Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum
Bulbs => Bulbs General => Topic started by: mark smyth on November 25, 2006, 02:24:52 PM
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With late colchicums now showing buds I thought it would be good to create a flowering now folder.
I bought some cupanii with collection numbers from Paul Christian this autumn. One was the plant with very narrow petals. This one VV.KRE.94 is white something that PC doesnt mention. Henrik liked the flowers
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Nice white.
Thanks for sharing :)
I am new to colchicums but got hold of some now for a 1£ each on the sale so I will see next autumn how my Colchicum autumnale is.
Kind regards
Joakim
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Another sign of our crazy winter:
Colchicum doerfleri
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By the way - my last posting was number 1000 of the new forum!!!!
Congratulations, Thomas! Lesley, we need a cake, please, quickly!! Maggi
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very nice Colchicum. My winter flowering Colchicums are now above ground with leaves and flowers well advanced. Hopefully I can take photos one day next week.
Great to see we are past 1000 posts already
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What disturbs me is that I've only been on here 6 days or so and I'm already up to 65 posts. At this rate my fingers will drop off!! :o
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Here is my first message on the new Forum. I hope I succeed.
Even here in Sweden is the winter getting to be a spring. Strange feeling to see these bulbs in flower in the darkness of December. We get a lot of attention from the media because of early spring, a sort of positive site affect.
Now some pictures of Colchicum brachyphyllum OS1033 and a with form OS1030. The third is a nice white Colchicum atticum collected by Karin and Jimmy Persson (Gothenburg)
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Hi Gerben, and greetings from East Lothian. I was in SW Turkey in early November and there were at least 8 species in flower then. Until recently I hadn't realised there were quite so many autumn and winter species of Colchicum. Perhaps you'd say a little more about these examples you post.
Cheers
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I have an amost white cupanii that caught they eye of Henrik when he was here last month
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I'm attaching some pics of Colchicum confusum, photographed on Mt Parnassos last September. This was a large population and the plants were quite variable - some had very narrow tepals. I'm also attaching a picture of the habitat (a polje).
Kees Jan van Zwienen, Netherlands
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Gerben,
I love that Colchicum brachyphyllum. It is a species I haven't come across before but I rather like it. I can see why it is named as such given the leaf staying sheathed around the flowers like a bract. Very nice. I wonder if that is in Australia yet? Definitely looks like one to keep an eye out for. Thanks so much for the pics (you too Kees)! 8)
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Thank you Dave. You're not the only one who doesn't realise that there are about 100 Colchicum species. 50 Spring and 50 Autumn flowering. Many of them look the same but there are small differences.
The Colchicum brachyphyllum is a spring flowering species from the south of Turkey and the middle East. The species has short leaves staying together around the small flowers as you see on the picture. They grow in wet meadows along riversides. We have five collection of this species. The first collections came to the garden in 1987 and were collected by Ole Sønderhousen. (OS1030, OS1033 and OS 1058)
The Colchicum atticum is more common. It's a white spring flowering species from the south of Bulgaria, Greece and western Turkey. Grows on dry and rocky places. Dave, I hope you are satisfied with this short lecture.
So Mark, Henrik couldn't keep his eyes in his pocket. He always finds the best plants.
Yes Paul it's a lovely species. Keep your eyes open, maybe one day....
Kees Jan, thank you for all the beautiful pictures from nature. The biotope pictures are very important for us who try the grow the plants. Bedankt!
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Gerben, which source do you use for Colchicum ID?
The best I have is Brian Mathews "The smaller bulbs"
but it's not the best in my opinion as it has no photos :(
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Gerben one day a plant will go to the botanics and reminds me I have to mail two plants for the collection. Maybe I should do so after Christmas. The white cupanii, with the faintest hint of pink, is the first Colchicum on this post.
I had a sneaky visit home this afternoon. My pot of C. kesselringii are flowering but like every other year they are very small
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Hi Thomas,
Forgot to congratulate you, sorry. :-[ GRATULIERE! :D
Here at the botanical garden we are very spoiled because Karin and Jimmy Persson are working here. Karin is a doctor in botany and specialized in the genus Tulipa and Colchicum. Her husband Jimmy, our first botanist, is specialized in Colchicum, Crocus and Fritillaria. This is the raison why we don't use Brain's book so much.
