Crocus trip to Crete from 20 -27 november 2011

[Maggi Young]

My dear Maggi ... a few weeks ago Kris and I were having fun on the VRV website trying to translate many paragraphs about 'drool' (don't ask) and that proved hard enough!!!!!   

  I know, I saw that....... I am a VRV member, of course!!

[ranunculus]

I'm not going to get away with this am I? 
Firstly, hair and heir are pronounced almost identically (perfectionists will protest at this, but never mind about them for the purposes of this explanation).
An 'heir apparent' is a legal term in the UK for someone who will inherit certain property even if another potential heir comes along.
My 'joke' (which I now bitterly regret  ) meant that you were the only one with a right to check for hairs even if another potential  volunteer came along.
See ... you are still completely confused.   

Of course you are my dear Maggi ... and you can probably speak Flemish like a native?

[Maggi Young]

Of course you are my dear Maggi ... and you can probably speak Flemish like a native?

You MUST be joking!

[krisderaeymaeker]

I'm not going to get away with this am I? 
Firstly, hair and heir are pronounced almost identically (perfectionists will protest at this, but never mind about them for the purposes of this explanation).
An 'heir apparent' is a legal term in the UK for someone who will inherit certain property even if another potential heir comes along.
My 'joke' (which I now bitterly regret  ) meant that you were the only one with a right to check for hairs even if another potential  volunteer came along.
See ... you are still completely confused.   
Of course you are my dear Maggi ... and you can probably speak Flemish like a native?

Cliff ,I maybe could not understand the plot as you do but I am able to understand things roughly ! 
Are we quit now ? 

[ranunculus]

Oh yes ... please!!   

[Janis Ruksans]

As I wrote earlier my autumn visit to Crete was too early and I saw crocuses only at single spot. Crocus was very strange. At first I named it boryi, although flowers were lilac but in cultivation it closed flowers in night. After corresponding with Brian Mathew we came to conclusion that it most likely is hybrid between laevigatus and tournefortii. Most confusing is 2nd picture (#3). It looks that both flowers comes out from same corm but they are completely different. As usually I collected only 3 corms, unfortunately all were lost last winter - frost was too hard.
Janis

[Janis Ruksans]

Few pictures of Cretan cartwrightianus received by me from Erich Pasche.
Janis

[Gerry Webster]

Interesting to see C. cartwrightianus from Crete. They appear indistinguishable from plants derived from a collection on Evvia (CEH613) in flower now.

[Janis Ruksans]

Here variability in cartwrightianus from Evvia (CEH613)
Janis

[krisderaeymaeker]

As I wrote earlier my autumn visit to Crete was too early and I saw crocuses only at single spot. Crocus was very strange. At first I named it boryi, although flowers were lilac but in cultivation it closed flowers in night. After corresponding with Brian Mathew we came to conclusion that it most likely is hybrid between laevigatus and tournefortii. Most confusing is 2nd picture (#3). It looks that both flowers comes out from same corm but they are completely different. As usually I collected only 3 corms, unfortunately all were lost last winter - frost was too hard.
Janis

Hmmm , maybe the plants shown by Janis looks much the same as the tournefortii I showed earlier..?Don't you think so...?
Could not see the details on the map but I think it is almost the same area we have been .. 

[krisderaeymaeker]

Few pictures of Cretan cartwrightianus received by me from Erich Pasche.
Janis

Very interesting .
Thanks for showing Janis , the only thing is .....I get maybe confused again ...   Except from the fact that the flowers stays open during night maybe the hairs in the throat are still of great importance ?

[ronm]

................... maybe the hairs in the throat are still of great importance ?

Or maybe they are all one big happy family, but a few are hairier in the throat than others 

[krisderaeymaeker]

Or maybe they are all one big happy family, but a few are hairier in the throat than others 

Oh yes ,that's another possibility Ron . Another explanation is that they are all cartwrightianus or all are oreocreticus ...Then  again we have the story of lumping and splitting.    But that's a discussion far to complicate for an ordinary lover of plants like me! But such matters has  my interest to and as say earlier , I am always happy to learn ...So it is a double feeling..
And sometimes I worry about such things and I am not happy that I not have the knowledge to find out such things .But that's me ....    

[ronm]

...........and I am not happy that I not have the knowledge to find out such things .But that's me ....

Me too Kris, 

But then ...... who does??

[daveyp1970]

Ron you took the words right out of my mouth