Biarum carduchorum
Jane McGary (Wed, 06 Jun 2007 10:21:17 PDT)

Jim McK. wondered about the growth and bloom patterns of Biarum.

I grow a number of species of these (mostly) small aroids, and am amazed at
the within-genus variation in times of flowering and leaf growth.
Particular species do, however, seem to have about the same cycle each year.

Last fall I got to see some in the wild and was enlightened about them in
that they get much bigger than I thought they would. B. pyrami was
especially huge. Yet it flowers here in a 6-inch pot. I'm going to give
them more room and see how that affects them. I have a few B. davisii
growing in the open garden, in a sand bed, but they have not flowered
there; the winters may be too hard on them.

At least the vultures haven't attacked them. Nor have they attacked
Dracunculus vulgaris here. When it flowers, I always react by wondering
where the dogs have left a dead mole. In the MEditerranean, where D.
vulgaris is native, there are numerous species of vulture, but they must
have learned to discriminate between the inedible plant and the edible
carrion; the American turkey vulture (vernacular "buzzard," a usage
condemned by British birders but presumably established early in the
colonial period from some British dialect) has not evolved with this
particular stinker and may get confused.

Jane McGary
Northwestern Oregon, USA