Oooh, it looks like a papilio so far, hope it's what you expected and paid for, I for one, can't wait to see!!

Good Luck

Donna

I second that!!!!! I can't wait to see what it either. Please send pictures when it opens :-)))))

This is without doubt, looking more and more like a papillio cross to me as well! Interestingly, the bulb and leaves are not at all papillio-like.....they have a very different 'look' to them altogether, but the flower certainly is most papillio-ish to me!!!......not long now until it is fully open, and then we will see!!

....trying to peek in there as it's opening.....but I think we can all see which way this is heading!

Well.........this is not what I originally expected to see flower from this bulb. And Donna, you are quite right- I did pay the lofty price asked for a 'Psittacinum' off-set......but it seems I received a 'Psittacinum x Papillio' seedling of some sort instead!

Mmmmm.....

But- what I have ended up with here, is a rather unusual plant that I quite like!

The bulb has a nice round look to it, and the flowers are very green, and also very papillio-ish to look at. They do not open flat, but stay quite compressed and rather orchid-like in appearance.

The leaves on this plant appeal very much, but I need a better photo to show them off to advantage. They are nice - a deeper grey-green in colour, and quite upright and sturdy......maybe a bit leathery? They stiffly fan out in a very pleasing manner, quite unlike my true 'Papillio' bulbs, which have long softer leaves that seem to flop all over the place.

This plant may not interest some, but I think it will be rather eye-catching when grown as a large clump, and I am pleased with it. It is more striking in real life than in these photos.

At least it is something a little different! And it flowers easily, which is more than I can say for my true 'Papillio' bulbs, that are now three times this size, but still not flowering for me!

Lovely Julie!! And most importantly is that you like it! I also find Papilio rather stingy with sharing its flowers, so if your beauty flowers regularly you hit the jackpot!! - Jody

Hi Julie,

I like the intense and saturated colors of the flowers very much. It will be quite dramatic when the offsets reach flowering size. I'm growing seedlings of H. psittacinum 'Atibaia', however, I estimate that they will need about two more years of nurturing before flowering.

Cheers,

Blanca

P.S. Like you, quite a few bulbs are flowering or producing scapes presently here in California.

A last shot, to show the flowers have opened up a little better today.

But it is the lovely stiff foliage that has me intrigued on this plant- it really is most unusual- slightly reminiscent of more arid/type plant's leaves. I do regret trimming back the leaves ( they were interfering with my seedlings on the table, and I needed the leaves out of the way before they damaged anything). If I hadn't trimmed them back, you would be able to get a better idea of the shape.

One question- the flower bud sheath has remained very fresh and green- as you can see in the photos....is this a usual 'Papillio' trait ? On all my other hippies it dries up and is almost tissue thin and folded back, and well out of the way by the time the buds open. On this one here, it is still very plump-feeling, and fresh!

Is this common?

Oh, Julie, she’s looking beautiful today!

I can’t say that all H. papilio clones exhibit this characteristic, but some definitely do. I’ve also observed this phenomenon in other Hippeastrum. Many years ago, one of our wonderfully humorous Forum friends, Larissa from Kansas, wrote of performing a “bulb bris” when flowers were having difficulty emerging from the sheathing bracts.

Use this link to take a look at the third photo by Liz Waterman.

H. papilio spathe bracts

You’ll see the two spathe bracts looking notably fresh with the flowers fully open.

Best,

Blanca

Blanca, thank you once again for the information. Yes, it shows the very same green spathe bracts. I'll be interested to see how long they last in this state, compared to the flowers.

Hopefully next year I may have the chance of photographing this plant next to a true 'Papillio'!

Julie

Update on this plant....

Flowers were beautiful, but were starting to close up ready for finishing ( by the way, green spathe bracts stayed the same nearly all the way through, only yellowing a little towards the very end, but they are still there! Interesting. ).

Out of curiosity, I decided to self-pollinate to see if this plant was self fertile or not - just to know. On dusk last night, I dabbed a little of it's own pollen on both flowers - this morning when I looked, all stamens had shriveled and collapsed!

That was quick!!

I hope it bodes well for some future seed pods! If it does manage to produce seeds, I wonder what will turn up? ( considering that this is some kind of papilio cross, and not a pure clone ). If they all turn out to be similar to this, though, I will be happy enough.

Julie

Maybe the pollinisation is the reason for the downgoing flower. Mission accomplished. :-) Looks, You have a real species and not the hybrid, they sell here in Europe, wich is self sterile and has 4 flowers per stem. Good luck!

This is definitely Hippeastrum papilio, which is beautiful none-the-less

Cheers and best regards to Frank and Josh.

It's so nice to see you two here! It feels like old home week.

My sentiments exactly, Frank and Josh please don't be strangers around here, we all miss you both!! Tune in now and again please!!

Julie, I'm afraid I have to agree with Josh that what you have is a beautiful papilio!! Hope she sets seeds for you!! We all can't have too many papilios can we!? I'm just sorry that you probably paid a premium for her!

Donna

Sorry whas off for a long time, not much hippies left! But nice to see you both! Hope, everything is well?

...............so it's a papilio....but possibly a different clone? Or the original unimproved type? Vs a papilio with a touch of something mixed in, as I thought??

I only ask as it is quite a different looking plant ( flowers aside ) to the pot of papilios I have here; which have proved to be monsters, but also VERY stubborn to flower.

I bought my monster papilos from a grower who only deals in papilo bulbs, so although they have not flowered for me, I am confident they are true.

