yellow squills in Passenger to Teheran
Adam Fikso (Fri, 05 Mar 2010 11:21:30 PST)
Re Sackville-West:. Where in Iran was she when the passage was written?
Some things that existed then are extinct. A particular gigantic oncocyclus
from the Balat Sinjar area (never conclusively identified--herbarium
specimen now turned to dust) (Now the site of Balad airbase and paved
over).
A more exact designation of the area might offer a clue.
----- Original Message -----
From: <totototo@telus.net>
To: "Pacific Bulb Society" <pbs@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Friday, March 05, 2010 12:24 PM
Subject: Re: [pbs] yellow squills in Passenger to Teheran
On 5 Mar 2010, at 11:41, Jim McKenney wrote:
Yesterday a thing long desired finally happened: I acquired a copy of V.
Sackville-West's Passenger to Teheran. It's the 1990 edition with an
introduction by her son Nigel Nicolson - I recommend this edition for this
introduction in particular because it gives good background information
and
gives answers to some questions which the attentive reader will no doubt
want to
ask.
When I finally acquire a book I've long wanted, I pounce on it. Last night
I
skimmed through the text, starting from the back and working towards the
front
as is my style. I was searching for the passages where she describes
seeing
Fritillaria imperiialis in the wild. I quickly found that, but I also
found
something which left me puzzled.
Here's what she wrote: "The yellow squills are everywhere, very strongly
scented." What in the world could these have been? Was "squill" a lapsus
calami for "narcissus", as in Narcissus tazetta?
Might it have been an eremurus? Or an asphodeline? Does she give the date of
seeing these, or is it inferrable from context?
PS: You aren't the only one to read books backward. I even do that to some
novels; knowing the denouement can help one plow through the slower parts
that
precede.
--
Rodger Whitlock
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
Maritime Zone 8, a cool Mediterranean climate
on beautiful Vancouver Island
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