crocus identification

[biodiversite]

Fine photo Thomas ! Well, I'll see with precision the leaves.

[udo]

Hello Bio,

your Crocus is possibly Crocus aerius, he growing with Crocus vallicola
in NE-Turkey.

[tonyg]

I too wonder about C aerius.  I have seen material from Gothenburg BG which was very differently coloured (pale with some stripes) but it is said that this taxa is sometimes confused with C biflorus ssp pulchricolor in cultivation.  C biflorus ssp pulchricolor is usually coloured quite similarly to your plant Bio - but the flower shape is subtly different.

[Anthony Darby]

It is now illegal to trade in wild tortoises. They are now bred and cost quite a bit. My tortoise is Scottish born and bred.

[Maggi Young]

Anthony wrote:It is now illegal to trade in wild tortoises.

Quite so, Anthony, it is illegal to trade in many things, sadly that is not enough to prevent many people from doing it. And while the illegal trade in plants, for instance, may be deplored, at least there is not the suffering that is inflicted on the wild animals and birds that are trapped and traded around the world.
I am delighted your tortoise is Scottish and I am pleased that there are people like Bio who are breeding such creatures legally to help the situation.


Now, if we can only address the plight of the native Haggis.......

[biodiversite]

Then, C. aerius was my first idea, but in my garden plants received as C. aerius are even not in buds...

For tortoises, they are 2 main problems :

- in the wild, the destruction of the biotope : it's a problem all over the world, in Morocco and in France too...

- in captivity, there is a great loose of biodiversity, as people breed without distinction different strains and possibles undescribed taxa of tortoises. For example, in France, there are still 2 different populations, one in Var and one in Corsica. Both are for science only Eurotestudo hermanni. Though, many people breed them one strain with the other, but science is very late... How to consider as the same taxon tortoises separated for thousand years at least in the case of an anthropic origin in Corsica, and millions years if not ? Moreover, there are some (tiny.. it's true) differences between the 2 : for example, males of the corsican strain have a trapezoïd shape, the varoise strain is ovale, etc. Nevertheless, even in France where their differences are known, we have numerous hybrids... And what to think about reproduction of E. hermanni of french origin in all other countries...
It's the same problem for tortoises from Maghreb : there is in Morocco nowadays 4 taxa described, and the reality is probably 7 or 8 different taxa, tortoises of Algeria are quasi unknown, etc. And all over Europe, they are usually crossed as "Testudo graeca"  ...

[David Shaw]

Tony Goode has an excellent site on the web describing and illustrating species crocus.
Does anyone know of anything similar for the hybrids and cultivars?

[Maggi Young]

Thomas is working on a book... we'll just have to be patient.... it will be worth the wait, I promise!

[David Shaw]

Yes please, may I order ours now

Thomas, are you listening? M

[Thomas Huber]

YES!!! 

[David Nicholson]

Thomas, I'm looking foreward to it.

[Thomas Huber]

You can be sure, it will need lots of time until I've finished.
The German version is 630 pages now, but I don't have
the time to put it in English 

[Maggi Young]

Friends, it may be quicker for us to learn German, it is not too difficult. Besides that project would be good for us!

[Thomas Huber]

Maggi, it might be easy for you as you have lived so many years in Germany!
But I think German is a very difficult language!
What if you do the translation for me   

[Maggi Young]

My dear Thomas, if only I felt my skill was sufficient for this task then I would gladly translate for you but I think you would rather that your most excellent work was understandable in German and English!    With me, there could be no guarantee of that.    I will work harder to improve, since I am out of practice, and who knows, perhaps we might work together ? I think there will be someone reading this who is more capable than I am, you may get a better offer?