Crocus November 2007

[tonyg]

Franz - they all look like C pallasii to me and if they all came from the same location they are likely to be the same ssp, probably ssp pallasii.  I find this to be a very variable taxa from my mostly seed raised plants.  The relatively short red style branches have a very distinctive way of curving out from the middle of the flower, not flopping as in the C cartwrightianus that Kees Jan has posted.

Kees Jan - more pics please!  It looks like you had good weather although one fellow traveller has arrived home with more than just a good collection of pictures.   I hope to see some of Riks pics next week as I visit the Northampton AGS - hopefully his leg is mending well!

[I.S.]

  Franz your c. pallasii have narrow petals. In my region, They have quite broad petals. (W.TR) Tony's pages says thiny petals are sign for ssp. turcicus. If you remember from which region they are. I may tell more about from records.
  Kees! You can't avoid only with these nice pics..

[Thomas Huber]

Franz, the brighter flowers on photo 3+5 look like a form of asumaniae I have in my garden!
You should wait until the leaves appear: pallasii has 7-17 leaves, asumaniae 5-6!

Kees, wonderful photos from the wild - now we're all waiting for more!!!

[tonyg]

Good to hear Ibrahim's views on Franz C pallasii ... All my experience comes from cultivated plants - the local botanists and those with field experience are the most useful experts!  (And Ibrahim has checked his facts more carefully than I did )

[David Nicholson]

What a wonderful place this thread is for learning. Keep on posting you experts!

[Kees Jan]

Crocus laevigatus, photographed in SE Peloponnesos. In the populations I saw only a small proportion of the plants had feathering on the outside of the petals (see 2nd picture), which surprised me since this is quite often mentioned as a useful difference with boryi. The main flower differences with Crocus boryi are the small size and the star shape (in good weather), quite unlike goblet shaped boryi.

Tony: despite the leg injury my fellow traveller managed to see 8 different crocus species in flower in Attica and the Peloponnesos (and goulimyi in both subsp.)!

[Armin]

Franz and Kees, thank you for the great pics.
Never stop learning...

[mark smyth]

yes very nice. I have just over of £450 saved, in £2 coins, for a Greek or Turkish bulb trip. I'll hopefully have enough for spring but definitely for autumn

[David Shaw]

So nice to be at home on a sunny day when the crocus are so happy.
I love the saffrony bits in Crocus tournefortii.
Crocus goulimyi was in flower in the garden in the middle of last month but has only just opened under glass. Mind, the ones in the garden are still producing new flowers, wonderful.
This is a great potful of Crocus laevigatus. I got them from Tony a couple of years ago and don't believe that he would have sent me this many so they must be multiplying rapidly. I will try a few in the garden next year.
Interesting that Kees posted some pictures from the Peloponnes this afternoon and commented on the lack of feathering. Mine are beatifully feathered but it is difficult to photograph when they are fully open. I went to check on ID from Tony's Crocus page and note that he doesn't mention the feathering or use a picture to show it. Could it be a variable feature of the species?

[Kees Jan]

Hi David,

Yes, it's definitely variability within the species. Perhaps some populations (Crete?) have a much higher percentage of 'feathered' plants than the ones I found in the SE Peloponnese though. I think about 1 in 20 plants was feathered in the populations I found, no evidence of Crocus boryi in these populations though, although they are reported to grow together sometimes.

I'm attaching two pics of Crocus goulimyi. This population in SE Peloponnesos is intermediate between subspecies goulimyi and subspecies leucanthus.

[Lesley Cox]

I love the saffrony bits in Crocus tournefortii.

Looking at the enlarged picture David, I'm almost squirming as I imagine being tickled.

[mark smyth]

here are what I got at a local garden centre

[Kees Jan]

Here is goulimyi ssp. leucanthus in SE Pelopononnese

[Kees Jan]

I was thrilled to find C. mathewii in the wild recently. A rare beauty. Here are pics of the Crocus and its habitat. I'm not sure if this population has been published but I don't dare to mention the location on the internet after hearing what happened to the C. mathewii population at its type locality after it's publication as a new species...........................

[David Nicholson]

Great pictures Kees Jan.