Sternbergia 2008

[Maggi Young]

I repeat here some posts ansd photos from Janis Ruksans in another thread.......

Referring to a trip to the Crimea:     Excellent surprise was discovering of small population (some 200-300 sq.m.) of Sternbergia colchiciflora.  It is quite rare in Crimea and Dima never before found it. Fortunately it keeps blooms open even in rainy weather. We walked all the day crossing yaila and nowhere found another one spot of it. Crimean population can to bloom underground and you can see plants only in spring when leaves and self-pollinated seedpods come out. I got report from Krasnodar district (Russia) about same. All my previous stocks originate from Turkey and they are “normal” blooming. It will be very interesting to compare those. Sternbergia colchiciflora is the single species successfully growable outside here as leaves are formed in spring only. Sternbergia candida can be grown outside here, too but it is not safe.

An article about Sternbergias forwarded to me by Ian Young was very useful for me.
During visit to Greece I was confused because couldn't identify undoubtedly Sternbergias - one clump seemed to be sicula, another lutea and between them a lot of intermediates. Greuteriana I know only by plants got from other growers and in my collection they looked different from lutea/sicula, only one of last acquisitions got under name sicula I renamed as greuteriana this autumn. But all this "carousel" with stocks as lutea angustifolia etc. now is clarified. So really possibly the best would be to regard them as garden forms of one species. Still not so certain about greuteriana but it is for too little knowledge about its variation range. Extremes of course are very different.
Janis