Sinningia leucotricha x reitzii
('Toronto Ten')

Around 1980, I crossed Sinningia leucotricha with Sinningia reitzii.  It is quite possible that I was not the first one to make this cross, since Perret et al. mention in their paper that Carl Clayberg had obtained fully fertile hybrids from all crosses between a group of species in the Dircaea clade, and this group included both S. leucotricha and S. reitzii.  Clayberg published two papers on the subject, one in 1968 and the other in 1996.  When I have read them, I will know more about the history of these crosses.

These aren't the two easiest species to cross, because S. leucotricha blooms in the spring and early summer, while S. reitzii blooms in the autumn.

Around 2004, I discovered from the 1988 AGGS Sinningia Register that this cross had been named and registered as 'Toronto Ten' by Josephine Stefaniak.  It is not clear from the Register whether she had a plant from my cross, or whether she had repeated the cross herself.

This plant has dark leaves with some silvery hairs.  It is very floriferous, blooming from late summer into winter.  The growth habit is that of S. reitzii, including the perennial stem.  As can be seen from the picture, the inflorescence has essentially no peduncle, all the pedicels (flowerstalks) emerging directly from the node.  This is one difference between the hybrid and S. reitzii, which has inflorescences with a distinct peduncle, usually about an inch [2-3 cm] long.

One of my deficiencies as a hybridizer is distribution.  If I did this in 1980, how come everybody doesn't have it by now?

Cold and 'Toronto Ten'

The plant keeps some foliage year-round in my yard.  Sometimes it gets too cold, however.  Such was the case in January 2007 (a cold snap described in more detail elsewhere).  The result for this hybrid was...

But this is not one of those wimpy drymonias.  Here is the base of those dead stems.

Flowerbuds!  Even after freezing.  See why I like this plant?

Feature table for Sinningia reitzii x leucotricha