MORE ABOUT CLIVIAS   

An exceptional plant

Anyone who has ever tried growing lawn under a spruce tree will know that the dry shade under a tree inhibits almost all forms of plant life. As a general rule, most plants that are suited for shade usually require a constant moisture supply, and plants that are well suited to drought require full sunlight. 

One of the few exceptions to this rule, is the clivia. Unlike many other plants, clivias survive in bright or dim light, in soil that is moist or dry. 

The ability of these plants to survive under conditions unsuitable for most other plants makes them remarkably tough house plants, and ideal candidates for growing in those locations where few other plants seem to thrive.

	Origin The clivia is native to forest floors of southern Africa.  From Africa, it was brought to England in 1854, where it was named to honour Lady Charlotte Clive, Dutchess of Northumberland.  Because of the plant's natural ability to survive on shaded forest floors, it quickly gained popularity as a plant well suited to the large shadowy parlours of Victorian homes.

Unique features

As a member of the amaryllis family, clivias shares many common characteristics with the more familiar amaryllis. Like the amaryllis, the leaves of a clivia are strongly two-ranked. This means the long strap-shaped leaves arise from the soil, directly opposite one another in an alternating sequence. Because the leaves are produced in an alternating sequence and they arch directly over one another, a mature clivia plant will develop a strikingly formal silhouette with almost perfect symmetry, forming what looks like a large flattened vase.

Another unique feature of clivia leaves is the rare example they provide for students of botany to observe a mid-way point in the evolution of a bulb. Students are often somewhat sceptical when they are first told that a tulip, onion or amaryllis bulb is actually composed of fleshy leaves which tightly clasp the stem of a plant. While a clivia plant does not have a true bulb, the swollen clasping leaf bases of a mature clivia plant quite clearly demonstrate an incomplete development of a dense bulb- like structure, with roots emerging from the base, and leaves emerging from the crown. This same relationship can be seen by comparing a leek with an onion. The leaf bases of a leek clasp one another in the same way they do on an onion, but the leaves of a leek have not become swollen to produce a bulb.

Roots

Clivia roots are thick, fleshy and well-equipped for water storage. On a mature specimen the swollen mass of roots often becomes so large that it will completely fill the pot, forcing the growing medium up and over the container's edge. Only when this begins to happen should a clivia plant be moved to a larger pot. 

In general, the plants do best when their roots are somewhat constricted by a small pot, so it is best to resist the temptation to place the plant in a pot much larger than the one you are moving it from. The fleshiness of the roots is a very valuable characteristic for water storage, granting the plant a remarkable level of drought resistance.

Gardening tips

For best results, clivias should be grown in bright diffused light, with the growing medium kept evenly moist during spring and summer. 

If the plants are allowed to become quite dry for two months in winter, and the growing temperature is lowered to approximately 10 - 15°C, the plants can also be encouraged to flower. Clivia flowers are orange, lily-like, and produced in crowded clusters on top of a thick stem. 

Once a flower stem has begun to emerge, watering can be increased, and plants moved to a location with normal growing temperatures. In some cases, a mature plant will attempt to flower even when no rest period has been provided. Flowers produced by such plants are seldom successful, however, because without the proper rest period, the flowering stalk often fails to elongate, leaving the cluster of flowers compressed between the leaves near the base of the plant. 

Where clivia plants are grown in low light conditions, they will rarely flower, but will serve as reliable foliage plants.

Propagation

Propagation of a clivia is accomplished almost exclusively by separation of offsets. After three or four years, a plant will have reached maturity. At this point, it will usually begin producing one or more offsets each year. When an individual offset has developed three or four leaves of its own, it can be cut from the parent plant, being careful to include some roots, and placed in small pots of its own. Clivia plants tend to be long lived, with individual plants surviving ten, twenty or even more years.

Author: Brian Baldwin

With the support of the University of Saskatchewan Extension Division, the Department of Plant Sciences and the Provincial Government.