Sinningia conspicua

1. Hybridization
2. Going dormant
3. Feature table
4. Publication and etymology

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].

Hybridization

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 S. 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.

Going Dormant

In my yard, S. conspicua 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.

Feature table for Sinningia conspicua

Publication

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").