Clivia caulescens

Habitat and distribution

Clivia caulescens grows on the forest floor of evergreen forests , either on moss and lichen covered rocks or tree trunks. These forests occur in sheltered ravines, moist valleys and incised valley heads, usually south-facing. These plants occur in the mountainous areas from Kaapsehoop in the south to Tzaneen in the north and from Barberton in the east to Potgietersrus in the west.

Plant structure and leaves

The plants are 500 mm to 1500 mm in height, with mature plants forming long, leaf-bearing aerial stems up to 1 metre and more with age, reaching up to 3 m in exceptional cases. The leaves are soft, smooth and pointed, slightly arching, between 35 and 70 mm broad and 300 to 600 mm long.

Flowers and berries

The flowers of C. caulescens are pendulous and tubular, coloured orange-red with green tips, which are normally borne in spring and summer (southern hemisphere). The round red berries ripen in winter, about 6 months after pollination and contain 1-4 seeds of between 9 and13 mm in diameter.

Clivia gardenii

Habitat and distribution

Clivia gardenii in general prefers well drained, loamy soil, and is usually found in steeply sloping areas or even on cliffs, though populations have been recorded in marshes. These plants occur in evergreen forests under a tall, 20 m high, closed canopy in the area of Maputaland-Pondoland between the Pondoland Centre and the Maputaland Centre. Gardenii also grow in the Ngome Forest in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands.

Plant structure and leaves

Plants are usually between 800 and 1300 mm in height, with 10-12 bright green leaves in a tuft. These leaves are 25 to 60 mm wide and 350 to 900 mm long, narrowing to a point.

Flowers and berries

The orange-red pendulous flowers with pronounced green tips, vary from yellow to brownish red and are more curved and not as pendulous as Caulescens and Nobilis. The flowering season is from May to July, with some plants already setting seed while others are still in bud. The berries, with one or two large seeds, ripen the following winter, about 12-15 months after pollination.

Clivia miniata

Habitat and distribution

Miniata are always found under tree cover in evergreen forests, growing in well-drained leaf mould rich with humus, between boulders on slopes, in the area from Morgan's Bay in the Eastern Cape Province up into northern KwaZulu-Natal and Swaziland.

Plant structure and leaves

C.miniata grows to a height of around 80 cm.with a stem consisting of a compact rhizome, which only rarely becomes aerial when plants are very old. They sucker freely and can form large clumps if left undisturbed. The leaves are usually not more than 50 mm wide in natural populations, although in rare instances can be up to 90 mm. The leaves are about 1 metre in length, with exceptional examples of up 1,84 m.

Flowers and berries

The flower shapes in the wild vary from small and open with narrow tepals to large and trumpet-shaped with broad overlapping tepals. The inner tepals are usually broader than the outer tepals. The colour of the flowers in the wild is orange with a yellowish-white throat, although a colour range from whitish yellow through pale oranges, dark orange and approaching red is known. The very light and very dark colours are, however, rare. The flowers are borne in an umbel supported by a peduncle which clears the leaves, and the umbels can have in excess of 40 florets, although 20 is more usual. The seeds are carried in berries which can contain up to 20 seeds, although less than 10 is the norm.

Clivia nobilis

General

The genus was named in honour of the Duchess of Northumberland whose family name was Clive, and whose garden at Syon House just across the river from Kew was famous at that time. This was the first Clivia that was discovered and named and as such this can really be considered to be the "type species" of the genus. In other words, the original description of the genus would have been identical to the description for the species. As more species were discovered, the generic description expanded to accommodate them so the description of Clivia nobilis remains the first and most essential concept of the genus.

Habitat and distribution

C. nobilis is only found in the Eastern Cape Province, specifically from the Sundays River Mouth, up the coast to the Mbashe River area, with colonies occurring as far inland as in the vicinity of Grahamstown and the Olifants Kop pass. The coastal areas have a mild climate (9-25°C) and receive 600-900 mm rainfall annually, and do not have frost and snow. C. nobilis is found under evergreen forest, low bush (thicket) and amongst dune vegetation. The inland populations are found in wooded kloofs where they grow on riverbanks, rocky outcrops and along forest margins. The populations growing primarily in coastal dune vegetation and sand are normally more exposed, with the plants near the tops of dunes growing in full sunlight.

