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Bulbs => Ian Young's Bulb Log - Feedback Forum => Topic started by: Pauli on September 23, 2009, 06:25:25 PM

Title: Bulb log 38 23/9/09
Post by: Pauli on September 23, 2009, 06:25:25 PM
Congratulations Ian,

your photos and your comments are as wonderful as ever.

But this time there was some extra surprise: one of the few recent pictures of something that is very close to the description of Sternbergia greuteriana -your plant has very long filaments, nearly as long as the perianth. Does this plant make stolons?

Herbert
Title: Re: Bulb log 38 23/9/09
Post by: Ian Y on September 23, 2009, 06:41:43 PM
Thank you Herbert for yout kind comments.

I have not observed any stolons on my Sternbergia greuteriana but I have not lifted the bulbs in growth.

It does make offsets which may form at the end of short stolons I will make a note to keep check out for stolons.

Title: Re: Bulb log 38 23/9/09
Post by: Gerry Webster on September 23, 2009, 09:37:55 PM
Ian - in their recent paper on Sternbergia, Ewan Gage & Paul Wikin argue that,  with respect to the characters previously used to distinguish S. lutea, S. sicula & S. greuteriana as separate taxa, variation is continuous. Consequently, the taxa cannot be maintained as distinct. I find their arguments as convincing as any arguments of this kind can be. I accept  that it might be useful to regard S. greuteriana (as represented in cultivation) as horticulturally distinct but I am persuaded that it cannot be regarded as botanically distinct.
Title: Re: Bulb log 38 23/9/09
Post by: Janis Ruksans on September 25, 2009, 06:23:14 PM
Ian,
I can agree that Sternbergia sicula and lutea are the same although my stocks of lutea allways suffer more in winter than siculas, but some of siculas suffer, too. So named "siculas" are allways more floriferous with me. Both are not growable outside here. At Monemvasia in Greece it was almost impossible to put some borderline between both.
But I can't accept merging of greuteriana in this complex - it looks very different by leaves, growing style. Possibly my stocks (3 or 4) are not sufficiently representive.
I never observed stolones in Sternbergias.
Janis
Title: Re: Bulb log 38 23/9/09
Post by: Gerry Webster on September 26, 2009, 07:15:58 PM
A couple of further thoughts on this topic.

On S. sicula & S. greuteriana,  see the recent post by Anthony Darby in the Sternbergia thread & the post in 2007 by Kees Jan on Sternbergias in Crete:
http://www.srgc.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=1026.0

Conversely; I have 2 forms of S. lutea (both flowered), 5 forms of S. sicula (3  flowered) & 1 form of S. greuteriana(flowered). On the basis of the floral & leaf characteristics of the plants which have flowered I might be inclined to believe that I have 6 different species. I think I would be wrong. 
Title: Re: Bulb log 38 23/9/09
Post by: Anthony Darby on September 27, 2009, 12:41:41 AM
Gerry, I suspect you may be able to reclassify them next year into 6 different species? ;D
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