Mestoklema Tuberosum v Macrorhizum

[Andy Hood]

MSG 2612 Seedlings in flower, sown on 2.5.11 !!

[topsy]

Hi Andy,

Was it really sown just two months ago? And is it one plant or several seedlings together?

That aside it really does not look very much like a Mestoklema flower. The books state that it has huge roots (enormous tubers) (the local people have been known to make bread from them) and tiny flowers in coppery shades. It is often confused with Delosperma but differs from that genus by having covering membranes in the fruit capsules and the whorls of filamentous staminodes present in Delosperma are absent in Mestoklema.

Don't say that the MSG has slipped up in its seed distribution. Has anyone else sown this seed and what came up?

Regards, Suzanne Mace
Mesemb Study Group

[Devrim]

There's this Delosperma napiforme that used to be called Mestoklema macrorhizum in the past, might it be that one?
I also have this seed, but I'm waiting for second half of August to sow.

http://www.desert-tropicals.com/Plants/ ... hizum.html

http://www.bihrmann.com/caudiciforms/su ... ap-sub.asp

[Aiko]

I have some seeds from this Mestoklema from you, Devrim. But mine are not of flowering size at all, although not growing at a slow rate.

[Morgans Beauty]

my first thought was: Delosperma napiforme! i'm sure! i sow them early this year and my seedlings are much smaller than yours. my seed came from a plantfriend, no MSG-seed.

[Peter B]

I believe the plant we see in the picture is a Delosperma. I, too, have sown 2612 seed from MSG but what has come up does not totally match what is growing in Andy's pot. Although about the same size - it was sown in April - my seedlings do not show any signs of flower at this stage. There are two differences between the leaves on my seedlings and those on Andy's which may or may not be due to conditions under which they are growing:
1. The leaves on mine are a brighter, lighter green than Andy's seedlings with no purple visible - but that could just be sun tan in his case.
2. There is no central groove along the leaf with mine as there is with Andy's

I have searched out pictures of Mestoklema tuberosum and the flowering appears to be different. Andy's seedlings have what I have come to consider a typical Delosperma bud and flower whereas Mestoklema tuberosum can produce up to 3 flowers from a flowering node and the stem of each flower is longer than that of any of my Delospermas which mimic what Andy's plant is doing.

Suzanne, I will let you know how my seedlings develop in case it is an MSG mistake.

Peter B Manchester Branch

[Peter B]

Further to my last response I have been and checked seed I sowed of Delosperma napiforme last yeasr - not from MSG this time - and, apart from being a year older it is identical to what Andy is growing; the leaf colour, though no purple because they are shaded, the groove along the leaf, the flower formation and colour. So I am inclined to go along with others who have named it as D. napiforme.

Peter B Manchester Branch

[Andy Hood]

Hi Andy,

Was it really sown just two months ago? And is it one plant or several seedlings together?

That aside it really does not look very much like a Mestoklema flower. The books state that it has huge roots (enormous tubers) (the local people have been known to make bread from them) and tiny flowers in coppery shades. It is often confused with Delosperma but differs from that genus by having covering membranes in the fruit capsules and the whorls of filamentous staminodes present in Delosperma are absent in Mestoklema.

Don't say that the MSG has slipped up in its seed distribution. Has anyone else sown this seed and what came up?

Regards, Suzanne Mace
Mesemb Study Group

Hi Suzanne, yes i did sow them 2 months ago!! i was shocked when i saw them with flower buds in asuch a short space of time, there are severel seeedlings in the pot, i may have mixed the seed labels up , cause as has been said they do look like Delospermas, and not Mestoklema, i have a pot of ungerminated seed also from this years MSG seedlist ,sown at the same time that is labelled as Delosperma napiforme , i think i have mixed up the labels, as Homer would say DOH!! hehehe

[BrianMc]

This one can end up being a bit of a nuisance self seeding around the greenhouse - if unchecked it can be akin to Oxalis!
I grew it a while back under the name of Mestoklema macrorhizum - it grows nowhere near the proportions of the true M.tuberosum.

[Aiko]

To compare, these are my seedlings of Mestoklema tuberosum macrorrhizum sown last april:

Mestoklema tuberosum macrorrhizum seedlings of april 2011