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Sinningia conspicua has pale cream or yellowish flowers with a yellow stripe down the center of the tube. There are usually purple markings in the yellow stripe.
The flowers have a light, lemony fragrance.
The plant is an upright grower, with one or more stems to 24 inches [60 cm].
I have crossed this species with S. 'Peninsula Belle', and the resulting hybrid plants usually have flowers with a detectable but diminished conspicua aroma. The flower color (lavender with lavender streaks in a yellow throat) I find unpleasant, but others have been less negative about it.
One very positive trait that S. conspicua gave to its progeny in this cross is speed to bloom: S. 'Peninsula Belle' x conspicua plants bloomed much faster from seed than did S. 'Peninsula Belle' x self (the slowness of the latter apparently being a legacy of S. lineata). This trait, which it shares with its close relative Sinningia eumorpha, makes this species a very useful starting point for a hybridization project.
There is a side view of one of the conspicua hybrid flowers on the Peninsula Belle flower comparison page.
Others, including Ruth Coulson, Jon Lindstrom, Peter Shalit, Jim Steuerlein, and Dan Tomso, have used this species for hybridizing. It bequeaths to its offspring many of the same good qualities that Sinningia eumorpha imparts, with the additional possibility of fragrance. See the Dircaea-clade crossing table for more references.
Sinningia conspicua is not very happy when the soil dries out. As with some other species, most notably S. warmingii, the first symptom is leaf curl.
After being watered, the plant recovers in a day or so.
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In my yard, this species is one of the first sinningias to go dormant in the autumn.
It passed this characteristic on to most of its progeny in the cross with S. 'Peninsula Belle' as well. You won't see this kind of picture on other web sites. |
| Plant Description |
|
| Growth | Indeterminate |
| Habit | Stem(s) upright |
| Leaves | Green |
| Dormancy | Stems fully deciduous. Dormancy appears to be obligate. |
Flowering |
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| Season | Blooms in summer |
| Inflorescence | Axillary cyme, usually one flower, but sometimes two |
| Flower | Cream, campanulate, usually one per axil |
| Calyx | When flower is open, calyx is flat 5-pointed star, not clasping base of corolla. Corolla is more or less at right angles to calyx and pedicel. |
Horticultural aspects |
|
| Hardiness | Has survived to 30F (-1C) in my yard |
| Drought tolerance | Leaves curl when dry; see picture |
| Recommended? | Yes. It does not have a large number of flowers at a time, but they are attractive -- and fragrant! Also: easy to grow. |
Botany |
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| Taxonomic group | The eumorpha group of the Dircaea clade. |
As Biglandularia conspicua, by Berthold Carl Seemann (1825-1871), presumably the one Seemannia is named after. Nichols transferred it to Sinningia in 1887.
Etymology: Latin conspicua ("conspicuous"), from spec- ("see").