Crocus October, 2018

[olegKon]

October is luckily dry here. Autumn crocuses mushroomed overnight.
1. Crocus kotschyanus


2. Crocus kotschyanus ssp. leucopharynx



3. Crocus specious album



4. Crocus banaticus

[Janis Ruksans]

Crocus banaticus.
The colour on the ones in shade is not correct. They are not that blue.

Very like yours banaticus with white stigma.
Janis

[Janis Ruksans]

Crocus nerimaniae. There is a colour blotch one one of the petals. I do not hope it is the first sign of virus.
Crocus gilanicus. There is almost no variations in the seedlings.

Re: nerimaniae - it looks more as mechanical damage. But nerimaniae is species which is catching viruses extremely easy. In wild difficulty to find healthy looking plant. For me it took 3 generations before I got virus-free stock. My recommendation - hand pollinate and saw seeds every year - then you always will have healthy plants.
Janis

[Janis Ruksans]

This week is easy for me - repotting finished, tulips planted on beds, planting books ready... But I can't start something new - feel myself empty and need some rest before new computer season. Today watered my pots - almost 8 hours and then took off wilted flowers. Long and tidy process. But now some more pictures.
On the first are blooming of seedlings where I crossed two forms of C. cartwrightianus - 'Albus' and 'Purple Eye'.
As usually - from Crocus caspius the first blooming start white flowering plants.
Nicely blooms Crocus goulimyi and its selection 'Pink Wonder' - spotted in Peloponnesus by my stepdaughter Liga.
And as last in this entry hybrid between Crocus hadriaticus and C. sativus cashmerianus made by Dirk, although I'm not sure that it is real hybrid between those because sativus is sterile and I got very similar seedlings from open pollinated C. hadriaticus (see next entry).
Janis

[Janis Ruksans]

As I wrote shortly before - the first is some hybrid (most likely) of Crocus hadriaticus. There are 3 pots with seedlings and all are identical, what is normal for F-1 generation if you hybridise pure species. If they wouldn't be hybrids - there would be some splitting, because Crocus hadriaticus is quite variable. Splitting would appear in F-2 generation, too. F-2 seedlings of Dirk's supposed hybrid with sativus cashmirianus didn't split, as it would be normal for F-2 generation.
Crocus haussknechtii WHIR-202 - comes from Iran, but Crocus hermoneus ILOP-011 - from Mt. Hermon in Israel. Here they peacefully grow side by side.
Again I'm returning to Crocus karduchorum SASA-102 - here you can see - each is different. Pity, I never saw this species blooming in wild, so can judge about its variability. All my stocks comes from other collectors and growers and from Gothenburg BG.
Crocus lycius TULA-005 comes from western border of its area and I grew it at first as mazziaricus aff., but when looked more carefully - understood that it still is lycius although with longer and narrower segments and very white.

[Janis Ruksans]

Now some C. mazziaricus and its relatives which certainly belong to different species. The first is true, very typical, collected only 2 years ago and it is its first blooming and... two plants were dug out as virus infected. I don't think that they got virus in my collection, infection came from wild. Only one positive thing in this process - I checked their roots - rooting is perfect, rich and abundant, so soil mix must be good as well.
As I wrote before - this year I planted my corms much deeper than usually, so taking out infected plants is not easy, but I use special "dandelion digger" bought many years ago in Northern Ireland - long and very narrow tool.
Next three pictures are from Turkish so named "mazziaricus".
And the last in this entry - my first flower of Crocus nerimaniae this season. Now there are 5 flowers and all were inter-pollinated.
Janis

[Janis Ruksans]

All those beautiful Crocus pumilus individuals were collected on Crete, near Psychro village at Cave of Zeus. The first two represents unusually yellowish toned individuals. There is one with dark stripes over yellow background. The last two shows more traditionally coloured individuals from same locality. Beautiful collection - but this autumn all flowers of Crocus pumilus are huge, much larger than ever before seen in this species. On last picture is Crocus laevigatus  flower - unusually small, smaller than in pumilus, although must be vice-verse. But another feature separating both species remained - plants from Crete (C. pumilus) are odorless or even a little bit stinky, whilst laevigatus are with very sweet odour. Of course such size of flowers for pumilus isn't usual, normally it is much smaller than laevigatus. I grow it for more than 15 years, but never before observed such phenomenon.
Janis

[sokol]

The second is correct and true. The first - I'm doubtful.

Thanks Janis and Steve, Crocus asumaniae was written on the seed bag. What else could it be?

[sokol]

Nice collection Poul. I can't reply to a special post as they are all nice. It seems you like the same as I do.

[Janis Ruksans]

In this entry I will start with another "yellow" pumilus - this case with striped back of flower segments and next in this entry is another Cretan - Crocus oreocreticus.
Then 3 pictures of Crocus niveus - common view of collection and then most widespread bluish form and at end pure white after which it got the name "niveus".

[Janis Ruksans]

This entry I will start with one of best autumn bloomers - Crocus mathewii although this year it blooms with me sparsely and with smaller flowers, so very few good pictures can be made.
Then follows some relatives of C. mathewii - all for some time had common name C. pallasii. If the true Crocus pallasii from by flower is very similar to Greek continental crocuses from this group, E Aegean plants are very different.
Here at first C. pallasii from type locality (Crimea, Ukraine) and its albino form.
The fourth picture is so named "pallasii" (seem to be C. macedonicus, but I didn't check its other features, to be sure about naming) from continental Greece. It was grown up from seeds collected somewhere in Greece by my great Australian friend Marcus Harvey during one of his last trips to Greece. It is the first blooming of this acquisition in my collection.
And the last picture is the so named "pallasii"from Samos Island. It will be soon published by Greek student working on Crocuses.

[sokol]

Yesterday some Crocuses opened and also some further questions.

Crocus hadriaticus from Enos, Kefallonia


This one I have bought as Crocus hadriaticus but I think it is Crocus sativus. The flowers kept slightly open during night.


The next ones are seed raised as Crocus thomasi. The right one should be Crocus hadriaticus but the left one? Both flowers closed last evening.


The fourth is sown as a spring flowering Crocus and is maybe  Crocus thomasi?


At least Crocus pallasii from Chios is clear. At least what the plants are but maybe another new Name will come as Janis has just written for Samos.

[sokol]

Some further Crocus from yesterday:

Crocus cambessedesii


Crocus cartwrightianus from Siros, flowers closed in the first night after opening


Crocus laevigatus from Ikaria


Crocus Zephyr

[Janis Ruksans]

Yesterday some Crocuses opened and also some further questions.

The first hadriaticus - true, pure species
2nd picture - certainly not sativus, looks something like pallasii, only stigmatic branches are too long. C. hadriaticus very easy hybridise and I have huge spectrum between seedlings even after hand-pollination, but without isolation (the same relates to C. thomasii, too).
3rd pict. - the left seem to be sterile hybrid (look on anthers), the right could be hadriaticus
4th -  is thomasii
5th - can be Chios form of pallasii.
Correct identification only by flowers isn't possible - must be seen leaves - glabrous or ciliated as well as throat, and, of course corm tunics.
Janis

[Janis Ruksans]

Some further Crocus from yesterday:
Crocus cartwrightianus from Siros, flowers closed in the first night after opening

Here is cool, cloudy and wet (rainy) morning and most of cartwrightianus are almost closed, especially cultivars raised by Antoine Hoog (Michael, Marcel, especially Anabella). Only some of wild gatherings are open, but even between those only few stay fully open, some are half-closed.
Janis