Muscari ... and some relatives 2009

[gote]

Maggie,
    The fact that we abide the laws does not mean that we cannot criticise them. Criticism of laws and regulations is one of the most basic elements of democracy.
Göte

[Jim McKenney]

Some number of years ago we bought a packet of  "yellow Sternbergia " bulbs from a  garden centre. When the sorry-looking dried bulbs eventually came to life and grew , it turned out they were Sternbergia candida!  So it seems that these lovely plants were being dug wild to be sold in bulk, and without even the cachet and concomitant high price their rarity could have commanded .... that added insult to their injury, did it not?

Decades ago, Maggi, I had a similar experience, although I was not so lucky as you were.

I had noticed one year that the Sternbergia bulbs on sale in the local garden centers were of two sorts. One matched the bulb of the typical garden form of Sternbergia lutea, often with a flat side and with a shiny blackish-brown papery tunic. The others were more rounded and with a matte surface.

Curious about this difference, I picked out the odd looking bulbs. What a nice surprise these turned out to be: Sternbergia clusiana! For the next several years, I tried to arrive at the garden centers as soon as autumn bulbs were put out for sale and pick out more of the Sternbergia clusiana bulbs. I also noticed that these were more likely to attempt to flower from the dry bulb than S. lutea.

Sternbergia clusiana grew well here and for several years I got good seed annually. Unfortunately, the story has a sad end. It turns out that Sternbergia clusiana in our climate is very vulnerable to bulb fly. Even the old bulbs were sometimes destroyed, and seedlings didn't have a chance.

Although I no longer grow it, to this day Sternbergia clusiana is my favorite. It would be so nice to acquire it again. Every once and a while I take out my quarter-century-old slides to try to relive the old days.

[Maggi Young]

Göte, of course that is the case.
I merely state the received stance of this Club, that the SRGC in no way condones any illegal activity whatsoever.
We are all fortunate here, SRGC Members or not, to be able to state our opinions and discuss matters of all sorts, with the proviso that we remain courteous to our fellows as we so do.

[Maggi Young]

Some number of years ago we bought a packet of  "yellow Sternbergia " bulbs from a  garden centre. When the sorry-looking dried bulbs eventually came to life and grew , it turned out they were Sternbergia candida!  So it seems that these lovely plants were being dug wild to be sold in bulk, and without even the cachet and concomitant high price their rarity could have commanded .... that added insult to their injury, did it not?

Decades ago, Maggi, I had a similar experience, although I was not so lucky as you were.

I had noticed one year that the Sternbergia bulbs on sale in the local garden centers were of two sorts. One matched the bulb of the typical garden form of Sternbergia lutea, often with a flat side and with a shiny blackish-brown papery tunic. The others were more rounded and with a matte surface.

Curious about this difference, I picked out the odd looking bulbs. What a nice surprise these turned out to be: Sternbergia clusiana! For the next several years, I tried to arrive at the garden centers as soon as autumn bulbs were put out for sale and pick out more of the Sternbergia clusiana bulbs. I also noticed that these were more likely to attempt to flower from the dry bulb than S. lutea.

Sternbergia clusiana grew well here and for several years I got good seed annually. Unfortunately, the story has a sad end. It turns out that Sternbergia clusiana in our climate is very vulnerable to bulb fly. Even the old bulbs were sometimes destroyed, and seedlings didn't have a chance.

Although I no longer grow it, to this day Sternbergia clusiana is my favorite. It would be so nice to acquire it again. Every once and a while I take out my quarter-century-old slides to try to relive the old days.

Interesting , Jim, that you have had the chance to buy "loose" Sternbergia buklbs.... they have only ever been available in the UK garden centres in pre-packs, as far as I know, and then only infrequently.

Another case of the pests, in the form of the bulb fly, making a target of a favourite! Though I suspect that our peception of this perversity among pest is highly coloured by our increased attention to certain species over the very readily available types!

[Tony Willis]

I have lots of muscari  in flower now,so here are the first ten followed by a further five. I realise that muscari make galanthus look riveting so I shall not be offended if somebody says'for pitys sake no more'

Muscari armeniacum
Muscari aucheri
Muscari latifolium two pictures
Muscari macrocarpum two forms
Muscari sp from four locations

[Tony Willis]

the next five all sp.

[ashley]

You have some real beauties there Tony
That latifolium looks much darker than the usual commercial form; is it? 

Should you ever have a few seeds to spare (of any of them) I'd be delighted to give them a home

[Tony Willis]

Ashley

the latifolium is from seed I collected in 1996 between Can and Yenice in Turkey.

You are welcome to seeds

[tonyg]

I have lots of muscari  in flower now,so here are the first ten followed by a further five. I realise that muscari make galanthus look riveting so I shall not be offended if somebody says'for pitys sake no more'

Galanthus are all white - at least muscari are not all blue!
I would be happy to give a home to 55, 65, 66, 76,102 if seed was available of any of them.
It is always interesting to see your well photographed plants.  Your collection and the records you keep about them are a great resource.  (You put me to shame )

[ashley]

Many thanks Tony.  I'll PM you closer to the time.

What a fine collection.  Presumably identification of some of these must wait until the taxonomy settles down.  However if the 'splitters' win out then we may have (almost ) as much fun as the galanthophiles

[maggiepie]

I found an old cookbook recently which included a recipe for prairie chicken. The recipe came from the daughter of a man who claimed to have killed thousands of them in his youth. The prairie chicken persists, but its eastern form, the heath hen, is gone forever. I wonder what recipe was used for heath hen?

Jim, this reminded me of one of my favourite short stories ( S/F) 'The Ugly Chickens'.
The story had a profound effect on me, still does really.

http://terpconnect.umd.edu/~vpatel05/pub/sciencefictionreport.htm

[Mark Griffiths]

I enjoy looking at the muscari. Galanthus are less interesting to me personally.

Does anyone have pictures of the other scented yellow/white one, M. moshatum (I thought I read about a white and grey form?). It seems less common than M.macrocarpum.

[Oron Peri]

Tony,

Great collection!!!

I can only repeat Tony G. to say how important it is to have the original location of the plant, in many cases it makes the work of identification much much easier and in my opinion it gives the plant a 'pedigree' that makes it much more precious in botanical terms.

Mentioning identifications  I'll need to take a day off to find some names here...

[Tony Willis]

Todays offering. The first is Bellevalia pycnantha (this is incorrect my apologies see later posting )and the rest are Muscari sp.

[Tony Willis]

the rest for today