First flowers of the New Year
Jane McGary (Sun, 07 Jan 2007 11:20:59 PST)

While weeding in the bulb frame during a "sun break" (a peculiarly Oregon
weather term, I think) yesterday I found the first winter crocuses up -- C.
ancyrensis and C. olivieri, since I consider C. laevigatus the tail end of
fall crocuses -- and also a plant that I had never known to flower here
before: Ambrosinia bassii, a western Mediterranean aroid. Several
correspondents have mentioned it flowering for them, and I think they got
the plant from me. I believe they were seeing the flowers in mid fall;
perhaps the later flowering here occurs because I start giving it moisture
later. It is a very small aroid, and the inflorescence is also small,
resembling an Arisarum but lying open-side-up on the soil surface. The
spathe is mottled and difficult to see amid the foliage. It was too cold to
tell whether it has an odor, but given the color and low stature, I assume
it's beetle-pollinated. "Of botanical interest," as the lists say, and I'll
have some available next summer.

Jane McGary
Northwestern Oregon, USA