Spiloxene


From the HYPOXIDACEAE family, Spiloxene are plants with a small corm covered with brown fibrous tunics. Leaves are basal, long, narrow, deciduous. Flowers are variable in size, the equal segments being pointed giving the flower a star-like appearance. Flowers are orange, yellow or white. Fruit is a capsule of shiny black seeds.

The name Spiloxene is from the Greek spilos, a spot, stain. Xenos, host; referring to the spotted base of the tepals in some species.

I have never grown Spiloxene in the ground; they are best suited to pot culture. My first batch of S. capensis flowered well the first year but not a lot of the bulbs survived through to the next season. Next year, after flowering, I dried the bulbs off a lot earlier and let them have a very dry dormancy period. The success rate was almost 100% and they flowered really well that season.

I had some seed of S. aquatica but although I kept them very moist, none germinated. I had a lot of success with two lots of seed from Rachel Saunders from Silverhill Seeds in South Africa. They turned out to be two very nice yellow species when they flowered; one was a very large flower and the other smaller. I have yet to have them identified. They were relatively easy to grow and did not need any special tratment. I t took three years from seed to flower.

Duncan and Du Plessis state in their book that "S. capensis is suited to the front rockery, provided it is allowed a definite dry period during summer".

All spiloxene require full sun and rich, well-drained potting mix. Never let them get dried out during the growing season. They do require protection from frost and although the winters are usually very mild here in Gippsland, I grow mine under a covered frame on the coldest days. This helps me also to control the watering regime and allows me to dry them out straight after they finish flowering.

You can grow them easily from seed; or, you can remove any cormlets that have developed on the mother corm during the growing season.

Expect to see flowers from the second year on.

Spiloxene capensis capensis: of the Cape

Comon names: peacock flower, golden star, stars, poublommetjie, sterretjie. This is a variable, widly spread species, once frequent in the Cape but now only occassional. Plants are found on mountain slopes and flats, in damp fields, seepages, seasonal ponds, ditches, vlies and along banks of streams.

The copyright of the article Spiloxene in Bulbs & Plants is owned by Bill Richardson. Permission to republish Spiloxene in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

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