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Hi, I told the guy that I would ask. Oron Peri says it seems bulbocodium to him, I have not yet seen bulbocodium but the photos of Spanish plants are different...

Carlos

Hello, I'm happy and proud to share my first work on botany, the confirmation of the occurrence of Allium cyrilli in the Iberian peninsula (only known for Spain so far, but could turn up in some areas of Portugal).

I did this because I was lucky enough to be shown some photos and though I did not know what it was, I knew it was not Allium nigrum, with which it has been confused since 18th century!

Even modern botanists sensed that the plants "did not match", but only one asked Jean-Marc Tison in France, who had confirmed the plant there as well. But he never published it. I tried to contact him but I only found a wrong email. Anyway I cited his works and now I have the right email and he's happy with the outcome.

I also did it as a "warming up" to what is still to come, including (hopefully) description of up to 4 new Allium species.

This was a bit local and the paper is in Spanish, but I am already working on an English-only paper.

It can be downloaded here:

https://revistas.uma.es/index.php/abm/article/view/15132[/list]


Allium cyrilli Ten.: novedad para el centro y este de la Península Ibérica

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.24310/abm.v47i.15132[/list]
Being a member of the PBS has spurred my work, so thanks to all.

Carlos Jiménez

Hi, I just can't help popping in the subject...

I was marveled when I discovered that this plant grew in my country, it just seem impossible to have such a showy plant! But it does grow here (well, the nearest populations are about 500 km to the SW of where I live).

Anyway, for some this plant does not belong in Scilla but in a distinct genus, Oncostema (Loncomelos, Caloscilla, etc, have also been proposed but have no priority). I tend to agree on that, the inflorescence is very different to that of true Scilla (remember to split also Prospero, Barnardia, Pseudoprospero, Hyacinthoides...).

But my point is this: there are OTHER species wich have been in turn splitted from "peruviana": sicula and dimartinoi are the "most" known. They have dirty white or bluish-white flowers, ciliated leaf margins, and live in far drier habitats, even quite barren land as on the tiny Pantelleria island, Malta and Southern Sicily. I have got some bulbs and they are less vigorous, more rot prone, and need extra drainage. 

Besides that, there are a number of 'varieties' which have been recognised for peruviana sensu stricto, such as ifniensis, gattefossei (endemic in Morocco as far as I know), elongata (with pedicels growing up to 20 cm when the fruit is ripening), etc. 

I have seedlings of ifniensis and gattefossei and again the seedlings are smaller and less vigorous than true peruviana. Seedlings of the same age from Uli's seed are double in size. I got some seeds from plants originating in Melilla (a piece of land ruled/owned by Spain in North Africa) and the seedlings are tiny as well. I have not succeeded in getting images of the flowers there.

Does anyone have these plants in adult state? I think Angelo Porcelli does, but he does not visit the forum...

Carlos

Hi, Martin, I missed this. I have just decided to start growing SA gladioli. I suppose the book is worth having for strict SA plants, but does it include other species found in Kenya, Zambia etc (watsonioides, atropurpureus)?

Thanks

Carlos

Done! Thanks!!

Carlos

Hi, I usually find most old papers I look for but this one beat me, or nearly, as they have it at the UCLA library but they won't scan it for me.

They told me, though, that it can be consulted there (maybe photographed or photocopied?).

The paper is on the description of Allium zaprjagajevii by Kassacz. It was published in the 1973 issue of Dokl. Akad. Nauk Tadzhiksk. S.S.R. ((1973)) or Доклады Академии наук Таджикской ССР - Изд-во Академии наук Таджикской ССР, 1973.

The article is entitled "A new species of the genus Allium ( zaprjagajevii ) L. From the western Pamirs" and it appears on page 77, maybe 76-77 or 77-78.


I would be thankful if anyone could go to the library and scan/photograph it, or copy it if he/she can read Russian haha.

Seriously, it would be a great favour.

Thanks in advance.

Carlos

Hi, Uli, they are early indeed! This is subsp. Validus, common throughout Portugal.

Carlos

I'd say serotinus as well

Wonderful stuff.

Do you know if they have pure botanical Nerine at Exbury? I am looking for  wild types of N. Sarniensis and/or others.

Here a photo taken two weeks ago in my local botanical garden, Valencia. Could it be a wild type?




They have some more interesting things, though mist ofcthe bulb framesxonly have empty spaces with lonely labels... This goes on in this garden since I was a child, even if my land is know as the "land of the flowers" in a popular song.

