Remember this mystery flower I found near where I store my cocopeat and coconut fibre mulch?
Well, after a little (lots!) research, I found a flower that bears a similarity!
The above flower is a "Menna" cultivar of Streptocarpus. I must find out more...
The Streptocarpus is a fairly new introduction as a houseplant and because there is not a wide information base on these plants new terminology is being introduced to describe them.
--Wikipedia article for Streptocarpus
Lovely. But this does make some sense! "Streps" are native to South Africa. Coconuts can be found, well...
[Coconuts] are now almost ubiquitous between 26°N and 26°S except for the interiors of Africa and South America.
--Wikipedia article for Coconut
Actually here's a picture showing coconut distribution throughout the world (the strip bound by the red lines):
A quick Google image search for "Streptocarpus seedling" gives these useful hits:
Now that I have an idea what the leaves (or in this case, leaf) looks like, I'll take a closer look at this spot in the morning (maybe there are more!). For now, to bed!
Oh, my offer to contact me if you recognise my flower still stands.
While it certainly would be an interesting story if your flower came halfway around the world in your mulch, I'm not sure that the one from South Africa exactly matches the one in your picture.
ReplyDeleteIn fact, your little flower looks a lot like a violet -- just a particularly pale variety, with the violet colouring reduced to the veins on one petal.
If it's a violet, the leaves will be in a bunch low to the ground, smooth dark green, roundish or heart-shaped, with no noticeable central stem except for the one(s) holding up the flower(s).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viola_sororia
:( Aw, dang. The white viola looks just like it, and I've seen those leaves in the lawn. Oh well, at least I know what it is now! Thanks Amelia!
ReplyDelete