Ansellia africana rescue project

[smweaver]

I picked this one up as a rescue plant that back in November. The previous owner was in the process of tossing it out (leaves were severely damaged by sunlight and being left in the cold for too long, and he stated that the plant was probably going to die from exposure to frost). It's survived the last few months and although I had to cut off approximately eighty percent of its leaves, the pseudobulbs are still intact and don't show signs of disease. Very tough species, so it should be fine once it initiates one or more new growths this spring.

[PaphLover]

Nice save! It's very pretty.

[AnonYMouse]

Good job!

[isurus79]

Very nice! How tall is this one?

[smweaver]

The tallest pseudobulb is just under two feet (and the spike adds another eighteen inches), and there are three of them. They all look like they are new growths (based on the "better" looking leaves that they had--and all of which still needed to be removed), even though only one produced a spike. I would have removed the leaves from all of them since they were all in really bad shape, but I left a few on the flowering bulb once I noticed the tiniest beginning of a spike starting to form from it a couple of months ago.

The plant basically looks like it consists of a pot full of thick sticks--with one of the sticks bearing a tuft of scraggly leaves toward at the apex. It definitely has the Charlie Brown Christmas branch appearance, but hopefully it will grow out of that and by this time next year will look completely different.

[No-Pro-mwa]

Way to go, nice save.