The Codonanthe are coming!

Codonanthe digna -Pink form

 The Codonanthe are coming!

 

            Codonanthe are so obscure that nobody gets to see them.  But his small trailing species meets a lot of the rules for a commercial plant.

 

            It has white flowers, self-branches, can take hot or cold, sun or shade, dry but not too wet.  Propagate by cuttings or seed.

 

            Seed is the way to go.  It self-pollinates often to form green berries that ripen to orange so you can find them on your plant.  Harvest the ripe berries and squish them out on paper to dry for a day.  Then scrape them up to collect the seed.  You may get 10+ seed per berry.

 

            I’ve been describing the clone that I have here now.  The names have been confused but it may be Codonanthe digna.  Others are C. carnosa and C. devosiana.

 

            So why don’t we see this small flowering plant everywhere?  Same as always, somebody must do it.

 

            Codonanthe is a rugged plant for small hanging baskets.  You need one of these flowering trailers --- if you can find one.

Codonanthe carnosa 'Libby'

Codonanthe carnosa 'Libby' -bigger flowers and leaves

A Modern Day Codonanthe 'Gina'

Codonanthe gracilis 'Joinville'

            Forty years ago, I made a cross between Codonanthe carnosa (small white flowers) and Codonanthe gracilis (bigger white flowers).  I only got a few seeds but the resulting hybrid was a trailing plant with bronze narrow pointy leaves.

            At least that is what I think happened. 

            I took my hybrid, Codonanthe ‘Gina’ ---- named for my second greenhouse employee, to the National Gesneriad Convention in Silver Springs, MD.  Hans Wiehler took notice immediately and told me I had the first known Codonanthe hybrid.

            Over the years, the finer points have been lost.  Codonanthe ‘Gina’ has been lost to cultivation.  The pictures I had cannot be found.  The original parents are uncertain due to name changes.  Codonanthe ‘Gina’ can not be duplicated.

            However, something better may be possible.  If we cross C. carnosa ‘Libby’ with C. gracilis ‘Joinville’, we should get a large white flower on interesting foliage.

            An improved ‘Gina’ cross will deserve a new name.  If successful, it will be exciting to see ---- Same concept, different parents.

Codonanthe gracilis 'Joinville' (top) and Codonanthe carnosa 'Libby' (bottom)

Codonanthe carnosa 'Libby, Part II

Codonanthe carnosa 'Libby'

          From the wisdom of the crowd, I'll start with the conclusion from Ron:

     "It's just as Gary suspected, this large-flowered Codonanthe appears to be the "original" C. carnosa distributed by Hans Wiehler many years ago.

Good to see it in production, and hopefully widely distributed. Thanks to Gary!"

          If you hate details, you can stop reading .  If you are always looking for historical clues read further:

Mauro, Brazilian Seed Fund comments:

     "Alain is the best one to “give the verdict” and he will correct me  if I’m wrong, but it seems that the name confusion came from long ago when Wiehler described C. digna and C. paula that are in fact Codonanthe devosiana.
Codonanthe carnosa has the biggest flower among the four species with small leaves from Southeast Atlantic forest: (devosiana, serrulata, gibbosa and carnosa) and Gary’s plant fits on C. carnosa flower size.

Probably some plants labeled as C. carnosa are in fact C. devosiana…"


Alain answers:

     "I fully agree with Mauro, the material posted as Codoannthe "Libby" matches exactly the clone I got from Hans Wiehler in the early 980's, it pertains doubtless to C. carnosa."


Then Mauro says:


     "Yes, to me, it is a standard sized C. carnosa flower. It “should” have at least twice of the size of C. devosiana ‘Paula’ since the later has one of the smallest flower from all clones of C. devosiana that I’ve seen.
The attached picture is C. carnosa  (not fully open) that I grow from seeds of the Seed Fund since 1995, it looks to be the same as Gary’s plant. The ones that I collected don´t have the red on the back of the leaves."


          And so it goes----The clone I have designated as 'Libby' is the species carnosa which somehow got to Libby years ago.  It has red on the back of the leaves which is different from those collected in Brazil by Mauro.

Codonanthe carnosa 'Libby'

Codonanthe carnosa 'Libby'

           

         Libby is one of our advanced hobby growers in the Delaware African Violet and Gesneriad Society (DAVS).  For many years, she maintained a big basket of a Codonanthe with large white flowers, relative to others I have seen.  Every time Libby would show her award-winning Codonanthe, I’d think we must propagate and distribute it before it’s lost.

            When Libby had to down-size her growing area, she donated, with Mary’s help, her plant to me.  I got one batch of cuttings going that we distributed to DAVS members.  Since then, I’ve been building up stock for larger commercial sale.

            The plant is very hardy--- doesn’t mind drying out a little.  It grows slowly but will branch and flower in small pots.  It will be spectacular in 4 ½” hanging baskets.

            The name of Libby’s plant is uncertain, so it’s unknown if it is in cultivation elsewhere --- thus, the urgency to save the clone.

            Through some clues, it may be the original Codonanthe carnosa.  The Codonanthe clones that I had 40 years ago, went through name changes of carnosa to digna to devosiana.  The free-flowering clone that I have is Codonanthe devosiana ‘Paula'.

            Libby’s clone has white flowers twice the size of ‘Paula’.  So, until further notice I’m designating this exceptional plant:

            Codonanthe carnosa ‘Libby’

Codonanthe devosiana 'Paula' (top), Codonanthe carnosa 'Libby' (bottom)