Gagea

[Oron Peri]

The early species of this Genus are starting to bloom at the moment.
This Genus is the hardiest to identify, there are many similar species with a wide distribution from Greece and Cyprus to turkey and Iran.
Many of the species can be distinguished only by checking the corms, form of roots or by the presence of bulbils.
First two species to flower here are G. dayana and G. chlorantha [ the only species here with rounded petals]

[ashley]

Oron thanks again for your great posts. 

Gagea is (another) one of my favourite genera but unfortunately also poorly represented on most seed lists

[Armin]

Oron,
very lovely. Gagea = overlooked treasures.

Ashley,
agree with you.

[David Nicholson]

Very nice indeed, I must try some of those.

[Oron Peri]

Going back to Gagea,
This is Gagea commutata, a common species in this region extands to Turkey and Iran,
in this area it is the largest species and i find it to be also the easiest to grow in a pot.
It is probably hardy, since it is growing also on Mt. Hermon.

[ashley]

Oron,

That's such a beauty

Do the green tips of the tepals revert to yellow as the flower ages, or are these slightly different forms?

[Gerdk]

Do the green tips of the tepals revert to yellow as the flower ages, or are these slightly different forms?

Or vice versa?
I found a Gagea here in Germany which had green flowers and perhaps was
yellow at the beginning.

Gerd

[Oron Peri]

All species  have this combination of yellow and green on different levels,
most start with green tips to become yellow and  green-radish as flower ages.
the exterior of the sepals is usually green and so it reflects often on the middle strip at the other side.
But it is is never a  all yellow as in the case of Sternbergia for example.

[gote]

Gagea gives me a bad concience.
I have any amount of minima and a fair amount of lutea growing in the grass and elsewhere.
Last years I promised to send bulbs so I potted some up to send them later when dormant - and could not find the pots again
To find them dormant in the soil is nearly impossible. They are so tiny.
Would those who want any from me please remind me again. preferably in April. I will give it another try.
The pics are lutea and minima.
Göte

[Rogan]

Gagea reminds me so much of some of our Hypoxidaceae, e.g. Hypoxis,Empodium and others, but I suppose the resemblance is only superficial...

Thanks for the lovely photos though!

[TC]

I came across this Gagea during the on-going scanning of my slides.  It was taken somewhere in the Akamis peninsula in Cyprus in January 1996

Gagea julae.

[Oron Peri]

Gote,

I think the Gagea on your first photo is G. fistulosa, it is quite easy to distinguish this species by its single, triangular leaf which is hollow.
Do you know the origin of your plant?

[TC]

All I know is that I took the picture in the Akamis peninsula in Cyprus in January 1996.
I used CollinHarper's "Mediterranean Wild Flowers" for identification.

Although no picture is shown of G. julae, it is described under reference 2211 - "sepals not more than 10mm long,with a broad greenish stripe on the outside.  Garrigue, on damp hill slopes, moist rock crevices.  Cyprus endemic. Flowering season February/April."
This was a tiny little flower.  I had to use a 60mm macro lens to get a decent picture.

G. fistulosa is described under 2105.  " stem hairless".Flowers 23-35mm. May/June.  Spain eastwards to Italy and Sicily.
This is a much larger plant than julae.

If you look at my picture, you will see that the stem is hairy.

G. fistulosa would appear to be wrong from location, flowering season, hairless stem and size.

I would stress that my knowledge is based on my I.D. book and I am not familiar with the species.  I had never even heard of it until we came across it in the wild.   

[gote]

It grows wild here in mid-Sweden Oron,
As far as I know, the closest localities for fistulosa would be 1000 km south of here.
The only Swedish one I could mistake it for, would be pratense and that one is not known from this area.
I am pretty sure about the name
Göte

[Oron Peri]

Tom, sorry for the confusion, I was referring to the photo Gote have posted.
Your Gagea is indeed G. guliae, an endemic species of Cyprus.

Gote, what you say is very intresting, if you can, please next time it flowers, cut a leaf horizontally to see if it is hollow.