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Lesley - David's comment related to C. cartwightianus albus hort. Most (or all) Dutch stocks of C. ligusticus have been virused for years but are sent out regardless. Dirk's plant, 'Millesimo', (posted above by Jim F) seems virus free. It appears very similar to the commercial stock, including the poorly developed anthers.
Gerry - lovely crocus but ?robertianus, All the forms I have grown have a very pronounced yellow throat ala sieberi which it often resembles (although with longer floral tube, Here is one from this week
Tony - I grovel! I must confess I had not looked closely at this plant which came from Pottertons a couple of years ago. Looking at a photo of a plant grown from JJA seed (which is not flowering this year), the throat is certainly yellow. What could this be I wonder? Thanks for pointing out my error.edit: I wonder about a form of C. speciosus? - a species I'm not familiar with. edit 2: This is the real C. robertianus from JJA seed (flowering last year).
Yes, I wondered about C. speciosus too or maybe C. serotinus although that is one of the earlier flowering plants here and only occasionally has darker veins. A fibrous tunic makes C. serotinus more easily confused with C. robertianus when dormant. C. speciosus corms should never be mistaken for C. robertianus.
Crocus speciosus allways has many-branched stigma.Crocus robertianus is very variable in color - from pure white to lighter or darker lilac, throat varie from light yellow to very deep yellow and I have (or had?) specimen strongly resembling atticus tricolor. If leaves are formed only in spring and tunic is coarsely reticulated - both most likely are robertianus.Janis
Resembles C. cartwrightianus x hadriaticus 'Purple Heart'.
Gerry,congratulation! Very lovely form Resembles C. cartwrightianus x hadriaticus 'Purple Heart'.
Gerry and Ron,there are two different 'Purple Heart' cultivars. The first is Janis C. cartwrightianus 'Purple Heart' and the second is C. hadriaticus 'Purple Heart' found and selected by Antoine Hoog. The latter is likely a cross between C. cartwrightianus and C. hadriaticus.When I saw Gerry's image I had immediately Janis 'Purple Heart' in mind and thought it was of hybrid origin, too.
My cartwrightianus Purple Heart isn't selected by me. I baught in in UK where I saw this form at some show in UK, but I gave name to it (at moment can't remember who gave it to me - too bad weather outside for going to greenhouse for label checking). By intensity of color it is close to C. mathewii best forms. Antoines 'Purple Heart' were named later and it was decided that most likely it is hybrid between hadriaticus and cartwrightianus. It is paler by throat colour. Still there are two clones included - one darker, another paler. I still didn't succeed to clean completely my stock from paler form. Yesterday dug out two more plants. Both are nice, but I prefair darker one.Janis