DAUBENYA ZEYHERI AND MASSONIA PYGMAEA, TWO SPECTACULAR BULBOUS PLANTS FOR POT CULTURE.

Photographs by Connall Oosterbroek.

SUMMARY.
The Genus Daubenya and Massonia contain some particularly attractive plants with colourful interesting flowers and prostrate leaves. Some of them are ideal for cultivation in containers and have flowers that last for many weeks.

Daubenya zeyheri is a rare species narrowly confined to coastal sand flats near Saldanha Bay. Massonia pygmaea is a more widely occurring plant but some of its forms are scarce such as the one with pustulate rounded leaves found in a limited area along the escarpment near Nieuwoudtville. An account is given in the newsletter of both species in their natural habitats in the Western Cape and methods for their cultivation.

NEWSLETTER.
Daubenya is a genus confined mostly to the Northern and Western Cape. There are currently eight species in the genus most of which are found along the Bokkeveld and Roggeveld escarpments. Most of the species are narrowly confined to small geographic areas. One of them Daubenya marginata is more widespread extending well into the central parts of the western Karoo. Another species Daubenya comata is a plant of the South African interior growing and flowering in late autumn and early winter. This species is discussed in the July and August 2005 newsletter.

Massonia is a widespread genus found throughout South Africa’s Cape Provinces with a concentration of species in the Northern Cape and Western Cape. As with species in the Genus Daubenya they grow and flower in the autumn and winter months.

Most species in both genera are easily cultivated and make attractive and ornamental container features. They are readily grown from seed sown in the autumn. Daubenya aurea has been introduced to popular horticulture and other species are likely to follow in the future.

DAUBENYA ZEYHERI.

Daubenya zeyheri occurs in a small area near Saldanha Bay in the Western Cape. The numbers of bulbs have been greatly reduced by urban and suburban development as well as agriculture. Near Paternoster the limited numbers of colonies that remain are trampled by livestock, mostly sheep and cattle, which are kept in small numbers in the area.

The habitat frequented by the plants near Paternoster is very specific. It consists of flat sandy areas over calcrete, usually littered with rock fragments and pebbles. This niche is rather limited and occurs between low scrub covered dunes which dominate the area. The Daubenyas require sandy places which remain moist throughout the winter rains. Sloping sand dunes are too dry for the bulbs and they do not usually grow amongst scrub which blocks out too much sunlight.

Colonies of the Daubenyas usually consist of large mature plants and an assortment of young bulbs ranging from seedlings to flowering size. These bulbs may occasionally be very numerous where the habitat is extensive but in general they occur in scattered groups of less than a hundred.

The plants flower mostly in June and occasionally in early July. Seeds are formed during July and August and liberated into the environment during late September and October in dry windy spring weather. Most seeds are scattered by wind in the vicinity of the adult plants, more rarely further afield when large dry inflorescences containing seeds are blown about.

CULTIVATION AND PROPAGATION.

D. zeyheri flowers well in cultivation provided that the bulbs are kept moist and watered regularly during the early part of the growing season. Prior to flowering and during the flowering period the plants should be deeply watered every two days when grown in sunny positions. After flowering the bulbs need to be deeply watered at least once a week until the onset of dormancy. At this stage the leaves start to wither and the bulbs should be lightly watered about once every two weeks. Water should be withheld from the time the seed capsules ripen and start to set seeds. The plants should be kept dry for the duration of the summer and watering only resumed the following autumn (May in the Southern Hemisphere, October in the Northern Hemisphere).

The Daubenyas produce copious yellowish orange pollen and may be readily cross pollinated by using cotton buds. The plants are best pollinated in the middle of the day during periods when they are not watered.

The round black seeds should be collected when ripe. This is at the time when each seed capsule opens. Seeds should be stored in summer in a cool dry place in paper envelopes. The following autumn the seeds should be evenly scattered across the surface of the cultivation mixture used for adult bulbs and just covered with soil. An ideal cultivation medium has been found to consist of half fine silt and half sieved sandy soil to which a very small amount of slow release fertiliser such as bone meal has been added.

