Trip to S Turkey (E of Antalya)

[Ragged Robin]

Janis, thanks so much for your travelogue of this your latest trip so full of information and wonderful plants in spite of the difficulties.  I'm wondering whether you have a link to a Google map of the region you visited it sounds so dramatic and beautiful?  I have never visited Turkey but after Cliff's photos last year as well I have a hankering to go there one day.

[Janis Ruksans]

Following stop I planed at place where in 2003 I collected marvelous form of C. hittiticus, but road was changed and we missed exact place. Instead of this we visited quite cultivated although very stony land where for great surprise I saw Iris stenophylla blooming on ploughed field. It was quite unusual habitat for Juno. From other bulbs on the same field were Crocus vitellinus but in leafmold of spiny evergreen oak shrubs – some crocus with reticulated tunic out of flowers. Hope that it was C. hittiticus, not cancellatus.
The one of the best stops of our trip followed very difficult road by side of vertical rocks and very deep gorges. Soon after mountain pass we stopped near slightly cultivated small fields interrupted by low hilltops to check what there are growing (altitude 1500 m). And there it was – almost 100% new crocus – ver5y resembling C. biflorus subsp. crewei by color but with smaller flowers and more numerous leave. If in subsp. crewei (it grows far to west) usually are only 2-3 leaves, plant discovered by me had (5)6-7 leaves. It mostly grew on open flat spots with little other vegetation.
Another beauty on this hilltop was large clumps of Iris stenophylla in full bloom, mostly damaged by previous rains, but some quite fresh. Very uniform, only one clump had distinctly lighter flowers. I never before saw so many flowering size plants on same spot. May be it was for locality so difficult to reach and something less grazed due building of new dams and power stations.
Janis

[Janis Ruksans]

Between both stops we passed quite unusual house attached as swallow nest on high vertical cliff just on roadside with satellite dish on roof near chimney which smoke colored hill black. On other side of road is similar vertical cliff but only down in deep gorge.
Janis

[Janis Ruksans]

Few more pictures of this new crocus
Janis

[I.S.]

  Janis realy lots of admirable crocuses
I think your vitellinus looks like graveolens around Silifke we don't have vitellinus. The leavers are to thiny for vitellinus isn't it? I have recievet a few corms from nord of Silifke I named them graveolens even full yellow!
  For Crewei, on wild I couldn'd find any with more then 3 leaves! I am not very sure! but color of leaves looks like crewei. For biflorus subsp. they are near to tauri.
           3. Leaves 4-9, 1.5-3.5 mm broad; flowers pale to mid lilac; bracts silvery-membranous (S., C, N, & N.E. Anatolia) j. subsp. tauri
  That Chrysantus looks very good and biger than normal. I f you can tell me proximitly location for my own archives because it not known from that part and also for crewei? On my map or google I can't find Kaan gec, Kubbe gec, Göksum, !!

[Lesley Cox]

Maggi when I occasionally speak to a group about irises, and tell them that Iris encompasses every possible colour from white to black, no-one believes me when I say it includes browns, greys, oyster shades and every possible permutation of those and greens. Janis's picture of Iris persica goes a long way to illustrating that.

[Janis Ruksans]

  Janis realy lots of admirable crocuses
I think your vitellinus looks like graveolens around Silifke we don't have vitellinus. The leavers are to thiny for vitellinus isn't it? I have recievet a few corms from nord of Silifke I named them graveolens even full yellow!
  For Crewei, on wild I couldn'd find any with more then 3 leaves! I am not very sure! but color of leaves looks like crewei. For biflorus subsp. they are near to tauri.
           3. Leaves 4-9, 1.5-3.5 mm broad; flowers pale to mid lilac; bracts silvery-membranous (S., C, N, & N.E. Anatolia) j. subsp. tauri
  That Chrysantus looks very good and biger than normal. I f you can tell me proximitly location for my own archives because it not known from that part and also for crewei? On my map or google I can't find Kaan gec, Kubbe gec, Göksum, !!

Ibrahim,
Graveolens has more pointed petals and is reported as horribly smelling, I didn't noted any small and tips of flower segments are rounded - so I ideentified them as vitellinus, although I would be more pleased for graveolens, which I didn't find. I have several very nice graveolens in my collection.
It is new subsp, not tauri at all - tauri hasn't such type of color, and crewei is different in number of leaves. It is well isolated locality. I sent fresh leaves for DNA analysis to Erich Pasche and hope he will confirm, that this one is new.

At very end I will add map of my marshrout, although all those passes are on map, may be not easy to find by Google. Kaan gec on map is Kan gec, but in citu on roadsign - Kaan gec.

Janis

[Janis Ruksans]

We had still very log way ahead but before Taschkent we made short stop between two mountain passes - Belpinar gec. and Fašikan gec. It was really early as around were plenty of snow and soil extremely damp, but some crocuses flowered there, too. It was something different population from those seen before. Everywhere where only I saw Crocus chrysanthus growing alone it was very uniform. Those very few creamy about which I wrote before really was exceptional case. Here I finally saw population where Crocus chrysanthus was not accompanied with biflorus (may be it was too early for it) and had various grey or brownish stripes or stipling or basal design on yellow petals outside. Unfortunately it was too dark for pictures and I pictured only very few plants, so those color forms generally remained undocumented.
It was very dark and quite late when we reached Beishekir and slept in our usual Park Hotel. There were a pair of stops by the road to Beishekir but no one crocus was seen - all was grazed by sheep.
Janis

[TheOnionMan]

Janis, very interesting to see the differences in brown feathering, and the one view with two flowers side by side, one without feathering and the other with bold feathering... most attractive.

[Janis Ruksans]

I was few days away for lecture at AGS Fritillaria group meeting in Wisley. I allmost miss it because I bought ticket in December and forget the date. I thought that my lecture will be following weekend. Late in night I opened internet and saw on screen message from Bob Charman - see you tomorrow... I run upstairs to check my ticket... Oh... So the night was passed finishing my speech and early morning I ran to Airport.

But now back to trip. On first entry I wrote that Gembos Yaila at our arrival was closed by snow. So we decided on way back to visit it again a week later. Landscape dramatically changed - most of snow on pass were gone and plenty of Crocuses in full bloom. But comparing with my visits there in previous years, still dominated yellow color of C. chrysanthus. Earlier blue ones of biflorus isauricus were surpassing. We saw incredibly bright form of Colchicum szowitsii, never before seen there. Most of Crocuses were hybrids between chrysanthus and isauricus. Unfortunately this "Natural Breeding Station Gembos" is living its last years. A lot of ground there are divided for new development and building of first summerhouses started... May be next spring will be some crocuses there but I'm not sure about future.

As outside again is heavy snowing (internet then works slowly), I will divide pictures in several entries.

Janis

[Janis Ruksans]

Following pictures.
Janis

[Janis Ruksans]

Still more pictures, most are hybrids Crocus biflorus isauricus x C. chrysanthus. One - pure white, may be pure chrysanthus and one lilac - may be pure subsp. isauricus.
Janis

[Janis Ruksans]

Last crocuses and first of Colchicum szowitsii.
Janis

[Janis Ruksans]

Last pictures from Gembos Yaila
Janis

[Luc Gilgemyn]

Wow Janis !  Wonderful Iris and Crocus !
These hybrids are stunning !!