Loss of suppliers

Michael Mace mikemace@att.net
Sun, 19 Sep 2010 15:51:28 PDT
Dennis wrote:

>> Seems we got more seed suppliers than ever before.

Not to be disrespectful back, but my experience is different.  The thing
that touched off my note was the several weeks I spent researching the
suppliers list for the wiki.  I was surprised that I couldn't find a lot of
the seeds that I could easily obtain 15 years ago.  The supply of bulbs was
about the same, but in my opinion the availability of seeds had dropped a
lot, especially in the western hemisphere.

Before I did the research, I had the same belief as you, that new online
commerce systems had increased the availability of things.  I'm sincerely
happy for you that you can find lots of Passifloras.  But in the case of
species bulb seed, diversity of suppliers doesn't seem to mean diversity of
supplies.  The selection of species bulb seeds from day to day on eBay is
not that great.  Search for "Calochortus" there today and you get seeds of
two species.

And yes, I do know about the seed exchange lists.  I've been a member of
NARGS, AGS, SRGC, IBS, IBSA, CNPS, SIGNA, ASI, and WSWA.  But availability
there is very hit and miss, and then there's the issue of spending several
years of your life growing something only to find out that it was
mislabeled.  You should have been here when my seeds of Ixia viridiflora
finally bloomed last year, and they turned out to be purple. 

Don't get me wrong, the seed exchanges are great, but it's not the same.

To illustrate the situation, here's a selection of some of the North
American bulb seeds I could order in the mid-1990s.  This is just a sampling
of a few genera from a few seed catalogs (yeah, I saved them, so I'd have ID
information on the things I was growing).  Dennis, if you or anyone else can
tell me where to get wild-collected seeds of most of these species online,
please let me know.

Mike
San Jose, CA

=====

These are from the Archibalds, Robinett, Northwest Native Seed, and
Southwest

Allium abramsii
    acuminatum (rose-violet, 3000')
    acuminatum (rose-violet, 300')
    acuminatum (white with lavender tints)
    amplectans
    burlewii
    campanulatum
    cratericola
    crenulatum
    crispum
    diabloense
    douglasii v. nevii
    falcifolium
    falcifolium (larger form)
    fimbriatum v. fimbriatum
    fimbriatum v. purdyi
    hofmanii
    howellii v. clokeyi
    hyalimun
    jepsonii
    lacunosum
    macrum
    obtusum 
    parvum (white-purple form)
    parvum (lavender form)
    peninsulare
    platycaule
    sanbornii
    sanbornii v. congdonii
    serratum
    unifolium
    validum

Calochortus albus coast form
    albus v. albus
    albus rubellus
    albus sierra form
    amabilis
    amoenus
    coeruleus
    howellii
    minimus
    monophyllus
    subalpinus
    tolmiei 1 (white with lavender centers)
    tolmiei 2 (lavender flowers)
    tolmiei 3 (larger white flowers)
    umbellatus
    uniflorus
    aff tolmiei (3" form)
    argillosus
    catalinae
    clavatus (tall form)
    clavatus (short form)
    clavatus (intermediate, hardy form)
    concolor
    gunnisonii
    invensutus
    kennedyi
    leichtlinii
    luteus 1 (heavy rainfall)
    luteus 2 (moderate rainfall)
    luteus 3 (low rainfall)
    lyallii
    macrocarpus
    nuttallii v. bruneaunis
    obispoensis
    plummerae (rose-violet)
    plummerae (pale form)
    splendens 1 (pale to deep pink)
    splendens 2 (pale lavender)
    splendens 3 (hairier form)
    superbus 1 (typical form)
    superbus 2 (no red markings)
    venustus 1 (white with two spots)
    venustus 2 (pastel colors, one spot)
    venustus 3 (deeply colored forms from southern Sierra)
    venustus (Frazier Park reds)
    vestae
    weedii v. weedii
    weedii v. vestus

Fritillaria affinis (coast form)
    affinis (large yellow-green form)
    affinis (giant form, from Idaho)
    agrestis
    atropurpurea
    biflora (dark form)
    biflora (high altitiude form)
    eastwoodiae
    glauca (dwarf form)
    glauca (yellow form)
    liliacea
    micrantha
    pinetorum (lime yellow)
    pinetorum (high altitude form)
    pluriflora (600m)
    pluriflora (400m)
    pudica
    pudica (vigorous form)
    purdyi
    purdyi (large form)
    recurva (800m)
    recurva (1630m)
    recurva (500m)
    recurva var. coccinea
    roderickii
    viridea


Mexican bulb seeds
    
Bessera elegans (red form)
Calochortus barbatus
    exilis
    purpureus
    venustulus
Milla biflora 2 (large flowered form)
Tigridia chrysantha
    dugesii
    durangense (taller variety)
    multiflora
Behria tenuiflora






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