Mark, I'm looking forward to see this 'white' cupanii. It's a very nice plant.
In Gothenburg the first Iris persica and a reticulata Iris are in flower.
Ian! thank you for the nice picture of me you put in my profile.
A pleasure my friend.
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just brought in my Colchicum kesselringii to measure them. The largest is 3.5cm to the tip of the style
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Thanks, Gerben, for the details on the colchicum, just what I needed. Here's a couple of images of autumn ones from Antalya province. The first is C variegatum, this particular specimen in fragmented serpentinite (we also saw them on limestone). The second is C baytopiorum, at Termessos. The third was seen just outside of the town of Lymra, growing in crevices in limestone; not sure what to call this, some in the party thought stevenii, others that it seems near to pusillum. Comments appreciated.
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Three Colchicums from today. The late surge from C. autumnale 'Alboplenum', C. hungaricum 'Album' and C. kesselringii
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Mark and others,
I planted C. autumnale Album from a Dutch wholsale nursery last summer and they all appeared with double flowers a few months later, very similar to your autumnale 'Alboplenum'. Do you know if there are any other small, white Colchicum cultivars with double flowers around or can I be fairly sure that I grow this cultivar?
I'm attaching a few more Colchicum pics... This is C. parlatoris photographed in the Mani and Malea Peninsula's, southern Peloponnese. Although this is a local species it can be found in very large numbers in the Southern Peloponnese. It is quite closely related to cupanii and parlatoris but has yellow anthers and usually no leaves when in flower.
Kees Jan
Netherlands
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A few pics of two close relatives of C. parlatoris photographed in Greece. These are C. psaridis and cupanii. You can't really tell them apart unless you look at the bulbs, a rhizome like structure in psaridis and a 'normal' bulb in cupanii. There is no need to dig up wild plants though since psaridis is restricted to the Mani Peninsula and, as far as I know, the otherwise widespread cupanii does not grow there... The hairs on leaves of the C. psaridis picture are not really typical for the species.
Kees Jan
Netherlands
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Final pics for today, I think this Colchicum also belongs in the group of cupanii, parlatoris and psaridis...
These are pics from Crete and it is either C. cretense or pusillum, photographed at about 1100m just north of the Lasithi Plateau. It is interesting that some plants in this populations had leaves at flowering time while others did not... Can anyone explain me how to tell those two species apart? Any help will be much appreciated!
Kees Jan
Netherlands
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thanks very much Kees for the wonderful photos. My hairy leaved Colchicum cupani is identical to your C. psaridis. Your photos make me want to go to Peloponnese evem more
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Excellent pics Kees. I had great difficulty last autumn trying to tell psaridis and cupanii apart and thus had to investigate the underground bits. However, cupanii does grow in great numbers at Monemvassia, on the rock, along with Cyclamen graecum and Sternbergia sicula (if I remember correctly).
Mark, yes you should go to the Pelops. There is such a variety of autumn bulbs growing there, end October, early November seems to be a good time. You could even take in, dare I say, Galanthus regina-olgae in the Taygetos mountains..... No doubt spring is good too though I haven't ventured then as yet.
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Cochicum psaridis - underground
Needless to say this was covered up again after phographing!
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Dave I'm thinking of going in 2008. All my days off next year are used up. It's interesting how deep that Colchicum is. I was told to plant them with their noses on or just below the surface
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I'm attaching a C. parlatoris picture that shows the new leaves. Although these are normally absent when flowering you will occasionally find plants with leaves just emerging which makes identification easier.
The other Colchicum is sfikasianum, which seems to be quite rare on the Mani peninsula but grows in very large numbers on the Malea Peninsula.
Dave, interesting that cupanii also grows on Monemvasia, did you find any Crocus hadriaticus ssp. parnonicus there? It is reported from Monemvasia but I was there too early. The only place where I found cupanii in the Peloponnese is Mount Didimo, 40km east of Nafplio. By the way, C. cupanii was very small in the Didimo population, maybe because of the altitude (about 1000m). It just started to flower when I was there in early October.
Kees Jan van Zwienen
Netherlands
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I think your Colchicum cretense looks about right Kees Jan. Here is my plant, but it survived not the winter two years ago. Thank you for all the beautiful pictures from nature.
