Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum
Bulbs => Crocus => Topic started by: mark smyth on October 12, 2009, 07:50:09 PM
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Today while pollinating my Crocus I added some pulchellus Alba to speciosus Alba - no point maybe? I also got out The Crocus for for a quick read. Can crosses only happen between Crocus in the same family?
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Mark, only Crocus from the same series can be crossed.
But Brian Mathews classification is not up to date and a new
one is to be done in next time.
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Thanks Thomas. I said family when I did read series
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If your hybridising works Mark, don't you think you will be merely confusing the issue?
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I've only crossed pulchellus and speciosus so far. I'm quite confused anyway and admire how the big boys know the smallest detail of a species
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This is a cross that is fertile ... so much so that it occurs without our help in gardens and greenhouses!
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It seem that more and more species can interbred in cultivation where they met. Earlier I wrote about hybrid between autranii and gilanicus. Now between seedlings of C. karduchorum appear plants with vertically oriented tuber (typical for karduchorum and some kotschyanus subspecies), yellow blotches at base, creamy yellow and less deeply divided stigmatic branches. It shows that really in large collection artificial pollination and some isolation is very esential if you want to keep pure species. Here I show 2 pictures of typical C. karduchorum, 2 of supposed hybrids (between my seedlings) and pot with similar hybrids (not in my collection). Crocus speciosus and pulchellus hybridise very easy and seedlings mostly are fertile. Attached pictures are not of "show quality" - they are only informative.
Janis