Rohdea

Pretty cool and needless to say, rare rhizomatous evergreen perennial taxonomically wandering among genera from Tupistra to Campylandra to currently Rohdea which we have written in pencil. This has proven nicely hardy here in the PNW making a statement with elegant narrow green leaves with a muted amber central stripe. Flowers curiously interesting. Sure, this could be damning by faint praise using classic nursery merchandising deflection and obfuscation but the flowers are curious. And interesting. This is from a Quarry Hill Botanic Garden collection which they shared with us. We saw this species growing among bamboo and mixed shrubs on the slopes of Luoji Shan in Sichuan and it was like unexpectedly running into a friend, a brohdea, so to speak.

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Collected as Tupistra in 1997 in the Cangshan above Dali at 10,000'. This was in a slump of debris on the road from the cliff above and located just past the 1981 SBEC collection of Rhododendron edgeworthii which was recognizable from expedition photos as the same plant growing on top of the same massive boulder. Narrow evergreen keeled leaves create a dense clump. Flowers a basal persistent cudgel of green buds which open to small strange green flowers turning to amber drops with age which delight the botanically inclined. This was fairly recently moved from Tupistra to Campylandra and in 2003 into Rohdea for those of you keeping taxonomic scorecards. A Far Reaches Botanical Conservancy Offering.