ISI 2015-33. ×Nanopsis ‘Orange Splash’ Out of Stock

Steven Hammer has produced a wealth of hybrids among the mesembs, in part to explore affinities, but in the process creating some very worthy horticultural subjects. A number of crosses combining yellow with magenta flowered conophytums, for example, have been done by various hybridizers, resulting in orange flowered progeny. The same is true of this combination of the yellow-with-red pinstripes of the Nananthus transvaalensis form of N. vittatus with the magenta of Aloinopsis spathulata. The difference here is the intensity of orange produced and that it is accentuated by a smart red racing stripe inherited from its mother. The central cone of creamy-white stamens and the arching petals are reminiscent of those stop-action photographs of a drop splashing in a bowl of milk, inspiring the cultivar name. Vegetatively, the hybrid could pass as a straight Nananthus with its keeled, spathulate leaves studded with fine tubercles. These leaves are gathered in a tight clump atop thick, tuberous roots. In addition to influencing flower color, the Aloinopsis may also impart a love of the fatherland; the pollen parent exhibits the significant cold hardiness required by its distribution in the environs of Sutherland, known to experience some of the coldest temperatures in South Africa. Both parents will tolerate regular watering, perhaps even more so in the hybrid, and some shade. We offer HBG 120587, a plant from Steven Hammer multiplied for introduction via tissue culture. $7.