Autumn trip to Eastern Turkey

[Kees Jan]

Here are some pics of a trip to with fellow plant hunter Marijn van den Brink to Eastern Turkey last October. I will try to avoid the crocuses, although they were the main goal of this botanical trip. Most of the crocus populations are shown in a crocus thread elsewhere on this forum! There is much more to see though!

We arrived by plane in Diyabakir late in the evening and struggled to find a hotel for the night. The first three were about $200,- a night (yes, that's US dollars, not Turkish lira, a hotel for tourists). This did however included a guard and metal detector at the entrance  . After about 1,5 hour driving through town we finally found very cheap but also VERY basic accomadation. Next day Nemrut Dag NP south of Malatya was one of our first excursions  . The silver plant is probably Tanacetum densum ssp. amanum (correct me if it isn't please!).

The last four pics are all made in the mountains NW of Malatya and include Androsace villosa, Sedum sempervivoides (great to finally see this in the wild!) and a sempervivum of which I would love to get the name [identified as Sempervivum brevipilum now!]! The bird is supposed to be Buteo refinus, the Long-legged Buzzard. Well I know it is, since it's identified by an expert, but I couldn't normally tell...

[Kees Jan]

Here are some more pics, first south of Tokat... A nice Acantholimon and a Cotoneaster in fruit (but which one?), a Silene on the limestone rocks (which?), Rosularia (which?).

The next day was spend in the mountains NE of Amasya and we found a tiny Colchicum (could this possibly be an unsual colour form of umbrosum, I have no idea which other species this small grows so far north). (The Colchicum is now confirmed as C. umbrosum by an authority on the subject!) Crocus speciosus ssp. ilgazens was plentiful here, but shown elsewhere on this forum. The Cyclamen is coum, but which subspecies is this supposed to be in the Amasya region (ssp. caucasicum?).

After spending the night somewhere between Amasya and Erzincan we explored what we suppose must have been a serpentine mountain west of Erzincan. One of the most interesting plants turned out to be the grey-leaved Cochlearia sempervivum, a rare serpentine endemic with a crassulaceous appearance. Final picture of this post is G. verna ssp. pontica in a peaty spot on this serpentine mountain, October is an unusual time of year to flower for this spring gentian. There was also a relative of this gentian in seed: Swertia (probably iberica).

[Kees Jan]

The first is a Centaurea growing on serpentine, on the same mountain as the Cochlearia and gentian in my previous contribution.

The next pics are from the mountains just north and northeast of Erzincan, a yellow Linum (L. mucronatum ssp. armenum or possibly L. flavum) and three pics of Saxifraga kotschyi (the inflorescence is not typical, probably because it flowered out of season) and a small Rhamnus of some sort.

The Aster or whatever it is, was photographed about 100km east of Erzurum. I think this is a species that would normally be taller, but was grazed by sheep or cows... The last two pics are from the same area and taken in and near a typical Kurdish vilage. The old cemetery was situated outside the village, that you can see in the background. Nice old stones with lichen.

[Anthony Darby]

What fascinating pics.

[Kees Jan]

The Colchicum shown above is confirmed as C. umbrosum .

From Erzurum we headed for Doğubayazıt, a town near the Iranian border where we spend the night. Next day we passed Ercis, which was hit very hard by the recent earthquake . We were heading for another Nemrut Dag NP though, not near Adiyaman, as previously shown, but near Tatvan. Nemrut Dag NP near Tatvan is a volcano with a huge Crater, quite impressive, not unlike Crater Lake NP in the US, but rather than a road around the rim of the caldera as in the US, there is a road descending right into the crater.

Next we headed to the mountains south of Lake Van, where we photographed a flock of sheep, a hawthorn with I suppose must be Crataegus monogyna and two species of toadstool (let me know if you know which please!). The highlight was Crocus karduchorum, one of the most unusual crocuses due to its most interesting style. We found it in light oak woodland and oak scrub that consisted of Quercus petraea ssp. pinnatiloba).

[ArnoldT]

Kees

The C. umbrosum doesn't match what I have on the PBS site or the image posted on the NARGS site.

 http://www.nargs.org/nargswiki/tiki-browse_image.php?imageId=3971

http://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/index.php/ColchicumSpeciesThree#umbrosum

[Maggi Young]

Kees

The C. umbrosum doesn't match what I have on the PBS site or the image posted on the NARGS site.

 http://www.nargs.org/nargswiki/tiki-browse_image.php?imageId=3971

http://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/index.php/ColchicumSpeciesThree#umbrosum

No, it doesn't, but have a look at these photos from the wild:
http://www.bulbsociety.org/GALLERY_OF_THE_WORLDS_BULBS/GRAPHICS/Colchicum/Colchicum_umbrosum/Colchicum_umbrosum.html
 by the famous Dr Ori Fragman-Sapir

http://mnogoletnik.narod.ru/Colchicum/pages/Umbrosum.html

I suspect a case of plants in cultivation being mis-named. 

[Kees Jan]

I agree that the pics on the PBS site and NARGS must be misnamed. Many Colchicum in the trade are wrongly named   (at least, I have to admit, in The Netherlands). I would say the 'umbrosum' and NARGS seem to have Colchicum speciosum blood in them. Two species that are found side by side by the way, near Artvin, although I did not seen any hybrids.

