Crocus minimus id verification

Jane McGary janemcgary@earthlink.net
Tue, 29 Jan 2013 10:33:50 PST
Gastil's photos include one of the corms, which clearly shows that 
her crocuses are C. minimus, because the parallel fibers are obvious. 
The very similar C. corsicus has reticulate tunic fibers.

The photographed flowers are typical of the commercially propagated 
variety of C. minimus, which is more strongly marked on the outer 
(reverse) than some wild forms. It also has larger flowers and wider 
tepals than some I have grown from wild-collected seed or seed from such stock.

Mathew writes that the two species, which both grow on Corsica, 
apparently do not hybridize.

Gastil also asked about "a good book or website for Mediterranean 
geophyte identification." I don't think there is a single publication 
or website for all of the Mediterranean, or for all genera. For 
Crocus I am still relying on Mathew 1982 with some photocopies of 
later-described taxa laid in, but I have heard that a revision of 
that book may appear within the near future. The AGS plans to publish 
a well-illustrated field guide to geophytes of the eastern 
Mediterranean (essentially the Middle East and Cyprus) by Oron Peri, 
and there are several useful books for Turkey and for Greece, and a 
grand volume on Crete. North Africa seems to be sadly neglected. For 
Spain one usually turns to works on specific genera, such as John 
Blanchard's on Narcissus, or works of Aaron Davis and John Grimshaw 
on Galanthus. My own greatest interest is Fritillaria, for which a 
monograph has not yet appeared, leaving me very frustrated every 
spring as I try to verify my plants in flower. There exists a 
monograph on COlchicum, but its publication has, I believe, been 
delayed by lack of funding.

Jane McGary
Portland, Oregon, USA


At 09:42 AM 1/29/2013, you wrote:
>Hi Mediterranean Crocus experts,
>Along the thread of properly identifying one's collection, may I ask 
>someone with a Crocus reference to verify the id of these tiny 
>beauties now blooming?
>I expect these are Crocus minimus.
>
>http://flickr.com/photos/gastils_garden/…
>
>http://flickr.com/photos/gastils_garden/…
>
>If the id is correct then I will post a couple photos on the wiki.
>
>Currently on the wiki there are these photos:
>http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/index.php/…
>which do not contradict mine being C. minimus but neither do they 
>confirm, as the outer tepal markings are not evident in the wiki pics
>
>and the 3 parts of the stigma are not as spread apart on mine, 
>though this could be because mine were photographed on their first day open.
>
>There is a nice photo on the SRGC forum here:
>http://srgc.net/forum/index.php/…
>which agrees with the C. minimus id.
>
>Also please recommend a good book or website for Mediterranean 
>geophyte identification.
>
>
>Thank you,
>Gastil
>Santa Barbara, California
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