plants from bolivia

[epiphyte]

a couple years ago @Tracy asked me about plants from boliva, and it's a good question that's been on my mind.  here's a list of interesting plants from bolivia, more or less... 

• Achacha (garcinia sp)
• Anthurium besseae
• Billbergia kuhlmannii
• Cleistocactus winteri subsp. colademono
• Fosterella spectabilis
• Fuchsia boliviana
• Kielmeyera rubriflora 
• Peperomia kimnachii
• Peperomia vestita
• Pleurothalis tricarinata
• Tillandsia boliviensis
• Tillandsia edithae
• Tillandsia mollis
• Tipuana tipu

caudex

• Amphipetalum paraguayense 
• Anredera cordifolia 
• Aristolochia fimbriata 
• Begonia boliviensis
• Begonia cinnabarina 
• Carica quercifolia 
• Cayaponia tayuya 
• Ceratosanthes palmata 
• Cissus sicyoides 
• Cissus tweedieana 
• Dioscorea discolor 
• Dioscorea glauca 
• Jacaratia corumbensis 
• Macleania rupestris 
• Mandevilla suaveolens
• Mandevilla velutina 
• Mirabilis expansa
• Pachira aquatica 
• Pachyrhizus ahipa 
• Pereskia diaz-romeroana 
• Ruehssia hilariana 
• Sinningia sellovii 
• Sinningia warmingii 
• Smallanthus sonchifolius

 

"Our first few days in Bolivia were spent tracking down epiphytic cacti in the cloud- and rain-forests of the lowlands, a period that tested John's patience, for he was anxious to get to the "real cacti" in the drier uplands. " - Myron Kimnach, Collections of Rebutia, Sulcorebutia and Weingartia on the 1984 Huntington expedition

 

pic i took in 2011 when i visited kimnach (left) with my mentor elmer lorenz.  here are a few of the other pics i took while there...
 

nice monkey tail cactus.
 

hanging peperomia in the greenhouse.  the huntington had this labled as "urocarpa" but not sure about this id.  a few years back a nearly identical peperomia was mass produced with the name "hope".  at kimnach's place he also had a different but similar variety...
 

what did the label say?  i didn't look.  i wouldn't be surprised if it's a hybrid between "urocarpa" and peperomia kimnachii...
 

pic taken in the huntington desert conservatory.   here's one that i attached to a client's avocado tree...
 

growing with columnea crassifolia, and below you can see hoya polyneura with its roots relishing platycerium horn's surprise (alcicorne x madagascariense).  

when i get a chance i'll post more pics.   feel free to share your favorite bolivian plants.  

the most important question is, who should we send to bolivia?  

 

Edited March 28, 2024 by epiphyte
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[Tracy]

7 hours ago, epiphyte said:

hanging peperomia in the greenhouse.  the huntington had this labled as "urocarpa" but not sure about this id.  a few years back a nearly identical peperomia was mass produced with the name "hope".  at kimnach's place he also had a different but similar variety...
 

Thanks for sharing Carlos.  This reminds me of some of the Hoya species in growth habit as well as  appearance.  I only peaked at a couple of the caudiciform links, but particularly liked this one...

• Carica quercifolia 

Any idea if this has been grown here in the states anywhere?  As the name implies it does look like a ficus with it's large leaves.  That's one that I would love to try if it were available.

[epiphyte]

if you search for oakleaf papaya there are quite a few relevant results.  seems like it can handle a decent amount of cold and drought, well yeah, it's from bolivia!  are you going to start collecting papaya varieties?  

here's a pic of my peperomia vestita...

5 years ago my friend gave me a leaf of his, which i stuck in pure pumice, and voila!  

the plant from bolivia that i'm the most interested in is the achacha.  here's a pic of mine, well, one of them...
 

kinda hard to see with the longans so close to it.  in the bottom right is garcinia xanthochymus.  most garcinias look like clusias, which isn't surprising since they are both in the same family.  

another common name for the achacha is the bolivian mangosteen.  the real mangosteen, garcinia mangostana, is very delicious but it's way too tropical for us to grow outside here.  the achacha is supposed to taste kinda similar, but we can grow it outside here, albeit very slowly.  

mexico also has a very tasty garcinia, luc's garcinia, and we can also grow it outside.   there are different tasty species all the way from mexico to argentina and we can grow most of them here.  problem is, they all grow really slowly.  lately i've been experimenting with surrounding garcinia intermedia seedlings with nitrogen fixing legumes.  let's see if it makes a difference.  

garcinias seem to be all about a long taproot so the seedlings benefit from deep pots.  the seedlings can tolerant some chillness, but they definitely need decent heat to grow.  when they are small though they can benefit from a bit of shade.  in terms of medium, well, i'm still experimenting.  they seem to tolerate a fairly wide variety of mediums but not exactly sure which is their favorite, but probably something more on the moist and acidic side.  last fall i planted a couple small ones in the ground and surrounded them by azaleas and camellias.  

back in 2011 i must have missed this thread... 

if i had planted one in 2011, perhaps this year i'd be tasting the fruit for the 1st time!  how's the saying go?  the best time to plant a fruit tree is 20 years ago, the second best time is now.