Fritillaria 2009

[Paul T]

Gote,

A weed?  I wish!  I must see if there are any tiny offsets on mine.  Still one bulb after many years.  Love the flower, and love the others I have seen here as well.  Thanks for showing me new colours of camschatcensis, that I didn't even realise existed.

[gote]

Searching the Japanese name (クロユリ) in Google Images shows a lot of nice forms in orange, yellow, black and reddish brown, but nothing redder than this.

Red is a wide colour Arisaema,
I assume you know that a brown cow is called red in Sweden? 
I believe the one in one of my Japanese floras is a little redder than that one.
My point is, however that there are many nice forms out there which nobody (except in Japan ) seems to grow.
Since this is a fairly easy species to grow they would be very desirable.
Cheers
Göte   

[Paul T]

Which means we need to get seed out to those of us outside of Japan that wants to grow them, doesn't it!    No, I am not meaning just me..... but getting it to a good grower somewhere that can bring bulbs to maturity and share seed around, while also having offsets for those that can import them easily.  Just so important to get these things out to the wider audience so that they aren't lost forever by some catastrophe or other.

[gote]

ABSOLUTELY YES
Göte

[arisaema]

I assume you know that a brown cow is called red in Sweden? 

They are here as well, Göte (The Chinese and their "blue" peopnies also comes to mind...)

Checked Shikoku, they only list the regular black form and a yellow one, both presumably costing a small fortune... Are there any other export nurseries in Japan, other than those only offering Hepaticas? Any seed collectors?

[Lesley Cox]

That red is certainly redder than any I've seen here. Mostly ours are a deeper black/red or the black/green form which apparently is an Alaskan form. Mine are all this one and it multiplies like crazy. Paul you would know if yours had offst babies by the many fine leaflets which appear around the main bulb. These come though the ground/pot surface before the flowering stem.

[Paul T]

Lesley,

But isn't it one that can produce the rice grain offsets, that sit and never do anything until removed from the main bulb?  I guess my memory is wrong on that.

[ranunculus]

This is a very interesting thread ... anybody who knows my garden knows that I grow remarkably few bulbs, but a single bulb has flowered recently and it was in an old, 'stray' pot labelled Frit' cam' 'Dark Form' that was sown many moons ago.  I am not really a bulb 'officianado' so I took five or six shots and thought nothing more of it.  These are three of those images and I would say that the colour is very accurate.  Are they actually Fritillaria camchatcensis and is this a quite unusual hue?

I must add that I am probably not the best person to be responsible for a quite rare bulb if that is what it is!   

[Lesley Cox]

It certainly LOOKS like Frit cams... so if it also walks like and quacks like, it probably IS Frit cams..... and no, that is far from the usual colour, quite extraordinary in fact and I hope you are prepared to lay your life on the line for it.

Paul, you are right to some extent. I guess some of the American species do both. I always gets heaps of babies as growing leaflets which never grow on, on casms..., affinis and pudica but there are always plenty on and over the bulbs when I lift them too. Any disturbed AS you lift them will come up as leaflets. Recurva too, though that does seem to grow on to flowering bulbs more readily.

[ranunculus]

Hi Lesley,
I have sent Sue and little Ollie out to shield it as we speak! 

The other two images captured on the day are as follows ...

How best to proceed bulb experts?

[Paul T]

Cliff,

I think you should start spreading it around.    Definitely very red.  Now if it just sets seed and you can send some to Lesley.... I'm sure she can grow it well enough to share with the rest of the world.  

[Lesley Cox]

I did not ask Paul to say this!

[Paul T]

In truth, Lesley and I haven't been in contact at all recently except here in the forums...... so she most definitely did NOT ask me to say that.

Yet this one Simon, is very weedy in NZ making millions of babies which get EVERYWHERE! I still like it very much but am always pulling out single leaves where they shouldn't be.

This posting was my reasoning for asking for Lesley to get the seed.  If for her the camschatcensis is basically a weed, then I think she would be a prime candidate to grow the red form in numbers to distribute it to others around the world.    And the yellow form, and any others.  If she manages to get seed from them so that we in Aus can bring some in too, that would be great, but the important thing is that the more people have the unusual forms the less chance there is of their being lost.... as I mentioned before in relation to the chinese growers.

Just by way of explaining why I made the request. 

[arisaema]

That is a red one, great shots and an amazing colour! I have to agree with Paul, you should consider giving a few seeds or rice grains away to a nursery perhaps, as I'd love to see it available commercially.

[ranunculus]

I am in total agreement with you all that this colour form should be introduced as quickly as possible and I would love to see it in the collections of every enthusiast, but how to proceed over the next few months?  I will keep checking for seed (will a single flower produce viable seed - it has been kept away from other frit's, not by intentional isolation, but simply because I grow so few pots of bulbs) and, of course, Lesley will be among the first to receive any seed, but I am initially very keen to ensure the survival and propagation of this single bulb and would welcome advice from all you experts out there.
I must also check back through my records to establish my source.