I've recently been given about 20 un-named Colchicum cultivars by a good gardening friend and, inspired by Jane's post, I went into the garden to sniff them. I'd always thought that Colchicum were unscented but, to my surprise, I noticed that most do indeed have a mild (to my nose) scent. Several of the cultivars that I was given have a scent reminiscent of honey. I love scented plants but ironically have a poor sense of smell. I occasionally wonder how differently each of us perceives scent, surely the hardest sense to articulate, except by reference to another smell! Does anyone know of a reference work on Colchicum more recent (and better illustrated) than E.A. Bowles' book form the fifties? I'd love to try and identify what I've got... Tom > Message: 3 > Date: Wed, 24 Sep 2008 17:42:53 -0700 > From: Jane McGary <janemcgary@earthlink.net> > Subject: [pbs] Fragrance in Colchicum > To: Pacific Bulb Society <pbs@lists.ibiblio.org> > Message-ID: <5.2.1.1.0.20080924173225.01705d88@pop.earthlink.net> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed > > This afternoon I was looking at the colchicums in the bulb frame and > noticed a sweet fragrance. It proved to emanate from a large- > flowered one > that I received originally under the name "Colchicum atropurpureum > 'Drake's > Form'." "C. atropurpureum" is a name that appears in Stearn's old > monograph, but E. A. Bowles's discussion of it is both confused and > confusing; he seems to mean that the name has been variously > applied, and > concludes that "there is no species to which it can be ascribed," > although > saying that it is close to C. turcicum -- an opinion repeated in > Christopher Brickell's entry for it in the AGS Encyclopaedia of > Alpines. I > don't know which Drake found this form; perhaps it was the English > nurseryman Jack Drake. Very likely it should just be called Colchicum > 'Drake's Form'. > > Anyway, after noticing this naturally I went around sniffing colchicum > flowers, and found no other with this particular honey scent. A few > were > slightly malodorous, and most had a faint, mildly pleasing scent that > reminds me of a good-quality non-perfumed milled white face soap. C. > speciosum hasn't opened here yet, but it is the parent of many garden > hybrids, so I'll await its fragrance to see if that is where > 'Drake's Form' > got it. > > Incidentally, while looking up "atropurpureum," I discovered that > the name > C. laetum has been applied to two different entities. The true > species is > small-flowered, and the large-flowered plant with many narrow-tepaled > flowers, which is what I have here and have distributed, is > something else > -- one author says it is allied with C. byzantinum. So if you have C. > laetum from me, it is C. laetum hort. (the abbreviation used to > designate > "taxonomic" names that are used in horticulture but not recognized > in the > botanical literature), and we must both continue trying to get the > true > species, while blaming the English and the Dutch, who have cast us > into > this confusion, though in the process providing us with some very > beautiful > garden flowers. > > Jane McGary > Northwestern Oregon, USA > > > > ------------------------------ > > _______________________________________________ > pbs mailing list > pbs@lists.ibiblio.org > http://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php > > > End of pbs Digest, Vol 68, Issue 28 > ***********************************