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Kees. I've just checked my field notes and note that we also found a few cupanii near the roadside a few kms on the approach to Monemvasia from Gythio, I guess at no great altitude. No, I have no record, nor recollection (mind you my memory these days is not reliable - failing disk space no wonder??), of seeing Crocus hadriaticus on the rock, just Crocus goulimyi in the wonderful pale lilac form that is seen at Sikea. Paul Krause, in his article in the AGS bulletin (vol 72 no 4, p 367) on autumn bulbs from the Pelops doesn't mention C hadriaticus on Monemvasia, either. By the way, the Sternbergia was lutea, not sicula - my apologies (what did I say about those little grey cells.....).
Mark, yes we also examined the underground bits of several colchicum this year in Antalya and all were well down in the red earth. They seem to like this environment, though some species like C baytopioum and the aff pusillum I showed earlier in this thread were seen in crevices where there can't be much of anything to grow in?? apart from perhaps a little decaying vegetation.
Attached is another colchicum from the Pelops, C lingulatum, from just north of Lambokambos.
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Thanks for these "wild" pix, everyone... it is great to see the plants at home. Mark, about the only bulb we would ever plant with its nose at, or even through the ground would be the like of Nerines, who hate to be underground. Just about all the others like to be down deep and cool/cosy, depending on the weather!
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Dave. I'm attaching a picture of an information board near the bridge to Monemvasia. According to this not only Crocus goulimyi grows on Monemvasia but also C. hadriaticus ssp. parnonicus, C. laevigatus and C. niveus. I did not see any of these myself on the island though since early October seems to be a bit too early to find croci in flower at low altitude.
Nice to see Colchicum lingulatum in the wild. It's a species that I would like to see one day. When was it in flower? Is it quite rare?
Franz, I had a look in 'Flowers of Crete' by Fielding, Turland and Mathew (2004). Colchicum cretense apparently replaces C. pusillum at high altitude. It is mainly found between 1200-2300m and has apparently slightly larger anthers, which are dark rather than yellow. These dark anthers "seem to be a constant feature".
It is interesting that both yellow and dark anther colours occur in your picture, this also seems to be the case with some of the populations that I photographed in the wild in Crete. Most of my Colchicum pictures from Crete have yellow anthers though, even on plants photographed at 'high altitude'. I'm not quite convinced that cretense is really distinct but I did not make field notes of anther colour and size. Whatever the correct name these are nice plants. I was very surprised by the size of these Cretan colchicums since I did not realise colchicums could be that small! :)
Kees Jan
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Kees, thanks for this. I don't recall seeing the board in 2005 when I was there, nor seeing the other species at Monemvasia. However, did see all the species mentioned during my visit to the Pelops in latest October/first few days of November. This seems to be the optimum time for seeing these and even some of the early winter species, Crocus speciosus ssp melantherus, Crocus boryi along with Narcissus tazetta and just a few Anemone coronaria; C goulimyi and C g leucanthos were at their glorious best, with the abandoned olive groves simply covered, what a marvellous sight. I understand that a party that went the same week this year saw much the same as we did last year. Onlt saw just a few Colchicum lingulatum, that one the only one worth a photo in the pouring rain. Might be that this was the start of their period; no idea about rarity though.
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Thank you Kees Jan for the beautiful nature pictures.
Dave, according to Jimmy are you right about the stevenii.
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Many thanks Gerben, we were terribly confused by this time!!!!
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Hi! every ones who are in colchiums thread.
I didn't know that there were so beatifull things in this corner too. I should to visite more often.
I would like to attach two pictures of my which has taken last week in sw Turkey. If some one could help me to nameing them. I would be happy.....!
thanks to everybody.
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Hi Ibrahim,
I think the first picture is one of the species in the cupanii group because the leaves are present at flowering time (often the case in this group), the straight style and the absence of tessellation in the tepals. C. cupanii itself does not seem to be reported from Turkey but I would expect that there are several related species in your country. I think pusillum and triphyllum are Turkish examples of this group but there are probably more. I don’t think it’s pusillum though because the leaves in your plant are much wider and I think triphyllum is supposed to flower in February-April. Did your plant only had two leaves?
The second species reminds me of C. boissieri, which I know as a mountain species in Greece but it’s also reported from Turkey. This species has a rhizome like underground storage organ, often spreading tepals, more or less straight white styles and yellow anthers.