Plant structure and leaves

In dune areas away from the sea, C. nobilis plants have long leaves and large extended root systems, growing under high, closed canopy. Half-way up the dunes, the plants have short leaves with smaller rooting systems, growing under a low 2-3 m canopy. The strap-shaped leaves are stiff, slightly rough to smooth with a rough edge, 300-800 mm long and 25-50 mm broad. A moderate to weak median stripe appear on the leaves that have an indented to very obtuse point.

Flowers and berries

The inflorescence consists of an umbel of 20-60 florets borne on a peduncle about 300 mm long. The florets are pinkish yellow to dark red with green tips. They are pendulous, tubular, about 11 mm wide and 25 - 40 mm long. The stigma is slightly longer than the stamens and has an excellent self-pollinating system. The berries are round to teardrop shaped and usually contain up to 6 seeds, covered in a distinctive purplish-red membrane. The berries turn red when they ripen after about 9 months. The seeds are much smaller than the other species and the radicle produced by the germinating seed is about 1.5 mm thick.

Growing Clivias (Extract from Hints on Growing Clivia - Article by Prof Mark Laing)

When we cultivate Clivias away from their natural environment, several key elements need to be considered:

• Clivias do not like to be planted into soil. Their roots are not designed for living in soil, so they often rot off, leaving only the surface roots alive. They stay alive but flower poorly.
• Clivia roots have a requirement for lots of oxygen around the roots. They hate "wet feet" and waterlogging. Heavy clay soils or heavy growing media are bad for their cultivation.
• Tall pots drain more than short pots. The height of the pot or the bag determines its drainage capacity, as a factor of the porosity of the medium used.
• Drainage requires a physical connection from the bottom of the pot onto soil or a capilla!y mat. If the pot is in the air, then a waterlogged bottom layer (a perched water table) occur:The medium in the pot will act like a sponge and will not release water out of its bottom layer unless there is capillary action sucking water away from it. So do not put gravel or polystyrene chunks at the bottom of pots; keep it all one medium. Place Clivia pots onto a layer of sand or onto capillary mats. Do not leave them up in the air or on bricks.
• When we mix media with different particle sizes, the result is called a matrix. What happens is that the small particles fill the pore spaces of the big particles, making a dense mixture. This is the secret of concrete: sand particles fill the spaces between gravel chunks, and the cement then binds them in place. Drainage from pure sand, or pure gravel is high. But when
  they are mixed in the right ratio, drainage is reduced to very little. So the principle is that when we mix particles sizes of a growing medium, we reduce oxygen content and drainage, and increase water-holding capacity. If we add sand to a bark medium, we make it heavier, with less oxygen and it drains LESS well. Remember that Cliva is VERY dependent on a high oxygen content in its growing medium.
• Sand is not all the same. It depends upon what rocks it came from originally: silica, granite, dolerite, etc. In general, silica sand is the best to use because it has the right chemical and physical properties. What one needs to avoid using is river sand derived from a decomposing rock such as granite. These decomposing sands usually have lots of fine particles that clog up a medium, and when sourced from a river, often carry diseases and nematodes (eelworm). Whatever sand is used in a growing medium, it is important to sieve out all the fine particles (< 0.25 mm), using the coarser particles for growing purposes.
• Composts and growing media are not all the same. What one is looking for in a perfect growing medium is;
  (a) A physically and chemically stable medium (it must not decompose or break down or collapse or compost further)
  (b) A good water holding capacity
  (c) A good oxygen content, hence good drainage (air-filled porosity)
  (d) A good cation exchange capacity (CEC) (how much fertilizer the medium absorbs and then releases to the plants).
  

The most popular growing medium is composted pine bark.

This medium is derived from fresh pine bark. A large pile of this is chopped up into large chunks, lime, nitrogen and water are added, and a composting process is started. Every week for 6-12 weeks, the pile is turned upside down to re-oxygenated it, and is re-watered. The pile heats up to 60-70 C each week until composting is completed. In the process, the bark is degraded to a lignin core, the biodegradable cellulose and hemicellulose being decomposed by bacteria and fungi. The result is a black, odourless medium with excellent physical and chemical properties: physically stable, no toxins, good drainage and oxygen content, and a good CEC.

It is also completely free of plant diseases and nematodes. An inadequately composted pine bark will still be a bit reddish, will often smell of pine and will still get hot when in a pile. Plants grow poorly in inadequately composted pine bark media.

A range of different particle sizes (coarseness) is available, which allows one to pick and choose according to the crop. Mature Clivias prefer a coarse medium, often marketed as a coarse potting mix. But a seedling mix is useful for growing out Clivia seed.

For more information email me and I will gladly assist.