Thank you for your response.
That's interesting. Now I wonder what is the main stimulus for triggering blooming. I assume that it is the coming of full spring in the habitat. But in cultivation, ours bloom in mid to late spring, again in mid to late summer, then again in mid fall.
In nature, light is stronger beginning in mid spring, but plants have also experienced a relatively dry winter period. Our "winters" are wet, but late spring becomes much drier, with higher light, of course. Our summers have very high light & are much drier. Even though we water heavily, plants do dry out much more quickly. And our early fall still has fairly high light, warm temps & is still fairly dry.
So, I speculate that, in its habitat, (working backward to when the plants need to spill out their seeds) C violacea has adapted to blooming in late spring to early summer. The flowers are pollinated & the young pods are carried on the plant & grow during the summer period with abundant rainfall. Then the pods mature & ripen through the dry winter period, before splitting & spreading their seed in time for the next rainy season.
So with our relatively high light ... & because of our dry, rather than wet summers (& wet rather than dry winters) somehow the violaceas are being fooled into blooming in several different seasons.
What do you think?
Much more complicated than walkerianas, which seem to have blooms triggered more by shortened day lengths.
|