Erythronium 2013

[Ed Alverson]

Rob, I believe all E. grandiflorums are yellow.  One source says that parviflorum has white or light yellow anthers.

Another clue with E. grandiflorum is that it can be very picky about where it will grow.  Even in the Pacific NW, it is common to have 100% losses with them, planted right next to many other species that are doing well.  I believe it's because it comes from a dry summer climate with cold winters.  Maybe Ed can help with this.

Gene is correct, Erythronium grandiflorum var. parviflorum is the name for the white anthered form of E. grandiflorum, and is the predominant type in the Cascades and Coast Ranges of northern California, Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia. The red anthered var. grandiflorum comes from the inland regions of the Pacific Northwest, and var. chrysandrum, with yellow anthers, is mostly in the Rocky Mts. along the continental divide. However, most recent floras don't recognize these varieties.

I've been able to keep E. grandiflorum var. parviflorum alive for about 8 years. However, the source population is a low elevation woodland in the eastern end of the Columbia River Gorge, so these plants spend little time under snow in the winter. It helps that these plants are growing under the eaves on the west side of my house so they get somewhat less rain on them in the winter, and in some years when we have had a rainy spring I've covered them with a plastic hoop frame to keep the bulbs dry after they have gone dormant.

Art Guppy has reported success with this plant in his garden on Vancouver Island using seed collected from a mountain in the Oregon Coast Range about an hour's drive from my house. This site is less than 25 miles from the Pacific Ocean and at about 2400 ft. does not have a consistent winter snow pack. I'll have to try to get up there soon to take a look.

Ed

[David Nicholson]

One from the garden today and it was really windy and difficult to photograph so apologies for the image.

Erythronium 'Kinfauns Pink'  from Susan Band

[Gene Mirro]

My nicest stem of Erythronium elegans:


 
A forest of seedpods of E. revolutum:

[olegKon]

the beginning of Erythronium season here
1 Erythronium sibiricum altaicum
2 Erythronium tuolumnense

edit by maggi to rotate the photos 

[olegKon]

Sorry, don't know how to turn the pics

[fermi de Sousa]

Sorry, don't know how to turn the pics

Don't worry, Oleg,
On iPad they come out the right way when enlarged!
They look great.
cheers
fermi

[olegKon]

Thank you, Fermi. So iPad is a cleverer machine. Next time I will post only pictures taken horizontally.

[Gene Mirro]

In Google Chrome, if I right-click on the thumbnail and select "Open in New Tab", the photo displays in the correct orientation.

[boomkweker]

I've just come across an old article claiming there is carbon transfer between E. americanum and sugar maple through arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4223326
It is a wild guess, but I wonder if this may explain why it rarely flowers. Mine never flowered. Perhaps it has to grow under specific trees. In your experience, could this be the case?

[Ed Alverson]

Some of you may have heard of a huge wildfire in California, called the "Rim Fire", which has burned over 150,000 acres so far, including portions of Yosemite National Park. What the news media haven't told you is that this fire has burned the entire natural range of Erythronium taylori. Hopefully the fire wasn't too hot when it burned through the Erythronium habitat (and these plants are at least somewhat fire adapted), but any species with such a small natural range is inherently vulnerable.

There is a blog at http://wildfiretoday.com/2013/08/21/california-rim-fire-west-of-yosemite-np/ that posts daily updates on the fire. If you scroll down to the aerial map of the fire perimeter, you'll see that the fire has burned on both sides of Hwy 120, but mostly on the north side. The area within the fire perimeter that is on the south side of Hwy 120 is where E. taylori grows.

Ed

[Maggi Young]

Yes, Ed, we are seeing the frightening progress of this huge fire on the TV new reports.

As you ay, we can only hope that the fires passing over  the Erythronium have not been so hot as to penetrate to the bulbs.

The scale of the damage being done - and the seemingly endless expansion of the fire area - is hard to comprehend.

[johnralphcarpenter]

I've just come across an old article claiming there is carbon transfer between E. americanum and sugar maple through arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4223326
It is a wild guess, but I wonder if this may explain why it rarely flowers. Mine never flowered. Perhaps it has to grow under specific trees. In your experience, could this be the case?

There were carpets of them in flower in mixed broadleaf woodland in Ontario in early May. Some maple in the mix for sure, but other species as well. See my post on "Springtime in Southern Ontario"

[Guff]

Update on seeds I was germinating in basement. I did have a few of the Revolutum seeds germinate, none for Elegans. Plastic pots bottoms were cut out so I could put them into a new bed, without disturbing them too much.

Seeds that I had collected this year. Made another bed for these seeds, hopefully a lot germinate. Anyone have any extra seeds in USA for postage?

[Catwheazle]

Hi,
where can i get seed or bulbs of Erythronium caucasicum (sibiricum)?

Regards
Bernd