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I grew this species from seed supplied by Mauro Peixoto at the 2002 AGGS convention. It bloomed, with small but very striking red-and-yellow flowers.
At least in my house, S. nordestina has very lax stems. Once the flowering axis elongates, it tends to flop over sideways. I have an aversion to staking plants ("come on, you lazy slug, stand up!"), but I make an exception in this case. Perhaps the plant needs more light -- when I have more than one, I'll experiment.
Despite its floppiness, this species is one that doesn't have the resupination trick, as shown by the flower on the center left in the above picture: it is upside down! If it were S. cooperi, it would automatically orient its flowers to keep them right side up.
One of the reasons that Sinningia nordestina has gotten the reputation of being an annual is that it comes out of dormancy at an unusual time of year. Mine sprouted in early August this year [written in 2007]. Toshijiro Okuto, on the Gesneriphiles mailing list, wrote that his tuber regularly came out of dormancy in July.
Alain Chautems has an explanation -- see below.
Alain Chautems posted the following information on the Gesneriphiles mailing list:
As S. nordestina grows in really tropical conditions (about 5-15 degrees latitude south of the equator) and at low altitudes, there is very little chance that the species would tolerate cool or cold temperatures! About the unusual growing period mentioned in another post, the species in the wild in Brazil grows between May and October whereas the other Sinningia in south-eastern and southern Brazil grow from October to April! This is explained by the difference in the wetter season between north-eastern Brazil and the other regions.
Those months are for the southern hemisphere. "May to October" in Brazil would correspond to "November to April" in the northern hemisphere.
Get those beautiful red-and-yellow flowers on a sturdier, hardier, more dependable plant!
John Beaulieu may be the first to get a S. nordestina hybrid. He posted a picture on the Gesneriphiles mailing list of his S. nordestina x sellovii. The hybrid appeared to have the pendant flowers of S. sellovii and the general inflorescence appearance of S. nordestina. John's message said that S. nordestina was the seed parent, so the resemblance to S. sellovii would certainly seem to indicate that he'd gotten the first nordestina hybrid. S. nordestina and S. sellovii are in the same clade, so there's good reason to expect that the hybrid plant will be at least partially fertile.
I crossed S. nordestina with S. araneosa, and got one seedling.
| Plant Description | |
|---|---|
| Attribute | Information |
| Growth | Indeterminate |
| Habit | Upright stem is not very sturdy |
| Leaves | Green and somewhat sticky (like S. amambayensis and S. araneosa) |
| Dormancy | Annual or short-lived perennial. Does not come back readily from dormancy. My tuber most recently sprouted at the end of August! |
| Flowering | |
| Attribute | Information |
| Inflorescence | extended axis, one flower per axil |
| Season | Blooms in summer |
| Flower | Kohleria-like speckles |
| Horticultural Aspects | |
| Attribute | Information |
| From seed | Bloomed within 12 months, under my conditions. Be patient with the seed; mine usually takes two months to germinate. |
| Hardiness | This species is from a tropical area of Brazil, so it is very unlikely to be hardy |
| Recommended? | Try it at least once! The flowers are small, but there's nothing like them in the genus Sinningia. Collect seed, so you can restart. |
| Botany | |
| Attribute | Information |
| Taxonomic group | In a two-species group in the Corytholoma clade. |
Mauro Peixoto's Brazilian Plants site has a page about S. nordestina.
Publication: Chautems et al. (2000).
Etymology: "north east".
Classical Latin for north is "septentrionalis", from septem (seven) and trio (plow ox), describing the Big Dipper. You only have to say septentrionalis a few times while trying to give somebody directions to appreciate why the heirs of the Roman Empire adopted the Germanic word for north.