difference between C. corsicus from C. imperati 'de Jagar'?
Jane McGary (Mon, 08 Mar 2010 09:53:02 PST)

The wuestion was

Crocus corsicus has prominent dark feather markings on the outside of
the outer tepals, on a lilac (sometimes nearly white) ground. C.
imperati may or may not have the feather markings, depending on the
form (I think 'De Jager' does not, or at least they are not heavy),
but the ground color is yellowish or pale buff. This is the most
obvious clue to identity.

The corm of C. corsicus is very strongly netted (reticulate) and that
of C. imperati also reticulate but the fibers are longer and thinner.
If you have a good lens, you can examine the underside of the leaves.
In C. corsicus you will see longitudinal veins, one on each side of
the keel, but in C. imperati these are absent.

It is very hard to tell C. corsicus from C. minimus (they both grow
on Corsica), and some botanists think they should be a single
species. The commercial selection of C. corsicus, which I think is
the one you may have received from me, is large and strongly
feathered. I also have C. corsicus grown from wild-collected seed and
the flowers are quite a bit smaller. Some Dutch crocus selections are
polyploid, meaning bigger and often more vigorous but likely sterile.
I just heard this weekend (from John Grimshaw) that the Dutch
selections of C. tommasinianus with the strong purple colors are
either sterile polyploids or hybrids, and do not seed as the common
"tommies" do, so if you want some and are very particular about not
having anything spread, you could choose 'Whitwell Purple" or I think
another one is called "Barr's Ruby". However, the C. tommasinianus
selections 'Pictus' and 'Albus' self-sow freely. I have not seen seed
on 'Roseus', though.

Jane McGary
Northwestern Oregon, USA