The boissieri plants I photographed in Greece did not display the clear yellow zones at the base of the filaments that are present in your picture though. They also sometimes had a white line dividing each tepal in two and occasionally the tepals were very slightly tessellated (chequered).
Although your plant is clearly somewhat similar to C. boissieri it may very well be C. baytopiorum, which is an endemic species from Turkey. Dave showed us a picture of this species earlier in this thread. I found several other pics on the internet and the plants in all these pictures seem to be very similar to the plant in your photograph, including the yellow zones at the base of the filaments. Here are the links:
http://www.bulbsociety.org/GALLERY_OF_THE_WORLDS_BULBS/GRAPHICS/Colchicum/Colchicum_baytopiorum/Colchicum_baytopiorum.html
http://www.pc-nijssen.nl/shop/info.php?code=10
http://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/files/Colchicum/Colchicum_baytopiorum_JMW.jpg
http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/files/Colchicum/Colchicum_baytopiorum_AT.jpg
http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/files/Colchicum/Colchicum_baytopiorum_AT6.jpg
http://www.edgewoodgardens.net/Plants_Album/Colchicaceae/Colchicum/slides/Colchicum%20baytopiorum%200002.html
http://www.hillkeep.ca/images/H.Colchicum_baytopiorum_993-068x.jpg
Recently Colchicum chlorobasis, a species endemic to southern Turkey, was described. According to an abstract from the paper in which it was described it differs from boissieri ”mainly in having a larger, more rounded corm with only short lobes, browner more evanescent tunics projecting along the cataphyll, and more leaves. Both have greenish filament bases.”
Apparently baytopiorum is not only somewhat similar too boissieri and chlorobasis but also near sieheanum. You might like to order the original paper which has distribution maps, a key and illustrations. This should enable you to distinghuish these four species. I think it’s available from the following site: http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=435423
Could you tell us a bit more about where you found these plants (habitat, altitude)?
It’s nice to see Colchicum pics from Turkey! :) Is the southwest the best part of the country for autumn bulbs?
Kees Jan
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Ibrahim
I have attached an image of C boissieri, taken in Antalya in November this year. Another character perhaps worth considering with the two species that Kees suggests is the growth habit. C baytopiorum is typically forms a number of flowers and ?bulbs growing close together. In contrast, C boissieri tends to form single almost straight lines of 3 maybe 4 single flowers, so typical of the group of colchicums that form underground rhizom-like structures (as C psaridis, illustrated earlier).
Great to see these images.
Dave
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Hi Kees!
Thank you very much for your interest. Yes. my secend one should be c baytopiorum as Dave confirmation
too. I have discovered that under the some kinds of oaks mostly in shadow sides with big amount very
close to each ather. Altıtute was around 850 m. There was no flowers on. All around was covered by two or three large green leaves It was left only one flower on, that was it. looks very simmiler as link down.
http://www.edgewoodgardens.net/Plants_Album/Colchicaceae/Colchicum/slides/Colchicum%20baytopiorum%200002.html
For the first picture flowers looks like c cupanii but leaves are more different usualy with four or three
leaves and that one was 400 m altitute, roky, open slope and suny side of the hill.
I'm posting a few photos more to help you for identification. the last photo is way-out no leaves, thiny and
darker petals. All of this photos has taken in Antalya.
Best wishes....
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Hi Ibrahim,
I did not realise that your plant had leaves when it was in flower and this should rule out C. boissieri, it's actually one of the most obvious differences :). Although several of the baytopiorum pics do not show leaves I have never heard of (or seen) leaves on flowering plants of C. boissieri.
It's interesting that presence or absence of leaves in some species of autumn bulbs seems to depend to some degree on the weather: there are species that have leaves when they are in flower as long as there is sufficient moisture (early rains) but which flower before the production of leaves when there is not enough moisture (I suppose Cyclamen graecum is a good example). Also several species flower for many weeks and gradually produce leaves during this time (perhaps also due to the fact that temperatures are gradually dropping as autumn advances?).
I'm attaching some boissieri pics from Greece, photographed on the lower slopes of Mount Giona.
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I'm not a Colchicum specialist and will ask Jimmy and Karin if they could take a look at the beautiful Colchicum pictures you all put on the forum.
Today I made some pictures of Colchicum's in flower in our bulb house.
Starting with Colchicum doerfleri from the former Yugoslavia the second is Colchicum serpentinum from Turkye, Nigde followed by Colchicum hungaricum and jolantae. The last one is one of the species we collected in Zagros Mts. in Iran, Colchicum varians.