The other problem here are misidentified plants. The more I look at sarniensis photos, the more I think the plant above is something else...

Wonderful, Martin, I have just discovered Nerine and Lycoris.


Here Arum pictum subsp pictum (Corsica and Sardinia)





 and Biarum carratracense.




Carlos

Yes, Martin, many thanks!

Carlos

Hi, I have been very haappy (and a little stressed) to participate in donation.

Just some info on some of my references, I know I am offering far too many dicots than would be expected, but I just can't see fruiting plants and not collect some seeds. Anyway I have an interest in some of them being available, for conservation purposes:

- EX05_461 'Prenanthes grandiflora ex Querol lake Andorra' should read: PINGUICULA grandiflora (but could be vulgaris), etc.

-Pancratium maritimum is from Israel, in case anyone would like to have material from there.

- Acis valentina, I have a permit to collect seeds, but unless needed for scientific research, I won't give the exact location. The seeds are tricky and usually sprout in the following autumn after ripening, and not in high percentages. Then they take 4-6 years to mature.

- Narcissus x perezlarae: I can't give the location neither. This plant has been reported to be fertile and produce viable seed, but I went to two wild stands in two consecutive years and found only one capsule (among several hundreds) with three seeds, these had a strange elongated shape and never sprouted. At home I have hand-pollinated flowers from one population with pollen from another one as well as from different plants from the same population, for both groups of plants, and not one seed was produced. Anyway it has been re-published as Narcissus piifontianus, which should be corrected to piifontii, so you are free to label the plants as you wish.

- Seeds from Andorra: They have been all collected at or above 1700 m, they are all euro-Siberian species, not really suitable for mild Mediterranean climates. All on siliceous (acidic) soil. Some are Pyrenees endemics such as the Gentiana burseri, I was lucky enough to find it in the last hike. I can give locations for all these seeds, some are fairly common plants there, like the Pulsatilla.

- Seeds from Mallorca:

Digitalis minor is a strict Belaric endemic, being possibly the only foxglove which can occur near sea level (though these were found in the northern mountain range of Mallorca, at over 1000 m).  So worth trying in Mediterranean gardens with little or no freezing. It is not a sun loving plant, though, and will do better in a northern exposure or with morning sun only. Grows on limestone.

Hypericum balearicum: a stunning plant when you first see it as it is a shrub up to 2 m tall, with big flowers up to 3 cm wide, aromatic as most or all St John's worts. It can reach 1400 metres on the highest peak in Mallorca, but as it is very close to the sea I suspect winters up there are not as cold as in a continental location, so I don't expect it to withstand less than -5ºC (it grew around the boulders where I found the foxglove).

Lysimachia minoricensis: A remarkable plant, I guess the name in English should be Minorcan loosestrife,  with an amazing story involving extinction in the wild and redescovering of a bunch of plants in what remained of the Barcelona Botanical Garden after the Spanish civil war, then distribution to several gardens and recently a (so far) successful reintroduction in the wild. Flowers are not showy but the leaves have a unique white-veined pattern. Every pot and plot of this plant could ending up being the only extant material, so it's worth trying. Loves moisture, but not as much as Lysimachia ephemerum. Basic soil.

Other bulbs:

- Allium cyrilli: Wild collected by me, but again I can't give the location yet, as it is a novelty for Spain (well there you have some info) and I am waiting for my article to be accepted in a Spanish Journal. I promise to do a more divulgative article for the PBS journal. This belongs in Melanochrommyum section, it grows in areas with steppic conditions: cold to very cold winters and hot summers with occasional thunderstorms. As most other members of the section it has a very short vegetative period, producing leaves in December-January, blooming in April-May, seeding in June and then going dormant.  I collected bulblets from 6 adult bulbs, and I placed bulblets from at least three clones in each package, so I hope seed will be easily produced. Anyway this population develops up to 150 or more bulblets per adult bulb, so vegetative reproduction is ensured.

- Allium aff. longispathum received from a friend ex Sergei Banketov, as A. paniculatum, but I think is is rather longispathum.
- Allium paczoskianum ex Alexander Naumenko, from Stavropol, Russia

Thanks, sorry for the long text!

Carlos

[...]

OK, Randy, many thanks. I am way behind my sowing also.

Every Calochortus ordered, Martin, thanks.

Carlos

Amazing, I was given two small bulbs last summer.