LEUCOJUM VERNUM CULTIVAR

johngrimshaw@tiscali.co.uk johngrimshaw@tiscali.co.uk
Tue, 14 Dec 2004 21:56:20 PST
I think it's safer to say that Leucojum vernum 'Gertrude Wister' is
multi-segmented, not double. It has extra segments inserted around the ovary
and as I understand it, occasionally has 'fused' flowers so that there is a
cleft through the united ovary, plus two sets of reproductive parts (rather
like Galanthus 'Mrs Thompson'). It was first written up in the RHS Journal
when it was a small, A5-sized volume, but as my copies are elsewhere I can't
immediately look it up.

In snowdrops there is a precise terminology to describe flower form, and
this should be extended to Leucojum and Acis  as more variation is
discovered in those genera. 'Double' implies extra segments in the centre of
the flower, creating a rosette. No doubles are yet known in Leucojum,
although multi-segmented flowers are not uncommon. One sometimes hears the
word double referring to two flowers on a scape, but this condition should
be known as 'twin-flowered.'

And for John Lonsdale, yes, bulbs from that source are 'Gertrude Wister'.

John Grimshaw






Dr John M. Grimshaw
Garden Manager, Colesbourne Gardens

Sycamore Cottage
Colesbourne
Nr Cheltenham
Gloucestershire GL53 9NP


Website: http://www.colesbournegardens.org.uk/

----- Original Message ----- 
From: <JFlintoff@aol.com>
To: <PBS@LISTS.IBIBLIO.ORG>
Sent: Wednesday, December 15, 2004 12:21 AM
Subject: [pbs] lEUCOJUM VERNUM CULTIVAR


> Jane
>
>     The cv 'Gertrude Wister' occurred in the garden of the eponymous lady
and is a double-flowered form.  GW was a noted plantsman and wife of the
famed John C Wister of Swarthmore College and its associated arboretum.
>
> Jerry John Flintoff


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