Crocus November 2007

[I.S.]

   I am glad to see new croconats on forum.
Dominique It seemms you have lots of  experiences to share.

[dominique]

Hi Paul
I like very much this form of Crocus laevigatus wich is early flowering for the species, fifteen days before an other more classic and Crocus laevigatus Albus and one month before Crocus laevigatus "Fontenayii". I'm glad to read australian news because I collectionne too the genus Acacia and your country is very representative of these trees.

[dominique]

   I am glad to see new croconats on forum.
Dominique It seemms you have lots of  experiences to share.

Ibrahim
I love Crocus and bulbs since 30 years ago but seriously 15 and there is a lot of species I have not. What a drama !  by exemple C scharojanii, vallicola, pelistericus, caspius, nevadensis, carpetanus, true olivieri, and so for Colchicum too. Year after year I progress and your country is ideal for observe these loving flowers. Thank you

[mark smyth]

here are a couple more from Dominique
C. laevigatus fortunei
C. palassii

[DaveM]

A few crocus for you all - from southern Turkey - taken early November.

Crocus cancellatus ssp damascenus recorded from a locality just west of Gaziantep

Crocus cancellatus ssp cancellatus occurs generally around gaziantep and south to Antakya

[DaveM]

Crocus pallasii ssp turcicus seems to like very dry areas, quite a common plant just west of Gaziantep, but also present in the Kilis area, near to the Syrian border.

[DaveM]

And finally, the fabulous Crocus kotschyanus ssp kotschyanus

This species is quite widespread around Gaziantep, south to Antakya and in the Eastern Taurus, north of Adana. Seems to like ploughed fields!

[Maggi Young]

Mark, thank you for your continued assistance to Dominique! It would besad for us to miss his pix!

David, I just love to see these wonderful flowers looking so good in their home, happy in the sunshine... they never look so good in Scotland, I'm afraid. The shots here and in the Colchicum pages are really making our mouths water!

[DaveM]

Thanks, Maggi, pleased that you're enjoying the pix. There are some splendiferous sites out there and I really enjoy reliving the experience through posting. I've learnt a lot through this latest trip. This area of Turkey is extremely dry and they had had no rain since last spring until the day of rain during our trip in early November, yet we saw all the species of colchicum and crocus we had expected to see. None of the species had leaves with the flowers. Also, we had cause to expose the corms/bulbs of some species in order to aid/confirm identification and none had roots (all were covered up/replanted, needless to say.....). So, the autumn rains cannot be the trigger to flowering in these cases......... Furthermore, many of the species were thriving in cultivated fields - indeed some of the best sites - some of the bulbs particularly of the colchicums are quite deep and may be below plough depth, but for others ploughing in early autumn soon after harvest only serves to redistribute the bulbs.
Dave

[Maggi Young]

With Colchicum in your fields you'd need to be very careful about what you were getting when you harvest your crop, wouldn't you? Risky business , that 

The lack of rain but growth of the flower spikes without roots is an interesting phenomenon of Colchicum, isn't it? Just shows you that they can flower like this in the wild and not just when stuck in a polybag in a garden centre     As you say, no storms to trigger this growth.... be great to find out just WHEN the roots do begin... a next project for you out there, David ??

[DaveM]

Yes, good job all the fields were of wheat/barley - no real danger of a dose of colchicine there!
I was aware of the colchicum's ability to flower without roots - I've bought a few bulbs in my time from nurseries with well advanced flower spikes. But I didn't know the same could be true of crocus. One never stops learning in this game.
It would be fabulous to return to the Eastern Taurus and Gaziantep/Antakya area which is said to be really rich in early spring crocus around late february. By then though most of the autumn species surely will have leaves..... won't they???

Dave

[Maggi Young]

I may have crossed a few wires, here...   I  somehow thought the fields had colchicum in, not crocus... though, right enough, it would still be risky if there WERE colchicum! 
As far as I know, while Crocus will flower "dry" as it were, they do try to put roots out at the same time... if it is too dry and they are out of the ground altogether, then those roots will wither pretty quickly.

[mark smyth]

Dave who did you travel with?

[tonyg]

Great pics Dave - if you are planning a spring trip do count me in.  I must to go and see crocus in the wild for myself and to go with a field expert would be a huge advantage. 

Interesting that crocus kotschyanus thrives(?) in culitvated land. As it often makes many small rice grain cormlets populations of this taxa would survive disturbance better than most crocuses

[Paul T]

Dave,

That second pic of Crocus pallasii ssp turcicus is the most stunning striping.  Wow!!

Dominique,

Interesting that that particular one is so early.  Always good to extend the season of a species, so definitely worthwhile growing it.  To have it a bit distinctive makes it even better!!    Here, laevigatus can start flowering from the beginning of March to the beginning of May.  Not quite sure why there is so much difference, but some years the clump starts at one time, other years another.  Not yet been able to make a distinct link to rain or temperatures.... it just seems to be dependant on how they're feeling that year. 

If there are particular Acacia that you are trying to find then drop me an email or PM, and maybe I can find somewhere you can source seed from.  I am not heavily into natives, but I do know a few people around who might know of seed sources.  Worth thinking about anyway, but I certainly can't guarantee that I can find things.