But this one we are talking about here, has wonderful foliage in comparison. Not large and floppy, but finer, stiffer and very dark green. It holds it's shape. The leaf has a pronounced keel to the back and a corresponding channel running down the front. Leaf has a substantial feel to the touch.....and is naturally a beautiful dark green.

The bulb itself is a little more rounded, without the extra long neck of other papilios that I have seen. It is fast growing, but much less aggressively so.

I've loaded up a lot of photos so you can get a better idea.

If she is a true papilio, then I will be delighted................can you see? Last photo. She is throwing out yet ANOTHER flower for me.

If she manages to hold on to her seed pods as well, then this 'clone' is a little bit special! ( I actually think TWO flowers per stem, look rather elegant. I'm happy to get two! )

( yes, I know. I did chop the leaves off the other papilio.......and I can feel all the frowns coming through...but leaves were flopping everywhere! I hope there is enough left for you to compare. )

leaf back showing keel...

leaf front showing channel...

the back of the ordinary papilio...

bulbs side by side...

I've cleaned off the bulb a little, so you can see the shape more clearly....

below is the neck of the ordinary papilio to compare...

and here is the new flower emerging!!!! What a little trooper this plant is!

Julie

I think it is the species! If You are filled up with bulblets of this plant, i would help You out and take one! :-)

.....maybe no bulblets to spare for just awhile yet, Frank, but if I'm very lucky, there may be plenty of seed!

Hi Julie,

Good on you!!! I also think you have the genuine article, especially if it's rather stubborn to flower and the fact that it only has two blooms per stalk. I wouldn't worry too much about trimming the leaves back, I've done it to many of mine for the same reason and they're none the worse for the wear. Great growing and thanks for the wonderful pictures :-)))

Fred

Thank you, Fred. I've whipped off the old mislabel and given it it's new name- 'Papilio (Species)'.

Seed pods are swelling nicely. Fingers crossed!

Julie how are the seedpods? I hope, they swell!

Frank, seed pods were doing very well until we had an unexpectedly hot 36C day after weeks of cooler 20-21C weather. Seed pods on this and a few other hippies instantly aborted. Seems the sudden heat wasn't to their liking at all. Luckily the second flower scape that was coming along bloomed happily and the seed pods from that are looking healthy. I hope these make it all the way to maturity...and that the resulting seeds end up being viable.

I'm surprised that the seed pods aborted at those temps. As you stated, it may have been due to the change from cooler weather. It was 40C or higher when seedpods set on my H papilio this past summer. However, the weather was consistently hot.

I like your very green H. papilio! I know Ray S. had an H papilio from the Doran Collection that was a more green variety. He very generously shared H papilio bulbs with me several years ago. So far, the Doran Collection bulb has not bloomed. It is a very round bulb compared to most.

I have two types of Papillio one is rather green having short scape. what I want to say is that Papillio has an extensive root system and to my mind your pot is too small for it.

My Papillio in 14 inch pot.

Hi Pavel. You are correct. I didn't explain myself very clearly- I'm sorry. The temperature was not the actual cause of the seed pods aborting, just as you say, but it seemed to be the catalyst to all the non-viable ones all wilting within hours on the very same hot day, after previous cooler weather. All the affected seed pods were non-viable, and would have eventually died off anyway, although I was rather surprised that the papilio pods didn't make it. That one was unexpected.

Many other viable pods that I had here at the same time, survived with no trouble.... the temperature had no effect, and the pods are now close to maturing.

The good news is that the second flower spike on the papilio bloomed and the new pods are doing nicely- so far. I only hope when they open the seed will be strong and viable.

Thank you for the info you provided- that is very interesting! I will count the days on my next pods and see if they are similar to your observations.

Julie

Hi Brig,Gen, M. Arif Khan

I'll keep your advise in mind and watch this papilio carefully to make sure I pot it up as needed. Your one looks very robust!

I noticed that the other type of papilio bulbs I had were quite aggressive in their growth, and very quickly filled the plastic pot to stretching point. This one though, seems to be a little less forceful than the other type. But with those off-sets coming along, I'm sure it won't be long before it will need the next size up!

Julie

To round off this post, here are the results of the long-awaited surviving seed pods.

After what seemed a long wait, the pods finally split to reveal a few small, very black seeds in amongst a lot of chaff.

The little seeds were very hard and round-feeling, but after they dried out, they looked tiny indeed in comparison to the larger hybrid seed!

Here's hoping that they manage to germinate in their new home....fingers crossed!

Julie

Very interesting thread, Julie. The seed pod certainly looked like the classic Papilio pod with the oblong shape. I'm a fan species varieties that have withstood the test of time out in the wild to develop vigor & disease resistance.

Hi all, received Papilio seeds from Julie and they are indeed viable. They definitely seem like mutants because they are the fastest seeds to take root I've ever had. On average it takes 10 days for my normal seeds to show signs of roots, so I wasn't checking daily and when I went to change the water, I saw emergence of roots after just a few days from sowing. No bottom heating, just room temperature of 72F.

4 Days Later

5 Days Later

Wow that was incredibly fast!!! Did you threaten them???

Possibly Cabin Fever from being stuck on a plane all the way from Sydney.

Success!! If only the other varieties were as fast. I have noticed that my other seed this year was not as energetic as in some previous years....I think the continual weeks of rain early in the season had something to do with it.

But parent plant of Papilio was certainly getting a move-on, and starting to distort the plastic pot until it was quite oval-shaped. Time to re-pot ( Thank-you, ARIF, you were right! ).

Now in it's roomier pot! Hopefully, next year will be just as successful.
Julie

Julie,

That is one beautifully happy and healthy hippie :-))) Congratulations!!!!

Your efforts will be rewarded!