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all very nice. Gerben thanks for the photos
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Thank you very much for showing us your rare Colchicums. Gerben I am happy to see them.
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Thanks for your pictures Gerben.
I'm attaching another Colchicum, photographed in Crete: Colchicum macrophyllum. I photographed this in the SW foothills of the Dikti Mts. One of the pics shows the wide leaves from the previous growing season...
Kees Jan
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here is a new one for me but they flowers dont look happy. Maybe i should grow my colchicums in the troughs at the front of the house which has better light. Colchicum sfikasianum follwed by what was bought as hungaricum 'Album' but looking a bit like trigynum
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Mark. If your 'C hungaricum' is really C. trigynum the 'tube' will be divided all the way down, not a solid tube.
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Hi Mark,
Thanks for your pictures. I don't think your C. sfikasianum is true to name though. I'm attaching some pics of this Colchicum from the wild and it is a very different plant. I took these pics on October 4th this year. The flowers are rather pale in the wild (although somewhat variable) and always tesselated (chequered). C. sfikasisanum is a very distinct species once you have seen it.
By the way, "Scottish Rock" members might be interested to know that this Colchicum was described as new to science in "The Rock Garden"!!! (Kit Tan & G. Iatrou, June 1995). Colchicum psaridis is also discussed in this article. Both are endemic to Greece and both are quite local in the southern Peloponnese.
I can't help you with the correct name for you sfikasianum picture ???.
Kees Jan
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And here is another Colchicum that needs a name... This was photographed on Mount Ossa, a mountain just south of Mt. Olympus. It is clearly in the group of graecum, confusum, parnassicum and autumnale (style bended near the top, yellow anthers). C. haynaldii is also in this group and its distribution in Greece seems to make it a likely canditate for the Mt. Ossa plants... I find it very difficult to identify these species though, they are so similar and the absence of leaves does not help!
Kees Jan
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Kees what do you use to know so much about Colchicums?
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Hi Mark,
I know a few of the Greek species quite well but I can't say I know much of this complicated genus! Here are some books and papers that are particularly useful:
-Arne Strid & Kit Tan, Mountain Flora of Greece Volume 2, 1991
-Kit Tan & G. Iatrou, Endemic Plants of Greece – The Peloponnese, 2001 (This is a wonderful book!! Very nice illustrations, good descriptions, distribution maps...)
-Kit Tan & G. Iatrou, “A new Colchicum from the southern Peloponnese”, The Rock Garden, June 1995
-Karin Persson, “New and revised species of Colchicum from the Balkan Peninsula”, Plant Systematics and Evolution 217, 1999
-Karin Persson, “Comments on some tessellated Colchicum species in the East Mediterranean area”, Candollea 53, 1988
-Fielding, Turland, Mathew, Flowers of Crete, 2005
There are also brief descriptions in the AGS Encyclopaedia of Alpines and in Autumn Bulbs by Rod Leeds.
I'm always interested in more information since it's quite a challenge to obtain good descriptions etc. of Colchicums.
Kees Jan
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Kees Jan, what a useful post... this booklist will help a lot of people. Thank you!
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I'm going to buy one. What one is your most used?
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I would particularly recommend Wild Flowers of Greece: The Peloponnese, although this is limited to species that grow in the Peloponnese and which are not found outside Greece. It's particularly good for Greek autumn bulbs.
As far as colchicums are concerned it has colour drawings of peloponnesiacum, psaridis and pulchellum. Three other species (graecum, sfikasianum and parlatoris) are described, there are distribution maps of all 6 species. (This is only about 20% of Greek Colchicums though. There is just not a single publication I know of that covers much more species in detail, just a rather long list of publications that describe a few... I think there are about 30 species in Greece and another 30 or so in Turkey (and these are mainly species that don't grow in Greece I think). You will be pleased to know that this book also includes nice drawings of Galanthus reginae-olgae ssp. reginae-olgae and ssp. vernalis!
The other book I would recommend is Flowers of Crete, very good for autumn bulbs and very many nice pics! It is however limited to the five species of Colchicum that grow in Crete. Of these five species one (C. cousturieri) might not even be distinct enough from cupanii to be regarded as a proper species.
