Thank you very much for all the information, Jane. Mark and Dennis, I'm glad to learn you have visited Gythio. regards, Antigoni Gythio South Peloponesse Greece ________________________________ Απο: Jane McGary <janemcgary@earthlink.net> Προς: Pacific Bulb Society <pbs@lists.ibiblio.org> Στάλθηκε: 7:09 μ.μ. Τρίτη, 1 Νοεμβρίου 2011 Θεμα: [pbs] Crocus boryi, was Crocus hadriaticus ( pict ures from habitat) I wrote a note before about Crocus hadriaticus without looking closely at the photo, sorry. I agree that the pictured flower is Crocus boryi. There are three white fall crocuses on the Peloponnese (four if you count white forms of C. goulimyi), but C. boryi is the only one that has white anthers, which the pictured flower seems to have. C. boryi can be pure white or pale cream-white, and its flowers have a substantial, "thick" appearance. It often grows together with other species, such as C. goulimyi. Crocus species are usually identified in flower by the details of the style, filaments, and anthers, but sometimes one also has to know what the corm tunic looks like. After a while you get to know the "look" of the flowers and it gets easier. When I started growing a collection of bulbs seriously, around 1990, I wanted to concentrate on Crocus, but constantly battling mice and voles led me to concentrate instead on Fritillaria. Now, however, I'm in a neighborhood that is much less rodent-infested, and I have the collection in a secure bulb house instead of frames out in a field, so I hope to rebuild the crocus collection from what I was able to preserve, and perhaps from some more wild seed collections. In that connection, if anybody is still growing Crocus hermoneus from what I distributed several years ago, I would very much like to get it back, as it was a casualty since that time; I have good things to trade! Both C. hadriaticus and C. boryi are in flower here now, both in the bulb house and in the garden, since I had enough to risk in the open when I was planting last fall. Other crocuses I notice in flower just now include C. mathewii, C. asumaniae, C. cancellatus (several subspecies, including the particularly attractive subsp. damascenus), C. karduchorum, C. kotschyanus, C. goulimyi (including white forms), C. speciosus (best in the garden), C. longiflorus, C. cartwrightianus, C. pallasii. Most of these are best suited to a Mediterranean climate, but gardeners elsewhere could try C. speciosus and C. hadriaticus, and perhaps C. pallasii which is very vigorous though not the prettiest species. And of course C. kotschyanus, but do try to get one of the named forms that flower reliably (one is 'Reliant', in fact) rather than the one that just splits up underground, often distributed erroneously as C. karduchorum. The latter is uncommon in cultivation (I grew it from Archibalds' seed) and has a very distinctive, much-divided white style. Jane McGary Portland, Oregon, USA _______________________________________________ pbs mailing list pbs@lists.ibiblio.org http://pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/