Karin Persson of the University of Göteborg in Sweden is the recognized authority on Colchicum. You will find her publications online, but the more important ones are behind pay walls. A monograph has been promised for ages; how wonderful it would be if our society helped to publish it, perhaps through crowdfunding. Paige Woodward > On Oct 6, 2015, at 2:49 PM, Kathy Purdy <kopurdy@gmail.com> wrote: > > Thank you for that clarification, Jim. What I would really like to know is, > what source is considered authoritative for identifying colchicums? When I > first became interested in them, I was told that Crocus & Colchicum by E.A. > Bowles (what I believe Jim is referring to as Bowles' handbook) was the > definitive authority. Is that still the case? Just recently (9/21) Jim > referred to the colchicaceae.e-monocot.org website, and Travis referenced > the European Garden Flora. Today both Jim and Travis referred to the Plant > List. Are any (or all) of these considered more authoritative than Bowles? > And having just learned it's important to pay attention to the author of a > botanical name, I'm wondering what other land mines to watch out for when > reading more scholarly works. > > On Tue, Oct 6, 2015 at 4:54 PM, Jim McKenney <jamesamckenney@verizon.net> > wrote: > >> When I read Travis' post and Jane's response to that post this morning, I >> had to take the dog out for a walk. It was just too much for me to swallow >> before breakfast. >> About Colchicum cilicicum and C. bivonae: the Colchicum bivonae listed on >> The Plant List as a synonym of Colchicum cilicicum is not the C. bivonae to >> which cultivars such as 'Apollo' and 'Vesta' are attributed. We're >> gardeners here, not (most of us anyway) botanists, and we accept the (bad) >> habit of citing botanical names without their authors. However, that can >> lead to confusion, and it does most certainly in this thread. The Colchicum >> bivonae which is a synonym of C. cilicicum is C. bivonae Ten.; the >> Colchicum bivonae to which 'Apollo' and 'Vesta' are attributed is C. >> bivonae Guss., and it is a "good ***" species in the Kew List system. >> >> The plant commonly cultivated as Colchicum cilicicum, which may or may not >> be the real thing, is most definitely not the same as what most of us who >> grow it know as C.bivonae. >> The catalog description of 'Lilac Wonder' cited by Jane was probably >> written sixty or seventy years after the cultivar 'Lilac Wonder' was >> released to the public. The two pre-World War II sources I'm most familiar >> with, the account in Bowles' Handbook (I'm not sure when this was last >> updated or when the section on Colchicum was actually published) and the >> account in Gartenschoenheit of October 1938, do not place 'Lilac Wonder' >> among the tessellated varieties. There is no hint of tessellation in the >> image of 'Lilac Wonder' in Esther Bartning's group watercolor of colchicums >> dated 1937; in the text written by Karl Foerster which accompanied the >> publication of that plate in 1938, Foerster does not mention tessellation, >> simply describing 'Lilac Wonder' as "delicate lilac, unique" >> (zartfliederfarben, einzigartig). And he places it among the sorts >> flowering in early autumn, not among the late flowering ones. 'Lilac >> Wonder' was one of the first colchicums I obtained from the old firm Peter >> de Jager about fifty years ago. And replacements were obtained on several >> other occasions over the years. All of those were the same, and none showed >> tessellation. A more recent acquisition two years ago brought something >> similar, but in small ways different. I have no idea what this is. >> Jim McKenneyMontgomery County, Maryland, USA, USDA zone 7, where >> Titanotrichum oldhamii is blooming -thanks Chris! >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> To: pbs@lists.ibiblio.org >> Sent: Monday, October 5, 2015 11:28 PM >> Subject: Re: [pbs] Colchicum cilicicum blooming and more on new blog post >> >> Thank you Jane, very informative! >> >> I'll add these bits: >> >> The Plant List (via Kew) lists C. giganteum and bornmuelleri as synonyms >> of C. speciosum. [1] >> >> The Plant List considers C. bivonae a synonym of C. cilicicum via Kew. [2] >> >> The book 'Flowers for Northern Gardens' by Leon C. Snyder wrote that C. >> 'Lilac Wonder' is a hybrid of C. autumnale and C. speciosum. Not sure where >> they sourced that info. [3] A google search found a few similar accounts as >> those species being the parents. I've not found data listing the original >> hybridizer, only that it was for sale at or before 1926. Does anyone have >> any old catalogs? >> >> I'm not sure where I read that 'Lilac Wonder' was a hybrid of giganteum >> and bornmuelleri, or if the two were just "suspected" as being the parents. >> Being that both are considered speciosum variants, it's not COMPLETELY >> wrong... >> >> [1] http://theplantlist.org/tpl1.1/record/… >> >> [2] http://theplantlist.org/tpl1.1/record/… >> >> [3] >> https://books.google.com/books/… >> >> Travis Owen >> Rogue River, OR >> >> amateuranthecologist.blogspot.com >> http://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/ >> >> _______________________________________________ >> pbs mailing list >> pbs@lists.ibiblio.org >> http://pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php >> http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/ >> >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> pbs mailing list >> pbs@lists.ibiblio.org >> http://pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php >> http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/ > > > > > -- > Kathy Purdy > 2015 Winner of the Garden Writers Association > Silver Award of Achievement for Blog Writing > http://www.coldclimategardening.com/ > _______________________________________________ > pbs mailing list > pbs@lists.ibiblio.org > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/ _______________________________________________ pbs mailing list pbs@lists.ibiblio.org http://pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/