Northwest Palms

Question about the echim

Just wondering if anyone can identify these echium as male or female? Also these echium are 2 years old and appear to just keep on growing, so how long and tall will they grow before they sprout the purple spike, or will they? just curious because these echium are really getting big, and I've seen them around town growing to a tree state. Anyway.....I also have 4 others that will eventually catch up w/these two. matt

The following thread was started by matt on September 13, 2007 at 4:03 pm PST

This was once just a little one gallon Puya, but has since grown to a dozen puyas 3 years later. matt

The above followup was added by matt on September 13, 2007 at 4:09 pm PST.

What type of echium is that?
John in Beaverton

The above followup was added by John in Beaverton on September 13, 2007 at 8:13 pm PST.

Matt

That looks like E. piniana but if it's 2 years old it should be quite bigger. did you germinate the seeds yourself? were they in a pot for along time that will definitely slow them down.
If it is actually piniana it will do a great deal of growing next spring. then start flowering in summer. my biggest one ever topped out at 16ft, it was awesome.
they are self seeding hermaphrodites and if you do get a monster like mine you will find hundreds of sprouts popping up everywhere from the scattered seeds. they are my favorite weed apparently the deers favorite too.
Brian

The above followup was added by Brian, Pender Island on September 13, 2007 at 9:20 pm PST.

Yeah I was wondering because these dudes were actually very little when I planted them two years ago, and they have grown quite large at the base. So i was thinking that they will sprout after growing into a tree like form. They were planted as little one gallon, and survived the cold snap last winter no problem. I'll have to post some pics as they grow bigger and hopefully sprout up. matt

The above followup was added by matt on September 14, 2007 at 10:01 am PST.

That doesn't look like Echium pininana to me. E. piniana has fewer leaves in its crown and the leaves are much wider than the Echium in that picture. They also tend to hang somewhat loosely. Also, E. pininana forms a trunk before it sends up a flower spike.

What is pictured looks to be E. wildpretii. E. wildpretii has red flowers and is biennial. It could be a hybrid between E. wildpretii and E. pininana, but the hybrids I've seen have slightly wider leaves.

The above followup was added by Barry on September 14, 2007 at 12:38 am PST.

I guess the point I was trying to make w/this particular set of echium is that they have developed a trunk and there are many hanging leaves under the new leaves. I was guessing that these echium will continue to develop their trunks for some time before ultimately sprouting the great purple spike. I know there are many tree like E. Pininana growing throughout the city limits here, so I guess these two will continue to grow until they reach a certain height.....but I hear ya Barry, I have seen E. Pininana w/very fat leaves that number much less than my two echium, so you could be correct w/your assessment. I'll get some more close up shots for further viewing. matt-eureka

The above followup was added by matt on September 14, 2007 at 1:06 pm PST.