Fritillaria 2007

[Ian Y]

Diane
Frit latakiensis will vary in the degree of markings on the petals, some striped others not.

The main difference between elwesii is that latakiensis has a style which splits into three obvious branches at the end while elwesii has more of a club shaped style also elwesii produces heaps of rice grains.

[Lesley Cox]

Diane
also elwesii produces heaps of rice grains.

That means mine must be elwesii then. Its colouring is solid  brown and it came from a Polunin collection. But many rice grains. Dammit!

[Diane Clement]

Diane
Frit latakiensis will vary in the degree of markings on the petals, some striped others not.  The main difference between elwesii is that latakiensis has a style which splits into three obvious branches at the end while elwesii has more of a club shaped style also elwesii produces heaps of rice grains.

thanks for the information, Ian, it jolted my memory that I had read this somewhere before, maybe on the bulb log
So useful to be able to sort out these confusions. 

[Mark Griffiths]

Hi, any chance of an id on the pics I posted on page 5?

[Maggi Young]

Sorry, Mark, the BD has just appeared beside me, I'll set him on the case!

[Maggi Young]

Right, Mark, we've both had a look again at your frits. Hadn't said anything before because basically, you have the names okay . Your F. hermonis amana is that, and may be from EKB1034 seed. Your plant may be EX EKB 1034, since the plant doesn't come entirely true from seed. The form "accepted" as 1034 can be seen on  this Bulb Log for a photo of EKB1034 : http://www.srgc.org.uk/bulblog/100403/log.html
 Cheers. M

[Mark Griffiths]

Thanks!

[David Shaw]

Here are some Frits from the frame. Two are correctly named but minuta is definitely not. It is about 12 inches tall and there are either three or four flowers per stem. Any ideas?

[Ian Y]

David I cannot see any reason to doubt that it is frit minuta from the picture -size leaves and flowers look ok.

[David Shaw]

But Ian, my Frit book (Gardeners Guide by Pratt & Jefferson-Brown) states that minuta has stems 4-6", occasionally to 1' and solitary flowers. I don't doubt your guidance but it does seem to differ from this book.
By the way, is there a dfferent Frit book that Publications should stock.

[Maggi Young]

David,how can I put this? It may be, on occasion, that something may be written about a plant that may be repeated from elsewhere, or without wide experience of a plant in cultivation.

With frits, which can be very variable species, ( witness the numerous different forms of F. hermonis etc) it may be that someone has not encountered a particular variety, or seen that variety grown to a particular stage....for example, the other year I saw F. affinis tristulis on the show bench which were short, fairly skinny little plants, with only one or two flowers.....some folks clearly thought that these diminutive plants were attractive and "true" representatives.... I, on the other hand, am familiar with mature bulbs of this variety which can make sturdy, leafy stems of up to 45cms with around a dozen or so flowers.  With so many of the plants we grow as "rock gardeners" being small it is easy to be seduced by the lure of the "littlees" but sometimes it is the case that "our" type of plants can grow to fair old sizes with us, and some even acheive larger status in the wild in favourable conditions.

Similarly, one often hears a criticism made of Corydalis on the show bench as looking drawn or too tall as opposed to how they look in the garden... what everyone seems to forget is that in the garden, one is generally looking DOWN on the plants, whereas on a show bench, the plant is lifted nearer eye level... of course it will look taller in these circumstances, it may not actually BE any taller!
I have digressed again ( nothing new there then) but my point is, we know the plants haven't read the book, has the book met all the plants?

[David Shaw]

OK, Maggie, I accept everything you say. Thank goodness the plants don't read the books .

[Maggi Young]

some of our plants went to night school, David, but we still fool them... we turn the lights out so they can't see!

[Lesley Cox]

And with respect to the aforementioned book and its no doubt expert writers, there are some glaring inaccuracies. In one part Frit. pallidiflora is said to require a hot, dry summer baking while elsewhere it is said to need cool conditions which never dry out completely!!!

We really do need a new frit book, especially one which covers all the more recently described or discovered species, including those from China. Maybe the BD would like to take it on? because the fact is, that failing such a book, the best source we have is the Bulb Log.

[Maggi Young]

Maybe the BD would like to take it on?

I think the BD has a long task ahead of him struggling with the "new" chinese frits himself, Lesley!!        There is often much muttering to be heard coming from the frit house!

It has long been said that Martyn Rix was writing a frit book, but we're still waiting