Crocus January 2010

[I.S.]

  It is strange but we have 10 c. more than average temparature. I am afraid that we will not see winter in Istanbul this year!
 While you are fighting with snow or mybe a little ice age in Europe!
 
  Here are a few pics of C. biflorus adamii from my region, very common forms to compare with Simon's pics.

 

[Sinchets]

Nice pics, Ibrahim. Comparing your pics to ours- the ones you show seem to have larger flowers and wider leaves than the ones we saw. I do not know if this is environmental- though at the second site here they were mainly growing in areas where a humic soil had build up near bushes, trees and grassy tussocks. We do wonder if predation pressures here prevent plants forming lrge corms and sizeable clumps. The leaves are dark green, narrow and 2 to 4 in number- they are generally shorter than the flowers at flowering. This is a closeup from one of the few pics we have showing the leaves clearly, but I think it is representative.
By the way - it is not just Turkey. The Balkan peninsula (or at least the part south of Romania) has been warmer than average for the last 2 weeks. All set to change though with snow on the way 

[Luc Gilgemyn]

Some very nice Crocus there Simon !
ba 2 and 5 are my favourites !

Thanks for showing and do enjoy both the good weather while it lasts and the snow when it comes !! 

[Sinchets]

Many thanks, Luc. The darkest one (no.5) is my favourite too.
Do you think this Crocus looks like your Crocus aff. sieberi we were talking about a few days ago? It opened for the first time yesterday.
Also another shot of the ones I posted a few days ago which could be C.sieberi atticus.
The snow has arrived just now 

[Luc Gilgemyn]

The side view does look like it Simon - I'll take a closer look tonight and compare with my pix when I get home.
Would you have a top view of the open flower ?

[Sinchets]

Many thanks, Luc. This is a top shot- the clearest I have. 

[Luc Gilgemyn]

Here's 4 views from my C. aff. sieberi Simon - I'll leave you (or other specialists) to be the judge, personally I think there are certain resemblances, yet it doesn't seem to be quite the same yours.

closed flower - semi open, fully open and view from below.

Anyway, have a look !
 

[Sinchets]

Many thanks again, Luc. It is a tricky one- maybe I should label mine Crocus aff. aff. sieberi. 

[Armin]

Simon, Ibrahim, Luc
excellent crocus pictures from you.

Simon,
we have puzzled a lot regarding your unknown "missing" croci.
From your last pictures I state C. aff. sieberi is C. sieberi ssp. atticus!
The speckled crocus (named as C. sieberi ssp. atticus)  I would name C. aff. sieberi (unless corm tunics show bilflorus blood).
Sorry for any confusion.  

Luc,
I don't have a real clue what is yours - but beautiful.

[Sinchets]

Thanks, Armin 

[tonyg]

I'm with Armin on Simons ssp atticus.

Luc, yours with the pjc label may be a hybrid with C veluchensis.  There are mountains where this and C sieberi ssp sublimis overlap where there are supposed hybrids.  These have flowers often shaped like C veluchensis but with a yellow/ish throat.  I cannot recall which mountain this occurs on (?Olympus) but similar plants of this origin have been exhibited at AGS shows.

[Luc Gilgemyn]

Thanks everyone !!
Mine was bought as a bulb from R&R Wallis, but I have no information as to where it grows.

[Tony Willis]

I'm with Armin on Simons ssp atticus.

Luc, yours with the pjc label may be a hybrid with C veluchensis.  There are mountains where this and C sieberi ssp sublimis overlap where there are supposed hybrids.  These have flowers often shaped like C veluchensis but with a yellow/ish throat.  I cannot recall which mountain this occurs on (?Olympus) but similar plants of this origin have been exhibited at AGS shows.

Tony

I think the most notable place where they occur together is on Parnassus and here what appear to be hybrids are quite common.

[Sinchets]

Last year I posted a pic of what I am growing as Crocus biflorus punctatus. This year I checked an excellent resource to see if my naming was correct- it looks different to the pic there  . I also checked the pic on the suppliers website, again it is different. Any ideas most welcome.  The plant is flowering now in the garden in a clear spell between snowfall.

[Thomas Huber]

Simon, I agree your plant doesn't look like the photo in your "excellent source" 
But this doesn't mean, that your plant is wrong. As you have seen in the adamii habitat,
Crocus biflorus can be very variable - the same variability can occour in punctatus.

The biflorus group is one of the most difficult in the genus and I would never dare
to give a 100% identification just from a photo. One of the most important features is
to know where the plant came from, if this isn't known you can cancel any ID attemps.

Punctatus got its name from the speckled outer petals, but I don't know if this is constant
allthrough the species. I have biflorus ssp melantherus, looking exactly like your plant -
this species is generally known for striped outer petals, but some plants don't have stripes.

I would recommend to compare your plant with the article "crocus biflorus in Anatolia"
by Kerndorff and Pasche. You can find some useful dates of the original species there.

Hope this helps
TH