Urceolina pendula

Graham Duncan of Cape Town, South Africa

Introduction: In about 1996, a botanist in Peru presented me a bulb which he collected in a botanical expedition to a densely vegetated tropical river valley in central Peru. The botanist was amazed by the bright yellow and dark green flowers which look like an inflated balloon and therefore the bulb was given the nickname “Yellow Balloon”. The bulb flowered the first time for me in early 2003. Alan Meerow suggests that this mysterious bulb is Urceolina pendula (Herb.)!

Origin: Departments of Junin, Huanuco, Pasco and Cuzco in central Peru.

Habitat: Humid and shady Andean forests from 400 m to 2000 m altitude.

Synonyms: Urceolina pendula is also known as U. urceolata (Ruiz & Pav.), Crinum urceolatum (Ruiz & Pav.) and U. fulva.

Description: Plant about 30 cm tall. Leaves oblong, bright green. Each scape carries 5 to 10 green and dark yellow flowers with white lines along edge of petals.

Cultivation: Urceolina pendula enjoys a warm, humid and well ventilated environment. My bulb is kept at the floor of the greenhouse among various Eucharis species where it receives little sunlight and a lot of moisture. Urceolina pendula is a forest species. I grow the bulb in loose compost consisting of decomposed leaves, wood chips and tree barks. I believe that the species will grow equally well in orchid mix. The tip of the bulb is above soil level. The bulb grows rapidly during summer when abundant watering is given. In winter, the bulb goes through a dormant period when it loses all its leaves. Watering is reduced to the minimal during winter. The bulb has never produced any offsets.

Variety/Forms: Urceolina pendula var. fulva [(Herb.)Baker] is also known to exist.

Further reading:
Handbook of Amaryllidaceae, p.109
The Larger Bulbs, p.140
HERBERTIA 1936, p.74
PLANT LIFE 1965, p.101
PLANT LIFE 1982, p.52-53
BULBS by John Bryan, p.357
Flora of Peru, p.687

Dennis Tsang (11 March 2006)
Hong Kong