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Joseph Clemens

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Wow, this is strange for me, but I had accepted what I had read concerning the lack of floral scent of Pinguicula flowers, especially Mexican species and hybrids.

So tonight, killing some time, sitting on the carpet in my CP grow-room, with lots of plants in bloom, much more variety than usual, thanks to having taken steps to ensure a cooler room this winter than I have usually kept. In seasons past, day or night, it never went below about 80F (~27C), at any time of the year, and was often at or near 100F (~38C), even during the winter whenever the lights were on.

Anyway, back to the subject. Mexican Pinguicula flowers have scents. At least most of those I have taken the time to carefully sniff. Most curiously for me, Pinguicula esseriana has a different scent than Pinguicula jaumavensis. If they actually had a scent, I thought they would be pretty much the same, I discovered that they do have a floral fragrance, and it is not the same. The scent of Pinguicula jaumavensis is reminiscent of Petunia, yet Pinguicula esseriana, though sweetly floral, does not smell like Petunia. All the many clones of Pinguicula gigantea that I am growing, all smell nearly the same, a scent reminiscent of roses. I even noticed a fragrance from my newly acquired Pinguicula pilosa, which, thank goodness is very free flowering. I need to do some more sniffing and take notes of what I experience. This is quite exciting. WOW.

Since the flowers were there, I thought, why not do a little sniffing. Many had no obvious floral fragrance, though those still sometimes had a unique fragrance, similar to the non-floral odor of vegetation. I did not expect what I had discovered. For awhile I was shocked, very few of the fragrances I have experienced from these plants has been, what I would consider, obvious and intrusive, except in some ways for Pinguicula agnata (CSUF) and Pinguicula gigantea. Perhaps it is my "unnatural" growing conditions that has made it possible to notice these ephemeral scents that have, until now, gone unnoticed.
 
Cool!!
I haven't noticed any smell from any of my CP flowers besides S.flava, but now I'm gonna have to go check out my flowering Pings just to see-
Good thing U.subulata and D.capensis flowers are still scentless
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I can't wait to try my P. 'Sethos' when it flowers!


<span style='color:red'>[Edit: Your post has been edited to improve its value as an archive and to help others understand more precisely which plants you are writing about. You can read more about the details of writing plant names at Plant Names Thread.]</span>
 
I will keep sniffing, but though I have about a dozen Pinguicula 'Sethos' in bloom, I have not yet noticed a distinct fragrance. Though I will keep testing them, sometimes if there is a fragrance, it is released at different times than exected.
 
yay!

What about other pings? like temperate and warm temperate pings? Do they have scents?
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Good question. I believe they are reported to have none. But, now I am going to sniff them again, more often, maybe I can catch them if they do. Those that I discovered with fragrances last night (actually the wee hours this a.m.), I couldn't detect them when I checked again at 10 a.m.

I sorta feel like I was taking a hike in the woods and unnoticed, discovered fairies having a party.
 
[b said:
Quote[/b] ]I sorta feel like I was taking a hike in the woods and unnoticed, discovered fairies having a party.

OK?
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Just a side note- I HAD (I think critters are them all, but they may still exist) P.vulgaris outside this summer, it flowered and didn't smell like much, tho with the scape being real short and thus around 2-3 inches off the ground, I really didn't try too hard, but I'm pretty positive it didn't smell like anything
biggrin.gif


And as for the thrill of discovery- it is really cool to know that folks who have been in the game for so long are still looking at the hobby with "new" eyes- I get a rush out of discovering stuff with my plants as well, and it's good to see that it never stops happening (I would describe the feeling as more of a "suddenly realizing that the employees have all gone home for the night and you're locked in the CHEESE SECTION of a really well-stocked supermarket", but similar to stumbling on a Faerie party )
 
well I've read that P. planifolia has a somewhat faintly sweet scent in it's flowers.

Also My P. lutea has just flowered and I've smelled a faint scent that smells something like Jasmine.
 
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  • #10
Good sniffing, Farmer Dave. Keep up the good work.
 
  • #11
LOL! thanks! It really gave me a reason to go out there and start smelling the flowers whenever you said that you didn't think that any warm temperate pings had scented flowers.:-))
 
  • #12
I probably was making an unfounded assumption. But for some reason I had acquired the belief that the majority of Pinguicula had no noticeable fragrance. I have this propensity to challenge dogma (even imaginary dogma), so I did and started discovering that my assumption was somewhat erroneous. It has improved my outlook concerning this genus, which was already pretty positive. Kind of, like finding an lottery ticket on the ground, then discovering it to be a winner.
 
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  • #13
Joseph you might want to consider recording the time you smell the flowers too. They may be like some orchids. Braslavola nadosa comes to mind right off hand. It is called queen of the night because it only releases its sweet fragrance in the evening. During the day it has no smell at all. There are others that are similar to that. I have a hybrid Catt that only smelled in the early AM, and others that only smelled mid day. The premise is that they only went to smelling when their pollinator was out and about. This could be the reason for smelling them at night in the early AM like you did then not smelling them the next day. You may just be missing it.

There is just so much to be learned yet about CPs.
 
  • #14
Another thing that might be a little off topic is that In both of my Ping's flowers i've seen these little black beetle looking things, but I haven't seen them in any other flowers of any other plants around my area. Could that be because they kinda have a sybiotic relationship or something like that?
 
  • #15
I have noticed a definite and consistent fragrance from all clones of Pinguicula 'Titan' that have been in my possession. It is like a milder, more toned down version of tuberoses. It is rather lovely but I would not count in among my most favorite of all floral fragrances.

I have noticed that flowers of Pinguicula esseriana will sometimes have a distinct citrus aroma during the morning hours, but it is by no means consistent. I cannot speculate whether fragrance is emitted due to environmental conditions or due to the age of the blooms themselves.

I have never detected any fragrance whatsoever from any clones of Pinguicula moranensis or the hybrid clones 'Sethos', 'Hot Lips' or 'Aphrodite'.

Cheers,
Corey
 
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