Crocus October 2016

[johnw]

Crocus tournefortii today.


johnw

[Janis Ruksans]

Janis, Crocus pumilus from Vouvala looks a bit strange because of the long stamens. Is it the only plant with this character or are all like this?

There are quite great variability, but they are normal plants. Picture included for its very beautiful stigma, but it is only seasonal variation not repeated in another year.

[Armin]

Firstly, great stuff from everybody, very adorable

My modest contribution - a few images from my lawn.
All crocus are survivors of (my) desaster from Feb. 2012.
2 weeks of black frosts up to -18°C in the nights w/o snow cover killed 90%+ of my crocus collection.
It took 4 years of recovery...(only leaves in spring)
All grow in heavy loam at the bottom of my raised beds and get some protection from a larger hazelnut scrub.

Most survivors are obviously hybrids of C. pulchellus 'Zephyr' with C. speciosus. A few smaller ones look like cultivar 'Zephyr' and a few like C. speciosus of commerce. Many are as large as C. speciosus but all have withish to white anthers.

Glad to know all are fertile and produced good pollen this year. I have pollinated them with a fine brush.

[Diane Whitehead]

I've enjoyed all the pictures.  I was going to add to them - yesterday I had two species
in bloom but when I went to photograph them today - none.  There was one bloom left
with small bits of mauve showing what had been there.  All the other flowers were
totally eaten.  Deer, I guess.  They don't like to get their noses in the dirt, but these
crocuses were in a raised bed - almost nose height.

[ruben]

The sun is back - and the crocusses opened 

Crocus speciosus albus
Crocus ligusticus 'Millesimo'
Crocus mathewii
Crocus goulimyi
Crocus cartwrightianus CEH 613

[ruben]

Crocus biflorus ssp; melantherus stippled form
Crocus biflorus ssp. melantherus  x2
Crocus aff. kotschyanus - from Dirk Schnabel- much mater flowering - probably new species
Crocus oreocreticus

[ruben]

Crocus archibaldiorum
Crocus hadriaticus brown keeled form
Crocus laevigatus SBL 346

[sokol]

Nice pictures again, Ruben. Crocus melantherus is not out here. Crocus aff. kotschyanus is interesting with the later flowering time. Here are all gone. On the other hand some species like Crocus laevigatus are flowering over a long period.

Some pictures from yesterday. First two flowering plants of Crocus tournefortii from Siros (Cyclades).

[David Nicholson]

From 2011 Crocus Group seed, sown September 2011, Crocus laevigatus.

[Cfred72]

Very nice photo of Crocus laevigatus

[ruben]

the tournefortii ex siros is really stunning! I love the colouring on the outers. Can you make picture of flower closed?

[sokol]

Yes of course. I will take it tomorrow. You can see it a bit better from this picture taken today.

[Maggi Young]

Nice Yann
Crocus armeniacum

This crocus now known as Crocus armeniensis

 Note from Janis Ruksans :  At first I named it as armeniacum and still on my picture files they has such label, but ending was incorrect assording Latin grammar, so it weas changed. Thanks to Rafael Govaert (Kew) who corrected my mistake.