PBS Forum

Hi, I know a couple of people who collect seeds in the wild in Greece, one of them has a wonderful Mediterranean garden and surely knows this plant, and most probably grows it. 

I will try to get some seeds, I like this kind of challenges. 

Personally, I find more appealing high-altitude species from the Alps, Pyrenees and Iberian mountains, I have sometimes collected some of them, but always given away to a friend who lives in a suitable climate. 

Carlos

Hi, I received Rannveigh and Bob Wallis's last catalogue, I find it breathtaking, but they do not ship outside UK anymore.

If any member from the EU happens to travel to UK in September and is so kind to bring my order, I would be willing to pay for up to £20 of his/her order and of course the shipping to Spain.

 There is an exception in EU plant health regulations regarding 'small quantities' in luggage, they don't specify how much weight is that, but I want mostly small Narcissus, so no more than 500 or 600 grsms 

Thanks

Carlos

Hi, I recently started emailing Jean-Marc Tison, the French botanist responsible of the new Flora Gallica - Flore de France and quite an expert on geophytes.

I showed him a local Allium and he immediately recognised it as a possibly unnamed taxon he knew from Andalusia.

So last Saturday I went to the nearest site I knew it from to collect some specimens for the herbarium and to keep in my collection.

There they were, and also an unexpected surprise, Acis valentina in bloom because of the rains in late spring and early summer.














Carlos Jiménez
Valencia, Spain

Hi, I asked for some seeds from a friend and they sprouted like weeds, the older bulbs are almost like hen eggs in two years!!

During their first summer they stayed under the sprinklers so they never went dormant, I feared that they would rot but as Uli says they seem to like not going really dry. I have made them go dormant this year and they seem to be Ok as well.

I have a load of one-season-old seedlings the size of marbles, some already have the purplish-blue colour. If anyone in the EU wants to swap... I would like to try latifolia, but the seeds I bought never germinated. There is S. haemorrhoidalis as well on Tenerife, a smaller version.

All these plants were placed by Austrian expert Franz Speta in a separate genus, Autonöe. I do find them very different to real Scilla (which would not include autumnalis and the like, these having been moved to Prospero, lacking bracts). Complicated.

Carlos

Hi, Max.

For Xochiquetzallia, contact  Jorge Gutiérrez and / or Teresa Terrazas:

jgutierrezg@chapingo.mx
tterrazas@ib.unam.mx

Regards,

Carlos

Hi, I am preparing a small comparative study in Moraea section Gynandriris, I would like to include at least two South African members, namely pritzeliana and simulans. 

Any of the rest will do as well (I have several collections of sisyrinchium and hope to get true mediterranea soon): 

M. australis
M. setifolia
M. cedarmontana
M. contorta
M. hesperantha

I know, there are regulations about sending to UK or USA, but anyone willing to help, please feel free to contact me and I can tell what I have for exchange, I would be willing to pay as well. 

Thanks

Carlos
Valencia, Spain

Thanks, it seems that it is Allium staticiforme. Regarding the progress of my research, it might be more useful than callimischon, though I admit I'd still like to grow it.

Carlos

Any ideas? It came from rareplants.co.uk, it should be callimischon subsp. haemostictum but it is flowering now, it lacks the bloody spots, and it seems to me that it does not match subsp. callimischon either (also late summer to autumn flowering!.



Thanks

Carlos

Yes, more Allium



Allium valdesianum from Sierra Nevada    (the original one in Spain) at some 2500. It is not happy at sea level but it stays small and with somewhat reddish outer tepals.



Allium longispathum seen wild yesterday after a storm which prevented us from hiking.


Allium ionicum, a lovely miniature with arching stalks



Maybe duplicated but I just love this one from Algeria, I'm not still sure if it has a name.

Carlos

Hi, it seems hard to fight back. It's not a fly nor a moth, but a planthopper in family Fulgoridae, related to cicadas.

Carlos

More Allium

What I consider Allium polyanthum, coast of Alicante, Spain





Allium caesium



Allium baeticum, near Granada, Spain



Now the wild 'ampeloprasum', small and medium size

The small was on a natural site, on clay whuch surely floods with heavy rains, the other one is always found along roadsides, sometimes edges of fields. It is a tetraploid, the type from Steep Holm island near Bristol, UK is a hexaploid.





Carlos

Lehmannnii, Monte Gallo, Sicily




Allium lehmannii, Monte Camarata, Sicily



Allium meteoricum



Allium sp (litardierei?). Oran, Algeria



Allium paniculatum (true paniculatum, at last!). Stavropol area, Russian federation


Allium valdesianum, Sierra Nevada, Spain





Allium pallens (again, true pallens!!). This is a nodding inflorescence, isn't it?



Carlos

Hi again, they are not really 'nodding', only a bit bent towards the ground, and the flowers have a faint smell (good).



Carlos

Hi Uli, yes they are nodding before (and after) the first flowers open. They are about 30 cm tall, but they are very young plants,flowering in their second cycle.

CP states that they got seeds twice from Silverhill, so it may be your "fragrans" plant. I will check about smell this afternoon. I had already discarded true CWMGLR.

Carlos

Very nice shots!

Last of my Iris and my most preciated plant, more than Oncocyclus, is Iris heracleana. Hoping to increase to send seedlings back to Morocco wherecthey will be planted in a safe place.



And the Albuca 'clanwillamaegloria' from Château Pérouse are opening. I have no clue with Albucas

Carlos