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Sinningia piresiana has attractive fuzzy leaves and purple-streaked flowers of the douglasii type.
My first plant was grown from seed provided by Tsuh Yang Chen.
Sinningia piresiana is one of the species which forms a tuber very soon after germination, while the plant is still tiny. For two pictures and some discussion, click here.
A mature S. piresiana will usually have two whorls of three leaves each, as shown in this picture. It is similar to S. douglasii in that regard. Flowerbuds can be seen at the center of the plant; this is characteristic of this species, that the flowerbuds are formed very early in the development of new shoots in the spring.
Sinningia piresiana (in my conditions, anyway) comes out of dormancy rather later than most other species, from mid-April to the beginning of May. Even small tubers have this pattern, and it seems to be inherited by at least some of my S. piresiana hybrids as well.
With some sinningia species of determinate growth, such as S. leucotricha or S. lineata, I have been able to get a second bloom period per year by cutting off the blooming stem as soon as the last flower has fallen. I have tried this with S. piresiana, and gotten new stems, but they did not bloom. So far, one flowering per year is the best I've done.
I have crossed this species with S. 'Peninsula Belle' to get some nice plants. These hybrids have indeterminate growth, which means they can continue producing flowers over an extended period. From S. piresiana, they inherited the streaks on the outside of the flower, which is one of the most attractive features of this species.
Jon Lindstrom of the University of Arkansas has crossed S. piresiana with S. leucotricha and S. insularis (both determinate growers, like S. piresiana itself). The resulting hybrids have the same determinate pattern as their parents, but also S. piresiana's external streaks on the corolla, showing that these markings are dominant.
| Plant Description | |
|---|---|
| Attribute | Information |
| Growth | Determinate |
| Habit | Two whorls of three leaves each, with an almost nonexistent internode between them so that they appear to be a single whorl of six leaves |
| Leaves | Green. Fuzzy. |
| Dormancy | Stem completely deciduous. Dormancy is obligate and lasts for several months. |
| Flowering | |
| Attribute | Information |
| Inflorescence | flowers in axils of second whorl of three (a terminal cluster) |
| Season | Blooms in summer |
| Flower | Tubular, coral red with purple streaks on outside of corolla and on faces of corolla lobes |
| Horticultural Aspects | |
| Attribute | Information |
| From seed | Three years to bloom, under my conditions |
| Hardiness | I have not tested it |
| Recommended? | Sort of. It's a good indoor grower, and compact, but it stubbornly blooms just once per year. |
| Botany | |
| Attribute | Information |
| Taxonomic group | The douglasii group of the Dircaea clade. |
| Nectaries | Two, separate, dorsal |
As Rechsteineria piresiana by Hoehne, in 1958.
As Sinningia piresiana by Chautems, in 1990.