like a Columnea. It had never bloomed for him. When it finally did bloom he was sorely disappointed that I was right. It's funny that he valued the same exact plant a lot less just because it was a Gesneriad rather than a tropical blueberry. Recently my friend Fernando told me that he had established a tropical blueberry cutting that I had given him a while back. When I visited him it turned out to be Aeschynanthus gracilis. He was also disappointed to learn its true identity.

I'm pretty sure that there must be at least a couple tropical blueberries that will grow great epiphytically outdoors here in SoCal. But trying to find them is a very costly endeavor. It certainly is really enjoyable though to find a plant that's a real winner.
Stone Jaguar
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Re: Disterigma rimbachii - Paramo heather

#4

Post by Stone Jaguar »

Epiphyte:

I assume that your friend confused Columnea arguta for Ceratostema rauhii. They do look amazingly similar to most when not in flower. I have large plants of both here and orchid people regularly identify the Ceratostema as a gesneriad. The flowers on the columnea are far superior in every way to those of the ericad but it lacks the snob appeal of the latter, I suppose.

There are quite a few disterigmas across their range. Most of them look quite similar vegetatively with these small, tubular whitish, coral pink, carmine or red corollas. Among the closely-related species, it is primarily flower details that separate them. There is at least one entirely epiphytic, myrmecophytic sp.

Many Neotropical blueberry species can handle SF Bay Area climate with supplemental water and the very striking Ceratostema alatum excels here in cool, shady spots in the garden. If it ever became readily available to the many-headed, I think it would be a huge hit here. They have massive old shrubs of Cavendishia bracteosa planted out in the SF Botanical Garden/Strybing that have been there for decades. I have found quite a few genera in very high elevation elfin forests in Central America and Ecuador, and would wager that a decent number of the terrestrial forms from above 2,000 m/6500' would succeed here year-round. Not so sure about SoCal...some of the warm tropical species of Macleania, as well as Cavendishia allenii and a few others can probably handle the climate well.

Stan; agapetes are pretty popular in this area...they are, of course, Asian, not Neotropical ericads. Many of the New World genera also produce lignotubers, some very large. This is a photo of a wild Macleania insignis var. linearifolia in cloud forest in central Guatemala.
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The lignotuber is about the size and shape of a large cow's heart. I have seen wild macs in lowland Panama (NOID) with lignotubers as big as a beach ball.
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Re: Disterigma rimbachii - Paramo heather

#5

Post by Epiphyte »

Stone Jaguar, good guess! I had forgotten that Dave had taken that pic. You're right about the "snob appeal". Neither species is common, but the erica is certainly a lot less common. I managed to kill them both. As far as I can tell, the temps weren't the problem... it was the extended dryness during the cooler parts of the year. Also, I recall there not being much margin of error. Most plants exhibit obvious signs of drought stress... such as wilting/wrinkling. I think that by the time my ericas showed any signs of drought stress it was too late. Well... I'm not a mind-reader! I primarily rely on signals. So it would have been optimal if the ericas had simply texted me whenever they really needed some water.

One erica that I wouldn't mind trying is Agapetes lobbii. Its tuber can get really large. Plus, the flowers aren't too shabby.

Thanks for sharing the pic of the Macleania tuber! Kartuz used to have a Macleania with a massive tuber growing in a pot outside. When I visited him a few weeks ago I didn't see it. Maybe it was just hidden by some other plants.

Another issue that I had with the ericas is that they generally don't produce many seeds. Few seeds means little variation which means slow adaptation/progress. It's less likely that one of the apples will fall far from the tree in the right direction.

The next time that I visit Dave I'll try and remember to make a list of his ericas.
Stone Jaguar
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Re: Disterigma rimbachii - Paramo heather

#6

Post by Stone Jaguar »

Epi,

In his defense, besides just snob appeal, that particular ceratostema has only ever been collected once amost three decades back (Rauh 68468) while the gesneriad is abundant across most forested areas of Panama and into western Colombia. Both spp despise wind and require copious watering year-round to excel, so doubt they're good outdoors choices for SoCal unless sited properly and given extra protection and care. There are far better choices from both genera for your climate. As more genera and spp of Neotropical blueberries leak out of public collections and into private collectors' hands, people will figure out which ones will work in their conditions. The fact that many (like almost all of the nicer satyrias) generally need to be gigantic, untidy, sprawling shrubs before they flower is a limiting factor.

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Re: Disterigma rimbachii - Paramo heather

#7

Post by Stan »

The SF botanical gardens last I was there had Apapetes decorating two tall columns overhead. I guess that's as close to growing as an epiphyte as it comes. Mine did best in ground.. I dug it up because it did too well...was a rangy 6' wide. Cutting it back ruined the form. So you either have room for them or you dont. :D
Hayward Ca. 75-80f summers,60f winters.
Monique
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Re: Disterigma rimbachii - Paramo heather

#8

Post by Monique »

I just saw 3 half gallon Disterigma rimbachii at Clement Street Nursery San Francisco
Stan
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Re: Disterigma rimbachii - Paramo heather

#9

Post by Stan »

Probably originated from Jay aka stone jaguar. He's a bay area person. San Francisco of course is a subtropical montane climate. Only its not on a mountain or even near the subtropics. Why its unique,Monique.
Hayward Ca. 75-80f summers,60f winters.
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