Milla biflora This marvellous fragrant geophyte’s native range spans Honduras, Guatemala,

Milla biflora This marvellous fragrant geophyte’s native range spans Honduras, Guatemala, Mexico and south-east Arizona, south-west New Mexico in the United States. It emerges from dormancy with the onset of summer rains producing large fragrant fleshy white sequential blooms with striking green stripes on the abaxial surface of the flowers. Milla biflora requires a rainy subtropical summer and a mild dry winter. A friend of mine grows these beautifully outdoors in Los Angeles during the summer with minimal care (kept dry and given protection from winter rain). Our current climate’s summers are too cool for this species to grow optimally but it will tolerate the cool temperatures so long as watering is carefully metered out. In dry Kaimukī (Honolulu) I grew this species successfully with daily summer watering however when I moved to Upper Mānoa I found out that it was too wet and humid for this species and other Milla species as many rotted in these conditions. In my experience most of the Mexican Brodiaeoidae are prone to rot when high temperatures, high rainfall are coupled with high humidity. It belongs to a group of ornamental cormous species that include the popular genera Brodiaea and Triteleia formerly classified as members of the Themidaceae, however now they belong to subfamily Brodiaeoidae of the huge Asparagaceae family. © Uluwehi Knecht (photo and text) -- source link

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