I photographed Colchicum umbrosum earlier this autumn near its locus classicus. If you go to http://keesjan.smugmug.com/Botanical-trips/Asia/Eastern-Turkey-September-2011/ and search for umbrosum (you can type this top right) you will see many pics of umbrosum that are quite similar to the plants pictured on Maggi's links... These are all taken near the type locality and near Artvin (both populations perhaps 10km from each other as the crow flies).

For me the amazing thing of the plant pictured in this thread from near Akdag, just NE of Amasya, is the bright pink flower colour. This is why I initially thought this plant could not be C. umbrosum, even though that's the only small Colchicum that seems to be distributed in this part of Northern Turkey. But it must be, it was identified as such by Karin Persson from a picture, Karin is probably THE expert on Colchicum at present.

[Anthony Darby]

Must have been a very interesting trip. I just love the explanations that accompany the pics.

[Kees Jan]

We moved west from the Lake Van area because of poor weather and headed to Diyarbakir, Sanliurfa and Harran. Interesting plants on the way, such as Crocus pallasii ssp. turcicus and Crocus cancellatus ssp. damascenus. Both are shown in a recent Crocus thread on Eastern Turkey elsewhere on this forum.

Another most interesting 'bulbous' plant found east of Sanliurfa is Biarum carduchorum that was found in quite large numbers.

Harran is an ancient place, south of Sanliurfa in Turkis Mesopotomia, not far from the Syrian border. It is famous for its 'beehive' houses. The first picture from Maran shows the ruin of the minaret of the Umayyad mosque in Harran, the oldest and largest mosque in Anatolia, built in 744-50 by the Ommiad ruler Mervan II. Note the square minaret (minarets are usually round in Turkey!). Next are a dromedary or Arabian camel and a summer bed. Summer beds outside are still in use by some families that live in beehive houses.

The people seem to be mostly Arabian in this part of Turkey. As is usual in Turkey, they are very friendly.

[Kees Jan]

It is not just the people that look different in the area around Harran and Şanlıurfa. The mosques often have square minarets, typical of Arabian style mosques.

Şanlıurfa is a wonderful town and well known for some famous mosques. Many people go there on pilgrimage, not just Turkish and Kurdish people, also people from Iran. Below are some pics of the legendary Pool of Sacred Fish (Balıklıgöl) where Abraham/ Ibrahim was thrown into the fire by Nimrod. The pool is in the courtyard of the mosque of Halil-ur-Rahman, built by the Ayyubids in 1211. The carp (there are thousands of them) are sacred and fed by pilgrims.

The fifth picture is Eyup Mosque in Şanlıurfa, which is of more recent origin. The market was near this mosque.

Another autumn flowering bulb that can be found around Şanlıurfa (Biarum karduchorum and Crocus cancellatus ssp. damascenus both seem to be quite common in the limestone hills around the town) is the tiny Sternbergia colchiciflora, I suppose the most widespread of all the Sternbergia's.

Autumn is cotton harvest time, this picture was taken between Şanlıurfa and Diyarbakir... Whole families seem to be involved in this seasonal work. The often live in tents near the fields. Although the Turkish economy is rapidly growing, there seems to be a lot of poverty in eastern Turkey, mainly, I think, among the Kurdish people.

[Kees Jan]

Next is was back to the Lake Van area, althought the weather was still not good. Quite a bit of snow on a pass just south of this salt lake.

Quite by chance I photographed Akdamar Island. Its 10th century Armenian church is just visible, I only found this out when I zoomed into one of my pictures back home.

Next is the polygonal mausoleum on the cemetery of Gevas, built in 1335 for Halime Hatun, a female member of a local Seljuk noble family. Gevas is situated on the southern shore of Lake Van. The picture of the Seljuk cemetery is also at Gevas, as is the signpost to Iran if I remember correctly.

We headed to the extreme SE of the country, passing th2730m Guzeldere Gecidi in poor weather (it was snowing). Next morning we looked at the icicles
from our hotel room window in Başkale, after several power cuts in the evening and a rather cold night. This was winter rather than summer and did not primise much for our hunt for the endemic Crocus kotschyanus ssp. hakkariensis, named after Hakkari Province and little known in the wild and cultivation.

At midday, after a rainy morning, there was still much snow and fog in the mountains. We thought it may be too late in the season to find the endemic crocus. The only crocus found was the rather widespread C. cancellatus ssp. damascenus, tightly closed in these cold and wet conditions. This crocus was photographed a few kilometres west of the Iranian border. Happily weather conditions improved in the afternoon and we photographed one of the local shepherds.

[art600]

Very interesting trip - I have only travelled here in the Spring.

[Kees Jan]

The Sempervivum in the first post in this thread is now identified as Sempervivum brevipilum .

[Kees Jan]

After nearly a day hunting for Crocus kotschyanus ssp. hakkariensis we finally found it.

The next day we found another population, guarded by Hyla savignyi, Middle
Eastern tree frogs. The day after we even found a population in deciduous oak woodland.