Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum
Bulbs => Bulbs General => Topic started by: Darren on March 24, 2012, 06:18:22 PM
-
This was bought from Rannveig Wallis as 'Gynandriris sp from West of Urfa'
It is likely to be a form of G (M) sisyrinchium but I was struck by the size of the flowers - hence my thumb for scale.
-
That is very nice Darren. Any special requirements?
-
Just as well you included your thumb there, Darren, otherwise we'd have had no idea how diminutive that flower is. What a dainty flower, with a good colour.
-
My first year with this form Ron - previous experience with the species indicates the main requirement is a proper hot dry summer. It may be hardy but debatable if it would get warm and dry enough in the garden. Perhaps a bulb frame might work?
-
Thanks Darren :)
-
A little jewel in flower today [only for about 3 hours],
Moraea mediterranea [syn Gynandriris monophylla], it is only 6 cm tall.
A typical form from Crete and a form with two basal leaves from the Negev Desert.
Also Morea sisyrinchium forma Album which i have found two years ago on Mt. Hermon.
Sorry for the dark photos it is very hazy here at the moment.
-
Oron, am I understanding well this new nomenclature?
Moraea mediterranea = Gynandriris monophylla, a species with one leaf only- Crete, other Greek islands on the east Mediterranean (Middle East too?)
Moraea sisyrinchium = Gynandriris sisyrinchium, the species with two leaves, often coiled, widespread in all Mediterranean basin
-
I have several pots of Moraea huttonii grown from seed a few years back. They have never flowered but put on lots of leaf growth each year. Can I plant them out here in the W Midlands and so I just have to be patient and wait longer for flowers to appear?
-
Oron, am I understanding well this new nomenclature?
Moraea mediterranea = Gynandriris monophylla, a species with one leaf only- Crete, other Greek islands on the east Mediterranean (Middle East too?)
Moraea sisyrinchium = Gynandriris sisyrinchium, the species with two leaves, often coiled, widespread in all Mediterranean basin
Angelo,
Moraea mediterranea has one basal leaf and is distributed in N. Africa; Egypt & Libya, Sinai desert entering the Negev Desert and S. Jordan and north mainly in E. Crete.
It is a species of dry habitats.
M. sisyrnchium has two basal leaves and a hugh distribution from the Balearics, through South Europe, North Africa, Eastern Mediterranean to Iran and the Himalaya, it overlap the distribution of M. mediterranea blooming at the same time of the year only that M. mediterranea blooms from around 11 AM to 2PM and M. sisyrinchium from 3 PM to around 6 PM.
The form from the Negev with two basal leaves might be an intermediate form.
-
Oron,
the Moraea with one leaf only is present in western Sicily too and it's the plant originally described from Todaro as Moraea sicula in 1885, so this name should be the correct one, because Todaro recognized properly this plant to be a Moraea and his specific name sicula should have priority on mediterranea. After a long confusion with Iris sicula, which is totally a different plant, Ciferri and Giacomini in 1979 described again this plant as Iris todaroana. In any case I think the binomial proposed by Manning should be invalid, because there are at least two valid publicated names for this plant, in both genera and species.
-
Angelo,
I'm not a taxonomist and not sure why the accepted name at the moment is Moraea sisyrinchium, that includes M. sicula and Iris todaroana as part of its 33! synonyms [probably originated due to the extremely wide distribution].
I haven't seen the form with one leaf you describe from Sicily and can only think that might be that both species are present there to cause this confusion...?
-
Oron,
this is Moraea sicula, the species with one leaf. I missed the flower yesterday afternoon
-
This thread reminds me of a photo I took when on holiday in Sicily in 2010.
It ws taken at the end of April at a nature reserve on the south east corner of
Sicily, right on the top of the sea cliffs. There were lawns of these in flower.
I did find an alba form and if I find the photos of either, I'll post them,
Regards,
David
-
Angelo and David,
Thanks for showing these photos.
I have not seen the original description of Todaro, therefore i can not comment as for why it became a synonym of M. sisyrinchium rather than M. mediterranea.
However i do agree that the name M. sicula should have a priority in case it refers to M. mediterranea.
The species in the photos David shows here do seem to be M. mediterranea although i have not found records of it in Sicily, it may well be growing there for its vicinity to N. Africa.
It would be helpful if someone have a copy of the original description.
-
I know that many of us have had difficulty in pollinating moraea, iris and other irids- this blog post by Michael Mace from his "Growing Cool Plants" is tremendously useful -
http://growingcoolplants.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/how-to-pollinate-moraea-flowers.html (http://growingcoolplants.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/how-to-pollinate-moraea-flowers.html)
-
Oron, these are the Sicilian plants with one leaf. What do you think?
-
Very interesting to read this comments Angelo and Oron .
The best Moraea/Gymandris I did ever see was on Chios previous year .
This really fine specimen had very big flowers , it looks almost like a kind of juno ....
-
Oron, these are the Sicilian plants with one leaf. What do you think?
Angelo,
It is not easy to tell 100% from your photo but it does look more M. mediterranea then M. sisyrinchium.
M. sisyrinchium is a tiny species, usually less then 10 cm. Pronounced Yellow/orange patch on the falls.
A good sign is the time in which it blooms as i mentioned earlier, around 11am - 2pm for mediterranea and 3pm - 6pm fo sisyrnchium, unless it is a cloudy day and light level is low.
-
Two flowering here - first is from turkey - a large plant.
Second is very tiny from the Balearic Islands (with two leaves) - in its habitat about 10 cm high - habitat is now a parking place. :(
-
Thanks to all for the photos, now they story is more complicated than ever ! ::)
Oron, these Sicilian plants open surely at 3 pm, (photo was taken at 4 pm, but consider the legal time now) as well as the other native 'sisyrinchium', than now I don't know how to call.
Both have a well visible yellow signal, the Sicilian plants have one leaf, linear, thin and rather floppy, the native ones have two leaves, larger adn spirally twisted, laying on the ground. My native ones have not flowered yet, the Sicilian ones are probably ended, they grow just 1m apart, in the same position in full sun. Both are just 10cm tall.
Now, Darren, Kris and Hans have posted photos of plants without the yellow signal and I am happy that Hans put a photo of that Turkish plant, which I have never seen such a tall one ! I friend of mine got a couple of corms from a trade, labelled as M. sisyrinchium and are just the same of Hans, the plant are very tall and with well branched stems and rather large flowers too.
I have seen also several photos of wild plants from Sicily and Sardinia, showing also tall plants as well as short ones, but in Apulia I have always found very small plants