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'Famous Ancestor' (MAD106)
Above: A specimen of 'Famous Ancestor' grafted onto a 3-foot tall rootstock 9 years earlier. A. crispum can grow large and fast when boosted by a vigorous rootstock.
Above: The excellent flower of 'Famous Ancestor'. Few plants of this species have such bold nectar guides.
Parentage: Adenium crispum
Origin: Seed from a plant collected by Gerald Barad and Seymour Linden in the 1980s. Selected by Dimmitt in 1989.
Plant form: Small, spreading shrub, typical of the species, with a small caudex and large swollen roots.
Flower: Star-shaped, 40 mm diameter x 13 mm petal width. Petals strongly quilled, pink with very prominent extensions of the red nectar guides that extend all the way to the petal tips, and these are flanked by numerous fine red lines. Throat wide, white with prominent nectar guides. Blooms profusely in spring and sporadically in other warm months.
Notes: This is the only known Adenium crispum cultivar of importance. It is a major contribution to horticulture. This clone is evidently the ancestor of all adeniums with patterned flowers (splashes, blotches, and stripes). See Dimmitt, Joseph, and Palzkill 2009 for details.
Left: The wild-collected seed parent of 'Famous Ancestor'. The fusiform caudex is typical of the species, and was below ground. In cultivation most seedlings develop multiple succulent roots.