Some seed germinates the first year and the remainder usually in the following autumn. Seedlings and young plants should be kept moist throughout the autumn and winter growing season but allowed to dry off once they show signs of entering dormancy as the weather warms up in spring.

D. zeyheri makes an attractive pot plant on account of its broad dark green leaves, bright orange flowers with rich chocolate or purplish brown centres and prominent dark yellow anthers.  

MASSONIA PYGMAEA.

Massonia pygmaea is quite a widespread species occurring mostly in the Northern and Western Cape. A very striking and unusual form of what seems to be this species is found on the escarpment west of Nieuwoudtville. The plants have rounded dark green leaves with distinctive large round green pustulates that look like miniature marbles. The large flowers are white or pale pink at first turning to a rich salmon tinted lavender later as the anthers ripen their pollen load. The bulbs flower for a long period usually 6 – 8 weeks.

The Massonias share their habitat with a rich geophytic and succulent flora amongst which are Gethyllis villosa and Othonna hederifolia. (The lemon yellow flowered O. hederifolia grow amongst the M. pygmaea creating a patchwork of rich and bright colours on the white sand characteristic of the habitat).

The Massonias are rather sparse occurring in small scattered groups amongst the O. hederifolia which is much more abundant. One of the reasons for the scarcity of the plants lies in their seed distribution across sandy soil. The small round seeds are easily buried by wind blown sand during the dry summer. In flatter areas with stabilised sand, little is blown over the seeds, just enough to cover them and providing ideal germination conditions when the autumn rains arrive. The Massonias are confined to the limited amount of flat habitat with grit and stones rather than the surrounding low banks of soft sand.

In some localities M. pygmaea is much more abundant such as in soil pockets on the vast granite domes of the Khamiesberg to the north. In these situations many hundred of Massonias are tightly packed against one another and every niche is filled with plants.

CULTIVATION AND PROPAGATION.

M. pygmaea from the Nieuwoudtville escarpment grow very well in cultivation,
flowering from late May until early July in cultivation in Johannesburg. The bulbs do well in a mixture consisting of half fine silt and half sieved sandy soil to which a small amount of bone meal has been added and very well mixed in.

The bulbs should be well watered from late autumn (early May in the Southern Hemisphere) until the foliage starts to wither and the leaves die back. This usually occurs in the second half of August or early September in Johannesburg.

Seeds are easily and readily produced in cultivation via cross pollination. This is best effected via the use of cotton buds, running these across the anthers of the plants and dusting off the pollen from one flower to another. Seeds start to form shortly after pollination and are already well ripened in the early flowering plants by the second half of July. Seeds ripen in late August. At this stage they are harvested and stored in paper envelopes until the following autumn.

Seeds are sown in the second half of April or early May. The mixture used for propagation is the same in which the mature bulbs are grown. They are lightly scattered across the surface of the soil and just covered. They usually germinate within a month after sowing. The seeds and young bulbs should be kept moist throughout the winter growing period until the seeds show signs of yellowing with the arrival of warmer weather in spring.

During the summer resting period the bulbs should be kept completely dry with watering only resumed in the late autumn or early winter.

The young bulbs are usually ready for transplanting to larger containers at the end of the first growing season. They mature quickly in deep pots about 25 cms wide and 22 cms deep planted about 1.5 – 2 cms apart. They also grow well in deep seed trays but sometimes their development is not as rapid as it is in the deep pots.

M. pygmaea is a very striking miniature plant and plans are currently under way to introduce it to mass horticulture. This is a lengthy process as young seed grown plants take a few years to reach flowering size and serve as the nucleus of a seed orchard. During this phase selections are made of bulbs with appealing attributes such as numerous large pustules on the leaves and deep lavender coloured flowers.

SEEDS FOR SOWING.
Seeds of both Daubenya zeyheri and the selected form of Massonia pygmaea are available from Penrock Seeds. Young plants are also available from time to time through the nursery.