Sinningia sellovii

1. Tuber and growing in the ground
2. Variety 'Purple Rain'
3. Ups and downs on the inflorescence
4. Resupination
5. Leaves
6. Comparison between normal type and 'Purple Rain'
7. Homeland
8. Feature table
9. External link
10. Publication and etymology

This plant is very easy to grow.  It tolerates a wide range of light conditions.  The leaves are attractively quilted and not easily damaged. The stem arches as it elongates, and the flowers hang vertically from it.

Resupination

The picture at the right shows a closeup of the flower of S. sellovii 'Purple Rain'.

Technically, the flower of S. sellovii is resupinate.  When a flower hangs straight down, it's not so easy to tell whether it is resupinate.  In the picture to the right, note that the anthers are up against the paired corolla lobes which would be the top of the flower if it were held horizontally -- the other lobes are the opposite lobes held out to the side and the fifth one held directly toward the camera.  However, if you unbent the pedicel so that this flower was held horizontally, the anthers and paired "top" lobes would be underneath.  Ergo: resupinate.

I have seen a hummingbird visiting the flowers on this plant.  The bird approached the plant from the "natural" direction, that is, facing the stem, not with its back to the stem.  In this position, the pollen would be deposited on the bird's chin, not its forehead or upper beak as would be the case with most hummingbird-pollinated sinningia flowers.  This would presumably help to ensure that this species is not pollinated by pollen from other sinningia species.

If the flower is successfully pollinated, then the developing fruit is brought to a normal horizontal position, above or to the side of the stem.  It must therefore desupinate (I don't know if that's a real word), the pedicel untwisting to bring the fruit into the "normal" position.

Leaves

The leaves of this species are distinctive, with a characteristic stiff, quilted texture.  This makes S. sellovii one of the few sinningia species that can be reliably recognized just from its foliage.

Comparison between varieties

The photo at the right shows the flowers of both the normal type of Sinningia sellovii (on the right) and its variety 'Purple Rain' (on the left).  The corolla tube is darker, the spotting is more intense, and the hairs on the tube are longer.

This picture shows more of the hairiness and the spotting.  It can be seen that the pattern of the spotting is roughly the same and that the sizes of the spots are similar; the intensity of the color contrast is the main difference.

Here is the 'Purple Rain' flower cut open.  It is interesting to note that even the staments are spotted.  It is unlikely that there is any benefit to the plant of having its stamens spotted -- suppressing the spotting is probably more complicated than leaving it in.

The white blotch on the corolla at the upper left is pollen which accidentally got smeared on the flower.