Crocus January 2008

[Diane Clement]

In response to discussion about yellow crocuses, I have three in flower
C cvijicii (the true one, I think?)
C gargaricus ssp gargaricus (I don't know the difference, Ian between this and the other subspecies but I think they come from different parts of Turkey)
C sieheanus (not a very good picture, sorry)

[Diane Clement]

I have this labelled as C dalmaticus petrovac (Please, croconuts could you confirm or otherwise?)

[mark smyth]

Diane I believe three are correct but I dont know about Crocus sieheanus

[David Nicholson]

In response to discussion about yellow crocuses, I have three in flower
C cvijicii (the true one, I think?)
C gargaricus ssp gargaricus (I don't know the difference, Ian between this and the other subspecies but I think they come from different parts of Turkey)
C sieheanus (not a very good picture, sorry)

Lovely crocuses there Diane especially the sieheanus which is a new one on me.

[Armin]

my first crocus for this spring ( or winter )
2 x Crocus hartmannianus from Cyprus
     Crocus korolkowii
     Crocus michelsonii from Turkmenistan

Hello Dirk,
the Crocus hartmannianus is great! Exiting blue markings outside and an egg yellow heart. Beautiful.
Is it increasing easily?

[tonyg]

A couple of questions to answer. 

Crocus gargaricus ssp gargaricus and ssp herbertii are very similar, Mathew did not recognise ssp herbertii in his monograph.  It is said that ssp herbertii increases by producing stolons and this is the principle distinction.  An account of this plant and a photograph are to be found in the Quarterly Bulletin of the Alpine Garden Society Vol 68, No 2, pp205-206.  There may be other factors to observe, presence/absence of leaves at flowering and the distribution in the wild might be relevant - Tony W has seen them in the wild and might be able to help.  In my limited experience ssp gargaricus is easier to cultivate being more tolerant of the drier summers here, it sets a little seed for increase.

Crocus corsicus vs Crocus imperati is a topic that has been discussed before.  I often assert that the flowers are not the best parts of the plants to use when distinguishing between crocus.  In this case the commonly grown forms of the two species in question are superficially similar, especially in flower.  Crocus corsicus is generally the smaller of the two in flower and has fewer, narrower leaves.  Crocus imperati has a strongly yellow throat to the flower while Crocus corsicus should not have this feature.  The problems start with the 'trade' clone of C corsicus which appears to have some yellow in the throat.  Perhaps this clone is of hybrid origins?  Another generalisation is that Crocus imperati is usually an early flowering species while Crocus corsicus is often amongst the last to flower.  I have added some pictures which may help to clarify the situation.  The image of the two taxa side by side is probably the most useful.  There is a pic of a potful of Crocus imperati seedlings showing a good range of variation and several shots of Crocus corsicus raised form wild seed which serve to show that this taxa is quite variable .

As a postscript Crocus corsicus is more likely to be confused with Crocus minimus when you move away form the trade forms - here it is features of the corm tunic that are the most helpful in splitting them.

[tonyg]

Miserable weather continues to dog my days off (which are few and far between at present )  However I do have a few pictures taken recently to share.
Firstly a collection of Crcous biflorus forms
Crocus biflorus ssp isauricus
Crocus biflorus ssp nubigena
Crocus biflorus ssp unknown - has fabulously feathered outers (2nd pic)
Crocus biflorus form - received as ssp taurii but I am doubtful (too big and showy!)
Crocus biflorus ssp taurii - from seed, closer to description and half the size of previous
Crocus biflorus ssp weldenii - pure white form - note the cutworm damage done to emerging leaves.  This pest has been much more evident here this year

[Tony Willis]

I have seen gargaricus in flower on Ulu dag where it grows in thousands in very wet conditions but when I visited its site in SW Turkey near Goktepe which is probably 100 miles further south it was well over and so I cannot comment on differences in the wild.The only comment I might make is it looks to be a hotter and much drier area in the south where as well it seems to grow at a lower altitude

[tonyg]

Some of you may remember that I posted some pictures last year of crocus growing in a local cemetery and on the roadside verges outside.  They are now coming into flower again - all I need to thrill you is a sunny day off but thats not looking likely this week   However I did get a few shots last week to whet your appetites!
Firstly the emerging Crocus tommasinianus in the cemetery some of which have been badly chewed.  I suspect squirrels - what do you think?
Then two shots of 'trade' biflorus/chrysanthus (Thomas will be able to name them for you
And then ..... an assortment of hybrid seedlings. 
Sadly all are closed buds but it gives you a flavour of what is to come if we get lucky with the weather!
Earlham Road tommies and hybrids

[tonyg]

And finally for tonight a few miscellaneous crocus at home

Crocus sieberi ssp sieberi
Crocus sieberi ssp sublimis
Crocus versicolor TH06 (Thomas are yours flowering yet?)

[ian mcenery]

Here is Crocus rujanensis flowering today

[Luc Gilgemyn]

 
Great shots everyone !

Ian,
Do I recognize RUksans JAnis in the name ?
Nice species !

Tony,
What a formidable series - I'm always amazed by the black anthers in C biflorus ssp nubigena : wonderful !
The C sieberi sieberi  204-97 is another stunner !  If ever you have one to spare ... - I could find it a good home ... 

[ian mcenery]

Hi Luc very good  I got it from a UK enthusiast /specialist. Though can't find the origin of the name. Does anyone know it is a recently described species?

Thank Tony for your efforts to clear up the my confusion with Corsicus. I have a lot of pots of seedlings of a lot of species now and if I manage to bring them to flower perhaps then I will be able to add further to my confusion.

Tony and Tony W as far as the gargaricus  is concerned I too has heard ssp herbertii was quicker to increase it will be interesting to see if there is any difference when the other flowers which it is about to do

[Thomas Huber]

What a glorious collection of photos during my weekend-absence!!!

Tony, my first versicolor are out, but havn't opened so far 

Your hybrid photos show the cultivars chrysanthus Romance (06) and Zwanenburg
Bronce (01). Those hybrids are worth collecting 

The white ex. tauri look like the one I've found in my garden yesterday. They were
from a German supplier who has sent me sooo many wrong plants    He's
not very reasonable, so their true origin will never be clarified 

Ian and Luc: Crocus rujanensis is named after the Rujan Planina in Southern Serbia!

Diane, those yellow crocus are not easy to tell apart only by a photo of the flower.
You have to look underground for your sieheanus. The corm has to look like this:

[Luc Gilgemyn]

Hi Thomas,
Quite a coïncidence with the naming of C. Rujanensis...