Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum
Bulbs => Bulbs General => Topic started by: Oron Peri on October 29, 2008, 04:55:22 PM
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Four species of Biarum are in flower at the moment :
Biarum angustatum
B. pyrami
B. bovei - on mountains above 900m
All three have wide East Mediterranean distribution.
B. auraniticum the only yellow colored, on the other hand is a very rare species that was thought to be extincted.
It was rediscovered in the mid 90s in the Golan Heights, this species is endemic to the Golan and the region of Jabel Druz in South Syria.
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Oron,
Thank you for the photos. I am a big fan of Biarum and have tried several species in pot culture over the years (with varied success). Anyone growing in pots that cares to share their technique?
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Carlo,
I grow a few species in pots including B. auraniticum, I find this Genera quite easy to grow the only problem seems to be Botrytis, if condition is too shady and humid.
Most of the Biarum are Mediterranean and so they need a long period of dry hot weather,
I never water them, practically 7 months without water.
As long as you keep them in a sunny hot spot they should be easy to grow., a few species are completely hardy, for sure B. bovei and B. auraniticum since they are high altitudes plants that get snow regularly.
I have found out that each tuber set flower every other year, and they can live for many years.
It is hard to collect seeds of most species since they mature underground.
Most of the species need soil rich in organic matter and so I add leaf mould.
For the low altitudes species i use sandy soil.
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Oron thanks for showing species I did not know they exist :o
I grow very few in the garden in a loamy soil - biggest problem here are cutworms - one destroyed last week a B.pyrami flower just one or two days before it should open... >:(
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biggest problem here are cutworms - one destroyed last week a B.pyrami flower just one or two days before it should open... >:(
Hans,
I get out to the garden at least twice a week with a torch for that purpose,
I can become a real exterminator, and with all my love to nature if they touch one of my favorite plants they would make a terrible end... >:(
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Oron,
Thank you for the photos. I am a big fan of Biarum and have tried several species in pot culture over the years (with varied success). Anyone growing in pots that cares to share their technique?
Oron that yellow one is quite stunning.
I grow several species from the Balkans, Turkey and Spain all in pots. It is too wet to grow them outside here. I repot each year in about July in a mixture of John Innes and extra grit using clay pots in a sand plunge. I water when the growth, usually in the form of flowers appear, and then keep them moist all winter and spring until they start to die down in about May .They do not need watering here during the winter as they stay moist and it avoids botrytis. I then keep them dry until growth reappears. In the recent mongraph on the genus which Giles Reed has lent me I see that Peter Boyce recommends feeding with tomato fertilizer at each watering something I am going to try. I do not keep them frost free and they have all proved hardy.I have a large arum collection and I am going to try this feeding method on those as well.
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I can't add anything to the culture discussion as I only have Biarum davisii and it doesn't flower well for me, not hot or dry enough I think, but I can certainly appreciate these lovely species. Thanks so much for the pictures Oron. The yellow is especially good. Does it start all yellow then take on the rusty shade as it ages or is this colour variation in different plants?
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The ironic thing is that I do fine with Amorphophallus...and especially A. obscurus, a tiny one that is as small or smaller than many of the Biarum. It sounds, Tony, as if yours are just slightly moist even during dormancy. Is this the case? I wonder if I've over-dried them?
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Tony
Thank you for the advise, I find Arums to be heavy feeders, you can almost hear them chewing..., and so i feed them at least 3 times during winter with compost that i add on the top soil. I think I am going to try also the tomato fertilizer.
Lesley,
most of the flowers are this lemony yellow color, often different shades of rusty ,pink color.
The spadix is always bright yellow.
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Excellent Biarums, none of which I grow unfortunately. I find them easy to grow here in pots, and all but davisii flower happily for me. Some are prolific and regular flowerers, while others are a bit more shy. As you can guess, we have no problem here providing the hot and dry bit over summer. ;D Like Lesley, I too am impressed in particular by that yellow, but all the others are delightful as well. Thanks so much for the pictures.
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B. ditschianum,end of summer :
(http://i74.servimg.com/u/f74/11/84/35/03/biarum10.jpg) (http://www.servimg.com/image_preview.php?i=337&u=11843503)
B. davisii :
(http://i44.servimg.com/u/f44/11/84/35/03/bd10.jpg) (http://www.servimg.com/image_preview.php?i=314&u=11843503)
B. marmarisense
(http://i74.servimg.com/u/f74/11/84/35/03/biarum11.jpg) (http://www.servimg.com/image_preview.php?i=338&u=11843503)
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THIS is why they are so high on my list of desirables! Just look at that ditschianum...I've been looking for it for a loooooong time. Fabulous job---they are beautiful!
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I have B. marmarisense, but I suspect it won't flower this year. :(
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that ditschianum is wonderful.
I have marmariense and davisii but neither have flowered this year. I have looked for marmariense the last two times in Turkey with no luck
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I have B. marmarisense, but I suspect it won't flower this year. :(
Antony,
I grow other Biarum species, but I have noticed that each bulb bloom every second year.
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Fred,
Wow!! :o That distichianum is a stunner. Never seen it before, and definitely one to get hold of as it is fascinating!! I grow the marmariense here, and theoretically davisii (although never flowered it). Thanks for the pics. :D
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Wonderful photos, everyone - please, more!
Biarum carduchorum, B. davisii, B. marmariense, B. tneuifolium, B. carratracense and B. zeleborii are the ones I grow - in a protected cold frame. A friend in the area successfully grows some of these outside in the garden.
It's a genus of interesting, small, tidy, eminently collectable plants for sure!
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I have B. marmarisense, but I suspect it won't flower this year. :(
Antony,
I grow other Biarum species, but I have noticed that each bulb bloom every second year.
Thanks Oron. I'm also having trouble getting Arum pictum to flower. Plenty of leaves but agin this year no flowers.
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Now this is a rare site: Biarum olivieri.
This morning 4am i went to the North part of the Negev desert in order to find this tiny thing.
It is known only from 3 sites in Egypt, Israel and Jordan.
It is in Bloom in early January, growing in firm sand, 20-30 mm of rain are enough to bring this sp. to flower it is so tiny and narrow that one think it is grass.
I'm afraid I missed the flowers this year since there were allready fruits in total i have counted 14 plants.
The photo of the flower is taken two years ago, notice the very thin and long black spadix.
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Great Oron !
I hope you'll be able to get some seeds !
If so,.......I'm very interested in ;D :)
fred
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I second that. I feel a desire for plants with curley leaves.
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My goodness, when I see the car key for scale, I see just how easy it would be to miss these little leaves!
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Oron, from what I can see in the pictures, it looks a bit like a very attenuated Biarum tenuifolium. Is it related to that species? Do the true flowers remain underground with only the spathe and spadix extending up into the air?
Two years ago I forgot to water my Biarum davisii enough; it bloomed with the spathe completely underground - I found it by accident when cleaning.
It's hard not to like the Biarum - they're cute, and their small size makes them so collectible! :)
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Jim,
Peter C. Boyce, in his new monograph of the genus Biarum [which i think is an eccelent reference!!!]
indicate that B. olivieri is allied to B. bovei, B. dispar and B. crispulum.
I agree with you that leaf resembles an attenuated B. tenuifolium or even B. angustatum that grows also in sands along the coast.
The real flower is usually just above ground but often half buried, but I can not answer if it is caused by the sand movement or a natural way to protect it from insects.