Description
(T. clusiana in some forms)
The names clusiana and stellata are inextricably mixed up and many horticultural stocks are wrongly named. Look at illustrations online and you will be left more than a little confused as to which name is being applied to what plant. We have settled on the name stellata for this stock, as it is clearly different to and distinct from, T. clusiana of horticulture.
Our T. stellata is a dwarf, fertile, later-flowering form which is not in widespread cultivation. It is seed-raised and true. It has a yellow throat but has no yellow in the petals (yellow petals are indicative of hybrid influences, such as you might see in clusiana Cynthia and clusiana Tubergen’s Gem).
In addition it is fully fertile. Being seed-grown, it is slightly variable in both height and exact flowering time but it is consistently shorter and later-flowering than clusiana and clusiana cashmeriana. This opens 2 weeks after cashmeriana and has 20-30 cm stems, rather than 35-40 cm as in cashmeriana.
Finally, unlike many horticultural stocks of both “clusiana” and stellata, our form has yellow pollen rather than black.
Good in a pot but happy in well-drained, fertile loam in sun outside. Benefits from a biennial lift and clean.
Originally received from Prem Nath Kohli in Srinagar, Kashmir by the late Michael Hoog some time prior to 1976.
