Triteleia hendersonii cultivated in UBC Botanical Garden
Today’s photo is a revisit of Triteleia hendersonii. I was reminded of this image taken last year after a question about the plant was recently posted on the UBC Botanical Garden Forums.
I wanted to re-attempt this photograph this year, but if you visit the forums link above, you’ll see why I couldn’t. This year, the Genista pilosa ‘Vancouver Gold’ (‘Vancouver Gold’ woadwaxen) that formed the yellow background in my photo was not blooming with the same density of flowers at the time that the Henderson’s triteleia was at its peak. It’s a small example of how springtime weather affects phenology or the sequence of growth and development events in the life of plants. It also makes it easy enough to imagine the troubles caused by seasonal asynchrony driven by climate change.
Triteleia is a genus confined to western North America, ranging from British Columbia south to northwestern México. Henderson’s triteleia or Henderson’s tripletlily is a species of southwestern Oregon and northwestern California. The plants in today’s photographs have been cultivated in UBC’s Alpine Garden since 2006.
Really wonderful photograph Daniel! Congrats. Interesting as well to discover that Triteleia was placed taxonomically into the asparagus family. Now there is another story, yes?
Thank you for your and others interesting entries and comments.
Michael
Wikipedia does a half-decent job explaining what now constitutes the Asparagaceae: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asparagaceae
The photo literally glows, and your observations about seasonal changes is so interesting. I’ve read about the problems of seasonal asynchrony and you’re right, your experience with this plant brings the problem to life.
Also, it’s nice to see that the other photo is equally beautiful – different views, that’s all. Maybe there’s something to be done this year that’s yet another view.
I sent this along to a friend who lives in SW Oregon and likes to explore the serpentine hills near her. She showed me an incredible mass of Pitcher plants (Darlingtonia californica) found after a long, bumpy and wonderful drive back up into the hills outside Gold Beach. Hopefully she’ll find these somewhere back up there soon. Thank you Daniel, for keeping art and science cozy together.
Thanks Lynn, that inspired me to update all of the previous Darlingtonia entries. You can see these by checking out the posts tagged with Sarraceniaceae.