Most of the Diastemas have white flowers with some purple markings. D. comiferum is most unusual, with its brilliant red flowers and attractive habit. It made a very big splash when first shown during the early 1990s. Like all Diastemas, D. comiferum produces scaly rhizomes, and is adapted to periods of dormancy.
Dale Martens has produced a fine intergeneric hybrid involving D. comiferum. It is xPhinastema ‘California Dreaming’, a cross with Phinaea albolineata.
Additional photos of D. comiferum can be seen in a slideshow by clicking one of the links below:
- The whole plant of the specimen shown above
- A prize-winning show plant, exhibited at the 2008 convention of the Gesneriad Society
- Another earlier show plant