Volume II of the Mountain Flora of Greece deals with all the Monocots that grow in the Greek Mountains. It has good descriptions and some line drawings, no colour illustrations though and it does not contain the species of the lowlands and fooothills.
I intend to visit Turkey in autumn 2007 to see some more autumn bulbs. Does anyone know of books, publications or checklists that might be useful? Has anyone access to the relevant volume of the Flora of Turkey?
Kees Jan
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looking today I can confirm my Colchicum sfikasianum is showing tesselation and the hungaricum 'Album' with the pink base isnt trigynum. C. h. 'Velebit Star' is all pink. Maybe Gerben can ask one of his collegues about it.
Because we are about to be hit by two storms in a row I dont see any new photos of these two over the nest few days
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Kees Jan,
I would recommend Brian Mathew & Turhan Baytop The Bulbous Plants of Turkey. It has good descriptions and 120 coloured photographs.
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Thanks Franz!! :) I hope it's still available.
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at £75 to £200 it musnt be available. Brian should relaunch his bookshttp://www.amazon.co.uk/Bulbous-Plants-Turkey-Brian-Mathew/dp/0713445173/sr=11-1/qid=1167410400/ref=sr_11_1/203-9567606-0183160 (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bulbous-Plants-Turkey-Brian-Mathew/dp/0713445173/sr=11-1/qid=1167410400/ref=sr_11_1/203-9567606-0183160)
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The Bulbous Plants of Turkey: An Illustrated Guide to the Bulbous Petaloid Monocotyledons of Turkey by Brian Mathew and Turham Baytop.
Some current prices:-
from www.BookFinder.com 4 books from different USA based suppliers at prices from £62.82 to £70.19 including shipping costs.
from 1 UK based supplier £93.35 including shipping
from Abe books 1 USA based suppliet £65.60 plus shipping
1 UK based suppier £90 plus £3.35 shipping
There must be a viable market for the original publisher to re-print?
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I bought the book around £ 17,50 in the year 1986
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I think back to when I was studying Economics, and the effects of the Law of Supply and Demand
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Oops... That's a bit expensive for 148 pages published in 1984, perhaps I will wait for a modern version. :( ???
By the way, 5 species of Colchicum and Merendera are described and nicely illustrated in Vojtech's brand new book "The Caucasus and its Flowers".
It's interesting that only 1 of these 5 colchicums sl. flowers in autumn while 4 out of 6 Caucasian crocuses flower in autumn... Not a region that is particularly rich in autumn species though. Is eastern Turkey, being situated "near" the Caucasus, also quite poor for autumn bulbs compared with Greece and western Turkey??
Kees Jan
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Ah, David, those farway student days, long before families and gardens!
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I had hair, boundless energy!!, could drink anyone under the table as long as they were paying, and still didn't have money. ;D
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Hello
I would like to ask if anyone knows of Colchicum autumnale f. oec. vernum. It is a form which flowers in spring. Last year in March just as the snow was melting, I found it flowering in Romania, near Brasov. Does anyone have any information on this form, if it is cultivated, its taxonomic status, etc. The Romanian Flora which helped me in identifying it is rather old (1966).
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Hi Razvan,
I have never heard of it. Could it possibly be Bulbocodium vernum (syn. Colchicum vernum)? Some nice pics at:
http://www.florealpes.com/fiche_bulbocode.php
http://flora.nhm-wien.ac.at/Seiten-Arten/Colchicum-vernum.htm
I suppose Bulbocodium vernum occurs in Romania since http://www.odysseybulbs.com/bulbvernlge.jpg says its distribution ranges "from the Pyrenees to the Carpathians". There is also a related species, B. versicolor that grows in Hungary and some adjacent countries. http://pensiunituristice.com/ema_catalog_produse-2715-Turism-308-Cluj_Napoca-11-Orase-PensiuniTuristice.com.html seems to indicate that B. vernum occurs near Brasov although I'm not quite sure since I can't actually read it ???.
C. autumnale var. vernum is mentioned at http://www.springerlink.com/content/v74268397qm3q71x/ but this is just a reference to a very old issue of Plant Systematics and Evolution, Volume 48, Number 3 / March, 1898. Since this and The Romanian Flora are quite old I would not be surprised if the plant is B. vernum, which is known to be a snow melt plant.
The tepals in Bulbocodium are separate, unlike in C. autumnale where they are fused in the tube. Do you have any pictures of this plant?
