Description
Tigridia hallbergii is characterised by its pale-yellowing green-yellow flowers with spots and lines of brown to purple which overlay the flower to such a considerable extent that it makes the flowers actually appear very dark. Tigridia vanhouttei subsp. roldanii is similar in some floral characters, however, the mucron of that species is located below the point of division of the branches of the style, whereas in T. hallbergii the mucron appears right in the middle of this division.
The experiences of those who have grown this longer than myself say that it can be grown quite readily in cultivation in the same way as T.pavonia. It requires ample watering in summer. It is beneficial to fertilise as soon as the plant comes out of dormancy. It has a long flowering period , extending from July to September. Fruiting is from August to October.
In dry-summer climates, the plants can be susceptible to mites that hide in between the folds of the leaves. In winter, allow the bulbs to dry out.
In some references this is quoted as an alpine species, but habitat data does not bear this out as being always true. In the wild it grows in open pine forest in moist soils in partial shade at altitudes of 900-3,000m. Herbarium records show that it has been found mostly between 950m and 1,800m and mainly in tropical, dry environments, such as tropical deciduous forest, dry oak forests and xerophytic scrub. The plants of this species grow both in open areas or in semi shade. The plants are 30-60 cm high.
Tigridia hallbergii has a very wide geographical distribution being found in the Mexican states of Chiapas, Guerrero, Guanajuato, Hidalgo, Jalisco, Michoacán, Morelos, Puebla, Querétaro, Veracruz and additionally it is found over the border in Guatemala. In 2002 T. hallbergii was recorded for the first time in the Mexican state of Oaxaca.
Our plants have been raised from seed originally collected in Guatemala, very close to the Mexican border and raised to flowering in cultivation. The seed was not from the dishonest Mexican seller offering the common T. pavonia as this rare species as seed on Ebay. It was from a reputable horticulturalist and the plants have been both flowered and checked in cultivation. It keys out as T. hallbergii (with a few minor discrepancies).The pictures are of the exact plants on offer, not generic species pictures.
Introduced to our lists for the first time in October 2019
