SRGC Guided Tour to Eastern Turkey - May 2012

[DaveM]

From Malatya we drove west to Goksun and beyond in search of Muscari mcbeathianum. Several of us had seen and admired this species on the show bench. I understand that it is only known from one locality  in pine woodland - a lovely setting in which it occupies damp hollows. Sadly in the wild it turned out to be somewhat underwhelming (sorry Ron    ). The bicolour form is quite nice though.

[DaveM]

The road from Goksun to Kahramanmaras and the end of our journey takes you over the Puren Pass, a massif limestone mountain. Here among the rocky cliffs are steep grassy slopes studded with Cedrus atlanticus. Among the rocks are some wonderful alpine species:

Some very large plants of Onosma alborosea
Fritillaria hermonis
and the black form of Fritillaria persica (the town of Adiyaman which gives its name to this form in cultivation is not too far away to the east. This is a much superior form to the pale colours I've previously seen in Iran.

[DaveM]

Well, having arrived in Kahramanmaras we had one last call to make and what a visit it turned out to be. The limestone hills of the Ahir Dagi tower over the city, the pine forests of the lower slopes are littered with picnic spots for the citizens and the mountain is gradually being built over. Old cultivated terraces on the uppermost slopes are home to the fabulous onchocyclus iris Iris kirkwoodii. What a sight!! You can judge for yourselves......

Edit : to show kirkwoodii  is  listed as   Iris kirkwoodiae Chaudhary

[DaveM]

and a final few......

In two weeks we had driven from the shores of the Black Sea in the north through the forests of northern Turkey and the steppe of the central part of Anatolia, almost to the Mediterranean. We saw the most amazing variety of plants - almost everything we expected to see - and some more. For example, we were lucky to see Iris peshmeniana as it is April flowering, but also, Frit alburyana because that is usually June flowering. We were definitely the winners. Well that's the end of my selection - maybe some of my fellow travellers will post some of their own....

[Maggi Young]

David,  I have little doubt that others are viewing this report from you with the same delight as I feel.
The numbers viewing these pages already support that view! 
So many majestic plants that are truly a joy to behold.... even at secondhand!
The equivalent number of readers to the audience in dozensof talks....this is really spreading the word- thank you!

[ashley]

What a pleasure to see these wonderful plants in the wild, and their growing conditions.  It must have been a great trip.
Many thanks for sharing it with us Dave.

[ronm]

Wonderful report Dave. Thank you.

[Gerry Webster]

and some more

Aubrieta canescens studding rock crevices
Fritillaria aurea - those we saw were much more robust than many that we see in cultivation.
Phelypaea coccinea - yes it really is that colour! It is parasitic, typically on Artemisia which can be seen to the left.

Dave -  Many thanks for a fascinating account with wonderful pictures.
The large form of F. aurea is (or was) in cultivation; it was collected several years ago by Vic Horton & Norman Stevens near Malatya (as HS2354).

[DaveM]

Gerry, excellent news and thank you. This large form of Fritillaria aurea was quite stunning and deserves to be wider grown and better known.

[Gerry Webster]

Gerry, excellent news and thank you. This large form of Fritillaria aurea was quite stunning and deserves to be wider grown and better known.

Perhaps it's not widely grown because, as Norman states (his 1988 list), it is not as easy to grow as the common form.

[Lvandelft]

Great and wonderful report Dave! Thanks so much for showing these wonderful pictures!

[ronm]

Perhaps it's not widely grown because, as Norman states (his 1988 list), it is not as easy to grow as the common form.

Is anyone able to trace their stock back a quarter of a century to this reference? It would be wonderful to know that such a lovely plant was still around. It must have been collected since? ( I hope only as seed though,    ).

[Gerry Webster]

It is possible that the large form of F. aurea was not widely distributed. Between 1987 & 1998 Norman only listed it three times: 1988, 1991 & 1992, each time remarking that it was difficult to grow. Over the same  period the front cover of his catalogue was adorned with a beautiful drawing of the form by Joanna Langhorne.
There is a photo  of the plant taken on Narhak Dag, Malatya by Norman in Fritillaria 16 (Spring, 2005)

[ronm]

There is a photo  of the plant taken on Narhak Dag, Malatya by Norman in Fritillaria 16 (Spring, 2005)

Thanks for pointing this out Gerry. Just had another look, and took  the opportunity to read again the small written piece "Fritillaries in Turkey" that accompanied it. Always worth swatting up, 

[Gerry Webster]

More on the large form of F. aurea. Seed derived from Norman's collection & a collection  by W.M.M Baron (2108) was listed by Jim Archibald in 1997, 2006 & 2007 under 491.805 It also appears in the posthumous list produced by Jenny in 2011. So, perhaps it achieved a wider distribution than I initially thought. Let's hope so.