The rediscovery of Tecophilaea cyanocrocus is indeed wonderful; it happened in spring 2001 and there's a report online at http://poseidon.natura.udec.cl/publicaciones/… Paige Woodward on top of Chilliwack Mountain in southwest British Columbia Canada wet Zone 6 http://www.hillkeep.ca/ paige@hillkeep.ca ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jane McGary" <janemcgary@earthlink.net> To: "Pacific Bulb Society" <pbs@lists.ibiblio.org> Sent: Wednesday, March 31, 2004 9:13 AM Subject: [pbs] Tecophilaea rediscovered > The March 2004 issue of "The Alpine Garden" (bulletin of the AGS) contains > the following news item (I have edited Robert Rolfe's text a little): > > "Tecophilaea cyanocrocus has been relocated in Chile, over 50 years since > it was pronbounced extinct there. M. Teresa Eyzaguirre and Rosario Garcia > de la Huerta, in 'Gayana Bot.' 59(2):73-77 (2002 [probably published in > Santiago]) describe how, while conducting a routine botanical mapping > survey in the spring of 2001, they encountered a large but very localised > population of the Chilean Blue Crocus at just over 2000 metres, within 40 > kilometres of Santiago, inhabiting an area no more than 20 x 50 m. Several > illustrations accompany the article, one of them showing the tecophilaea in > spectacular abundance on a level, stony site, which it is reported to share > with a sparse covering of various spiny and hummock-forming shrubs, along > with Calandrinia affinis and Barneoudia major. The density of this stand is > estimated at 30-50 corms per square metre, in clumps of 5-20; the colony is > said to be somewhat aberrant, in that generally the blooms have an > extensive white 'eye', approaching but not analogous with the stocks long > cultivated under the varietal name leichtlinii. In just three examples, the > flowers were pure white. The exact location is not revealed." > > This note tells us something about T. cyanocrocus's habitat preference. > Calandrinia affinis and Barneoudia major (the former similar to a deciduous > Lewisia, and the latter to a small alpine Ranunculus) are "snowmelt" plants > of the subalpine zone, growing quickly in spring and flowering while their > soil is still very damp, then going dormant. They are often accompanied by > an Olsynium (I don't know the species) very similar in appearance and > habitat preference to North American O. douglasii. These very well drained > sites dry out in the summer, but the stony soil probably preserves some > trace of moisture well into the dry season, and stays fairly cool below the > immediate surface layer. > > Let us hope that now that botanists have found this site, somebody puts up > a serious fence around it to keep out the cattle and goats! > > Jane McGary > Northwestern Oregon, USA > > _______________________________________________ > pbs mailing list > pbs@lists.ibiblio.org > http://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php > >