Loss of suppliers
Michael Mace (Sun, 19 Sep 2010 15:51:28 PDT)

Dennis wrote:

Not to be disrespectful back, but my experience is different. The thing
that touched off my note was the several weeks I spent researching the
suppliers list for the wiki. I was surprised that I couldn't find a lot of
the seeds that I could easily obtain 15 years ago. The supply of bulbs was
about the same, but in my opinion the availability of seeds had dropped a
lot, especially in the western hemisphere.

Before I did the research, I had the same belief as you, that new online
commerce systems had increased the availability of things. I'm sincerely
happy for you that you can find lots of Passifloras. But in the case of
species bulb seed, diversity of suppliers doesn't seem to mean diversity of
supplies. The selection of species bulb seeds from day to day on eBay is
not that great. Search for "Calochortus" there today and you get seeds of
two species.

And yes, I do know about the seed exchange lists. I've been a member of
NARGS, AGS, SRGC, IBS, IBSA, CNPS, SIGNA, ASI, and WSWA. But availability
there is very hit and miss, and then there's the issue of spending several
years of your life growing something only to find out that it was
mislabeled. You should have been here when my seeds of Ixia viridiflora
finally bloomed last year, and they turned out to be purple.

Don't get me wrong, the seed exchanges are great, but it's not the same.

To illustrate the situation, here's a selection of some of the North
American bulb seeds I could order in the mid-1990s. This is just a sampling
of a few genera from a few seed catalogs (yeah, I saved them, so I'd have ID
information on the things I was growing). Dennis, if you or anyone else can
tell me where to get wild-collected seeds of most of these species online,
please let me know.

Mike
San Jose, CA

=====

These are from the Archibalds, Robinett, Northwest Native Seed, and
Southwest

Allium abramsii
acuminatum (rose-violet, 3000')
acuminatum (rose-violet, 300')
acuminatum (white with lavender tints)
amplectans
burlewii
campanulatum
cratericola
crenulatum
crispum
diabloense
douglasii v. nevii
falcifolium
falcifolium (larger form)
fimbriatum v. fimbriatum
fimbriatum v. purdyi
hofmanii
howellii v. clokeyi
hyalimun
jepsonii
lacunosum
macrum
obtusum
parvum (white-purple form)
parvum (lavender form)
peninsulare
platycaule
sanbornii
sanbornii v. congdonii
serratum
unifolium
validum

Calochortus albus coast form
albus v. albus
albus rubellus
albus sierra form
amabilis
amoenus
coeruleus
howellii
minimus
monophyllus
subalpinus
tolmiei 1 (white with lavender centers)
tolmiei 2 (lavender flowers)
tolmiei 3 (larger white flowers)
umbellatus
uniflorus
aff tolmiei (3" form)
argillosus
catalinae
clavatus (tall form)
clavatus (short form)
clavatus (intermediate, hardy form)
concolor
gunnisonii
invensutus
kennedyi
leichtlinii
luteus 1 (heavy rainfall)
luteus 2 (moderate rainfall)
luteus 3 (low rainfall)
lyallii
macrocarpus
nuttallii v. bruneaunis
obispoensis
plummerae (rose-violet)
plummerae (pale form)
splendens 1 (pale to deep pink)
splendens 2 (pale lavender)
splendens 3 (hairier form)
superbus 1 (typical form)
superbus 2 (no red markings)
venustus 1 (white with two spots)
venustus 2 (pastel colors, one spot)
venustus 3 (deeply colored forms from southern Sierra)
venustus (Frazier Park reds)
vestae
weedii v. weedii
weedii v. vestus

Fritillaria affinis (coast form)
affinis (large yellow-green form)
affinis (giant form, from Idaho)
agrestis
atropurpurea
biflora (dark form)
biflora (high altitiude form)
eastwoodiae
glauca (dwarf form)
glauca (yellow form)
liliacea
micrantha
pinetorum (lime yellow)
pinetorum (high altitude form)
pluriflora (600m)
pluriflora (400m)
pudica
pudica (vigorous form)
purdyi
purdyi (large form)
recurva (800m)
recurva (1630m)
recurva (500m)
recurva var. coccinea
roderickii
viridea

Mexican bulb seeds

Bessera elegans (red form)
Calochortus barbatus
exilis
purpureus
venustulus
Milla biflora 2 (large flowered form)
Tigridia chrysantha
dugesii
durangense (taller variety)
multiflora
Behria tenuiflora