Cultivar
B. ‘Palomar’
Photos
1 photo
Identity
- Genus
- Begonia
- Name
- B. ‘Palomar’
- Originator
- Constance D. Bower
- Date of Origin
- 1937
- Place
- San Diego, Ca.
- Country
- USA
- Region
- America
- Plant Type
- Rhizomatous
- Female Parent
- B. peltata var. peltata
- Male Parent
- B. ‘Ricinifolia’
- Synonyms and Comments
- Female parent cited as B. incana;
- Publication Reference
- BRB; WBHC-WW;
- Article References
- The Begonian, August 1944, p 378-380;
- Photo References
- The Begonian, Aug 1944;
Plant
- Description
- BEGONIA PALOMAR by ALICE M. CLARK, San Diego, Calif. It is nice to be back on home grounds again, writing about another San Diego hybrid. This time it is Begonia Palomar, the fine work of Constance Bower whose Begonias Druryi, rufida and Pink Neely Gaddis have already been sketched and described. Our August selectee is quite different from any of the foregoing, being a procumbent type. According to Miss Bower's notes, Palomar is a cross of Incana and Ricinifolia, made in 1937. At that time B. incana, a Mexican species brought to Kew in 1838, was known on this coast as Peltata. Mrs. Krauss says that Peltata was a species from Java that has been lost. A crossing of such widely different parents is most interesting and resulted in four named seedlings. One of these, called B. Romola, is more like its Incana parent. I t has thick leaves, large and peltate (shield-shape), and downy underneath. The flowers are extra-large and pure white. Mrs. Krauss thinks it should be better known. B. Pala, named for a semi-precious gem mountain in this vicinity, has thicker leaves than Palomar, is semi-peltate and has pale pink flowers. A third seedling, called Red-veined Peltata, has the upright growth of its namesake and, the thick fuzzy leaves but has red veins and a conspicuous red center spot. Palomar, one of our loveliest local mountains, now famous for a large observatory there, was the source for the title of the Begonia of our sketch. It really favors its Ricinifolia parent most, having a thick, prostrate rhizome from which the leaves and flowers spring direct. The leaf comes out of a pointed, vale-green sheath which dries and curls back to cover the rhizome. When the stem is old enough to break off it leaves a kidney-shaped scar. The plant of my sketch was chosen without foreground leaves to show the growth habit instead of the handsome well-rounded clump it usually makes. The leaf stems are green with light led and white dashes, brown fuzz and a tiny collar of red-rooted while hairs underneath where it joins the leaf, more like heracleifolia, the antecedent of Ricinifolia. The foliage itself is cut in points, somewhat like its hairy parent, especially when young, but it is not ruffled and pleated because its texture is so much thicker that all the creases are ironed out flat except for a few puckers in the center. The new leaves, like one just coming up from the rhizome and another higher in the center of the drawing, have a silky, white-matted surface, edged in brown. This light effect gradually turns into a very faint brownish felting over the beautiful satin-green of the top surface as well as the dull gray-green below. The veins are a light-green tracing above with a patch of fuzz in the star center, and raised in heavy ribs underneath. Each leaf is cut to the center at one part and has a definite etching of tiny red points around the margin. When in bloom, as depicted, the leaves are small but in summer they reach a good ten inches across. The flower stalks of Palomar vary in height from twelve to eighteen inches. My plant has waited overlong to be sketched so the seed pods are more numerous than normal but each of the three wings of the ovary, as well as the two petals, is a delicate soft pink so it keeps its color longer than those that turn brown as they grow older. The inflorescence is more like heracleifolia and quite different from incana, which is white and woolly. The flowers are much larger and not as graceful as the tall, much-branched clusters of Ricinifolia. The peduncle is a smooth green at the base which grows gradually redder as it breaks into each new ramification of flowers. There is a pale green tint on the ovary and on the bracts, that envelop the buds. These latter fall away, save for one tiny bractlet that makes a mere gesture of protecting the ovary. The male blooms are short-lived but have a lovely golden center while the yellow pistils of the female flower are arranged like three velvety sets of young deer horns. Except for stiffer, larger leaves without any red tint and flowers of pare, instead of bright pink, Palomar reminds me more of Heracleicotyle (Mrs. Townsend) than any other star type. It grows better for me, having the strength of verschafelti. The firm, interesting leaves resemble those of the grape. It is a fine addition to any permanent border, both in Spring when it is definitely "in the pink" and in Summer when it outshines the shamrock in the "wearing '0 the green." It is too bad that I do not have SunCana, the hybrid of incana and Sunderbruchi, made by Mrs. Tillman of Maryland, to compare with Palomar. Mrs. Krauss says the southern seedling looks more like incana, being somewhat rounder, more deeply lobed and more densely covered with tomentum than Palomar. I wonder which is the older cross? With such different forebears, it is certainly fascinating to observe the resulting progeny. I am sure that those of you who are interested in the star family will take the same pleasure in adding Palomar to your garden as I have in sketching it for our August portfolio.
Lineage
Parents
Female parent cited as B. incana;
Ancestry tree
Descendants
No recorded descendants.
Culture
No populated fields in this section.