Description
(perhaps more known under its invalid name of Biarum spruneri).
Considered to be a relative of Biarum tenuifolium but the two could never be confused. B. rhopalospadix has spathes and spadices in shades of warm, reddish-brown and both are elongated and shaped in a manner that I have not seen in tenuifolium. In addition I have found that tenuifolium tends to be either blackish-brown or have green present rather than being red-infused, which is what is most noticeable in B. rhopalospadix.
For those with a magnifying glass and scalpel, rhopalospadix is distinguished botanically by not having staminodes above the male flower zone, whilst it does have them below. The staminodes are short, stiff, thickened and they are hooked.
Easily grown in a well-drained, loam-based soil with a dry summer rest and for many years this grew admirably outside for us in our old, upland, nursery at Minera at close on 1,000 ft altitude on a cold, north-facing slope. It can also be grown very well in a well-drained, loam-based compost, potted under alpine glass. This is a smaller species than many and it fits well with put cultivation.
These are vegetative and seed propagations from PJC.167, first found in Greece, Peloponnese, April 1978. This was found, in flower, in April and this early-flowering habit continues here in cultivation. Judging by the behaviour and development of this and other species, I consider it to actually have a very early-flowering autumn habit, rather than a late spring flowering one. It starts to flower as the leaves and foliage yellows and senesces, in April and May. Regardless of opinion, you can expect flowering in May, rather than the September-October period I think of as ‘normal’ for most Biarum.
