Crocus November 2017

[pehe]

Here are a few typical November pics from my garden: Low light, autumn leaves, closed crocus flowers and a lot of weeds...

1. Crocus kotschyanus HKEP.9205 is still flowering
2. Crocus ochroleucus with weeds and a few Galanthus Peter Gatehouse in the background
3. Crocus melantherus under glass

I have a single Crocus vallicola still flowering, while many spring flowering Crocus is showing their noses.

Poul

[Yann]

during a turkish birds treck a friend collected several crocuses pods. I lost many bulbils but 3 of them survived. Here's the first flower from these pods. I'm thinking of biflorus or nerimaniae?? I've returned from page 1 to end the Janis book but still looking this answer 

[Janis Ruksans]

during a turkish birds treck a friend collected several crocuses pods. I lost many bulbils but 3 of them survived. Here's the first flower from these pods. I'm thinking of biflorus or nerimaniae?? I've returned from page 1 to end the Janis book but still looking this answer 

Crocus nerimaniae. There are only 2 blue autumn annulate species with black anthers - C. nerimaniae and C. wattiorum (picture attached here - easy to see differences), so identification is easy.

[Yann]

nerimaniae: the stamens are shorter than the pistil, is it a always true feature?
On wattiorum the stripes are not diffused

[Janis Ruksans]

nerimaniae: the stamens are shorter than the pistil, is it a always true feature?
On wattiorum the stripes are not diffused

In nerimaniae basal lobes of anthers are dark, in wattiorum - yellow, nerimaniae flowers never open so widely, are more rounded. Striping can vary, but in nerimaniae stripes looks as more white on blue ground, in wattiorum stripes are dark on blue. Flowers are so different in overall view, that you never could misidentify both. Here pictures of both

[Yann]

Many thanks Janis

[Janis Ruksans]

Crocus cartwrightianus is one of only 3 species which didn't close flowers in night. In same time it is one of most variable by flower colour. Here on 4 pictures you can see 3 plants from Naxos Island collected for me by Dima.Especially like this one which is yellow in bud. They arer strongly scented.

[Janis Ruksans]

Another strongly scented is C. longiflorus. At Basilicata (continental Italy) it is quite variable by throat colour, on Nebrodi range (Sicily) variation isn't so wide (at least in my plants).

[Janis Ruksans]

I crossed one of the best Turkish Crocus pallasii s.l. forms from near Labranda with Crocus pallasii s.l. cv. 'Homeri' (pollen parent) from Chios Island (Greece, E Aegean). Here you see seedlings from this cross.

[Janis Ruksans]

The first is most likely new crocus species from Israel lowlands.
Still blooms Crocus caspius.
Then picture of seedling from white C. banaticus 'Snowdrift' - very few from them are white, but all keeps perfect shape of 'Snowdrift'. This autumn no one from white banaticus blooms with me at present. Here they are later bloomers than blue ones.
And as last two are forms of C. goulimyi - striped 'Agia Sofia' from Melwin and mine 'Pink Wonder' spotted in wild by Liga.

[Janis Ruksans]

Crocus hyremalis had too little sun to open fully, but black anthers and nice stigma are easy notable.
On other pictures various acquisitions of C. laevigatus

[Janis Ruksans]

Now three different acquisitions of Crocus melantherus and
two pictures of Crocus kotschyanus RUDA-117 from near Syrian border but in Turkey, very similar (practically identical) with Dirk's kotschyanus aff. originally collected by V. Pilous in same region (may be along the same road where I travelled with Augis Dambrauskas in 2003).

[Janis Ruksans]

The first two pictures are from Crocus ochroleucus collected near Boumana, E of Beirut, received from Jim Archibald but originally collected by R&R Wallis.
Next is the same species from Golan Heights, near Massada
The last two are C. pumilus from Crete.

[Janis Ruksans]

Still blooms one of Iranian crocuses of speciosus group - 16IRS-069
Crocus lycius JATU-038 in full its beauty
This form of so named "mazziaricus" comes from Cukukoy in Turkey (I got from Jim Archibald)
And something out of crocuses confirming that season is very unusual - this one most likely is new Muscari species, nicknamed as "miniarmeniacum"  and normally is blooming in spring, but it blooms now.

[Yann]

Nice sets Janis,

From you here's Crocus pallasii, ex Chios
Crocus hyemalis, ex Israel