Drought Scheme for bulbs?

[Rikesh]

I noticed something very strange. I had some bulbs(Anyone can ID them for me?) in a dry place and they were flowering. They hadn't been watered since at least six months. The bulbs had only flowers but no leaves. Is that normal??
[img]https://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Fi_1cit-Q50/SaA-wDzCH3I/AAAAAAAAAOA/5BO1lNhsBqE/s1600-h/bulb+flowers.jpg[/img]
Euh it seems the pic isn't appearing
I've posted them [url=https://learngardening.blogspot.com/2009/02/drought-scheme-for-bulbs.html]here[/url]

[pd]

Hi Rickesh, I'm out on a limb here ragarding the id but I think it might be a Lachenalia.

The fact is most bulbs, tubers and corms store a tremendous potential for growth and in the most adverse coditions will attempt to reproduce by throwing up a flower spike - all that many need is a temperature above freezing and the least amount of moisture.

[Rikesh]

umm... someone commented on the plant and suggested that it is Ledebouria socialis..
I think that's it

[wingdesigner]

IMO it looks like a form of "Muscari" or grape hyacinth, but I've not seen one with mottled leaves like that. However, some of the fancier catalogues that I don't get may have something. How big are the bulbs? Muscari bulbs are about the size of your thumb, above the last knuckle. If these are bigger then I'm wrong and they're something else. ( Wouldn't be the first time I'm wrong about something...)

[Kisal]

Wing, that was my first thought, too. The only problem is that the grape hyacinth has a much smaller bulb.

I am not familiar with the plant that was mentioned as an ID for these bulbs. I'll have to do a little research.

[pd]

Yes, it certainly looks like Ledebouria socialis. That's a plant that I don't know and in fact never heard of but looking it up It seems to fit the bill visually.

[Rikesh]

I had that plant since quite a long time. It was just another simple plant I have.. But I like the inflorescence. Those white round things gonna open more to reveal the flowers.

[wingdesigner]

OH. Couldn't tell the size of the bulbs (15" screen--I squint a lot. ) So they open up? Cool. I presume you've started watering them or potted them, or something, after they went to all that trouble? (That's when I start feeling guilty.)

[Rikesh]

euhhhhh...
actually, I've left them like that just to see how they *behave* in such conditions.

[pd]

All that will happen is that they will make the effort to flower and seed thus continuing the species - and they will probably fail. Put them in a natural growing situation and they will have a chance. Be kind my friend.

[Rikesh]

ok ok..
I'll water them

[wingdesigner]

Good kid. (patting you on the back, like my parents used to do to me) Did we guilt you into this? Been there, done that. I got yelled at (sort of) for covering up my Japanese Maples this year. After I did that we got so much snow that they bent down to the ground with the weight of the snow on top of the covering. We'll see if they come back this summer.

[Rikesh]

hehe... maybe its just the curious part of me that pushes me to do all those strange things I do...

[wingdesigner]

Oh, amen to that!