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This is one of mine flowering last March
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Hello
No, it is not Bulbocodium vernum. I also searched the net and found this sinonimity, but I know Bulbocodium versicolor which grows about 500 m from my house and garden. I am talking of a real Colchicum autumnale (or something very similar to it) but which flowers in early spring. As I am working at the herbarium of the Botanical Garden in Cluj I also cheked here for plants of this form and found one which was flowering in May, and which is classified as autumnale. I also found at the library here the article of Karin Persson on Colchicum in the Balkans, but she does not mention flowering at such an early stage in the year. I have some pictures, but they are stored on my harddisk at home. Sadly my computer is now damaged and I cannot access them.
Razvan
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I am getting confused, again.
How can a plant have autumnale in its name and be spring flowering?
I must assume that autumnale does not mean autumn?
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Autumnale does mean autumn flowering
Vernum means spring flowering
Huh!
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Razvan,
Did the plants you photographed had leaves while flowering? And did the herbarium specimen that was collected in flower in May had leaves?
I suppose normal C. autumnale flowers well before any leaves develop. Is there also "normal" autumnale in the area?
Any chance of uploading a digital picture of the herbarium sheet? That would be very interesting. :)
Some "autumn" species like Crocus laevigatus and Galanthus reginae-olgae have a very long flowering period (C. laevigatus October-March (April)). In the case of the Galanthus the "spring" flowering form is given taxonomic recognition. An example of an autumn subspecies of a spring Crocus is C. biflorus ssp. melantherus.
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Hello
The plants in the field and the herbarium sheet have no leaves. Also the bulb is caracteristic of Colchicum not of Bulbocodium.
I was curios if plants in cultivation of this variety flower each year at the same time (spring.)
Razvan
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Here's two pics of Colchicum minutum. One after the mice got to it and the other plant in the pot.
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I have something similar in flower with out a label. In one of my troughs is C. cretense. The second shot was taken with the aid of a shaving mirror to reflect the sun light behind a stone
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On reflection the second picture looks better :D
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I thought Colchicum cretense flowered in October/November?
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very funny, David.
Anthony that's what it was bought as. I have photographed it before now so I comment
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Cretense should have brown anthers.
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Colchicum cretense is found in rocky and stony slopes 1200 – 2300 m., on limestone. Flowering without leaves in late September, October, and November, at high altitudes occasionally with leaves in spring.
My plant flowered in October
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Franz, I must take this chance to say thank you to you for your support of this forum. You have such experience and expertise to share and it is so good to see your beautiful photographs, not just for their beauty but for how much they can show us about these plants. Thank you!
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any input for the ID would be great
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Thanks, I am happy to help Maggi
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Hi Mark,
Colchicum cretense and pusillum are very similar in the wild in Crete. There are some pictures from the wild on page 2 of this thread. Please note that Franz Hadacek's picture seems to have dark anthers on one plant and yellow anthers on the other. I think I have seen plants with yellow anthers at high altitude, this is somewhat unusual since pusillum is supposed to have yellow anthers but is also supposed to be a lowland plant.
The following info is from "Flowers of Crete"by Fielding, Turland and Mathew....
Dark stamens seem to be a constant feature in cretense. The anthers of cretense are supposed to be 2.5-4.5 mmm and 1.5-3mmm in pusillium. Colchicum cretense flowers in autumn but has been seen in flower in May. Cretense is a mountain species.
Perhaps the anther size enables you to identify your plants.
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I think to classify some Greek Colchicum is sometimes not easy.
Arne Strid writes in his book ‘MOUNTAIN FLORA OF GREECE ‘following over Colchicum cretense: anthers yellowish grey, brownish grey or dark violet-grey.
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G'day, here's coming a begging question!
Our local group (in the Dandenongs, not Central Victoria) is doing a group discussion on Colchicum next month and I wonder if anyone who has pics of different Colchicums would be willing to let us use them for a PowerPoint presentation.
Please reply to me privately, any cultural notes would also be appreciated but we'll probably scour the Forum for notes.
thanks!
fermi
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sorry Fermi I've just read this. I suppose it's way too late of an offer?
Supplied as Colchicum cupani var pulverulentum and obviously a Merendera. Outside in a trough Colchicum minutum, a plant I thought I didnt have, is running about nicely