Alsobia punctata

Photo by Leslie Brothers, copyright the Smithsonian Institution
Grown at the Smithsonian Institution Greenhouses

Alsobia punctata is a rather coarse and ungainly plant.  However, when crossed with the smaller and more delicate A. dianthiflora it produced the widely grown and much-loved A. 'Cygnet' and the similar A. 'San Miguel'.  These two species and their hybrids produce stolons, kinds of "runners" with plantlets growing along their length.  A similar as-yet unnamed species, usually known as A. sp. 'Chiapas', has also been fairly widely distributed.  A. sp. 'Chiapas' has no stolons.