FRITILLARIA 2011

[art600]

One of the problems we had on this trip to Turkey was the amount of road building that is taking place.  Everywhere dual carriageways were being built even to seemingly remote villages.  This has changed the landscape a lot - the banks where you expect to find plants are no longer there.

A case in point was the road to Bahcesaray where we had previously found Fritillaria minuta and minima.  The first two photos show where we stopped to look for the Frits - not a previous location as this was now under a new road - not very promising.

We did not find Fritillaria minuta, but found Fritillaria minima growing amongst the boulders, and scattered across the site were a few Fritillaria crassifolia.

A companion plant was this excellent tulip

[ashley]

Wonderful to see these plants in the wild Arthur.  Thank you.

[Magnar]

Thank you , Art, I enjoyed the photos very much 

[art600]

We travelled from Van to Dogubayazit and along the way were fortunate to see alot of Fritillaria at various sites.

Perhaps the most interesting was the first site - hills of gypsum.  Here we found Fritillaria crassifolia.

Further on we found Fritillaria ? caucasica - shots 4 - 6

At the Tendurek Pass we found a crassifolia, that at one time had fooled people into thinking it was Fritillaria michailovskyi - it isn't   - approximately 50% of the plants had the yellow tips.

[Gerry Webster]

Arthur -  very interesting to see the frits on the Tendurek Pass. F. michailovskyi is morphologically very similar to F. crassifolia & the two hybridise. I remember some years ago Bob Wallis opining that they were in fact the same species.

[art600]

I think in this instance Ranveig is wrong - wait until I show the 'real' michailovskyi before you reply.

[art600]

I had tried on several trips to Turkey to see Fritillaria michailovskyi on the Tahir Pass.  This is a very short form compared with the plants seen near Patnos (sorry no images of the latter as I only took slides then and need to transfer them to my computer).

When we set off from Dogubayazit the weather was threatening - the deluge arrived just as we reached the site, hence only two shots.

I also managed to take a couple of shots of fritillaria armena.

[art600]

I had hoped to see Fritillaria alburyan on the Kop Pass, but fresh snow made this impossible.

Fortunately, another new site proved more productive, though looking at the site it was difficult to believe that it could be growing there

[Arda Takan]

so close yet so far for me

[art600]

At the site for Fritillaria alburyana, we also saw Fritillaria caucasica and some delightful companion plants.  The ground was very boggy.

1.  Fritillaria caucasica
2.  General view
3.  Primula ?  ID please
4.  Caltha polypetala
5.  Primula ?  ID please
6.  Another view of 5.

[Lesley Cox]

Wonderful pictures Arthur. The pure pink alburyana is sooooo much nicer than the purplish form.

[Paul T]

Wow, Arthur.  Fantastic pics of plants in the wild.  I'm just blown away by some of the species you've shown..... I'm not sure I've even seen half of them before (certainly not in the flesh anyway).

Thanks so much for sharing the pics.

[Arda Takan]

Hello all, I am about to bother you with another question of mine

I have some frits, my first frits which are gathered by me from wild , very small-hazelnut sized bulbs, probably F.pinardii. I am keeping them in sand at the moment. Should I plant them a proper pod now and take them out? And when should I start watering? I am planning to imitate nature, when it rains I'll water. What do you think about this idea?

[David Nicholson]

Arda, if it is not too difficult for you you should read Ian Young's Bulb Log it would help you enormously.

[art600]

Arda

Plant the bulbs and then give the pot a very good soaking with water - make the soil completely wet.  Then put the pot where it cannot get wet and wait until you see growth before giving more water.

There are more details in Ian's Bulb Log, this is a summary and works for me.