Leucojum in Michigan

Jane McGary janemcgary@earthlink.net
Wed, 28 Mar 2012 18:34:55 PDT
I haven't seen Leucojum (presumably L. vernum) naturalized beyond 
cultivated land, but it is not uncommon for other bulbs to appear in 
surprisingly remote places. After finding a colony of Kniphofia at 
4,000 feet in the Mount Hood National Forest, a botanist told me she 
expected it had been brought in as seed or other material on logging 
or road-building equipment that had previously been used around a 
farmhouse garden (where these plants are common). Montbretia is often 
spread this way. Another mystery ascribed to road equipment is a 
colony of Iris douglasiana along Highway 26 between Portland and 
Mount Hood; the irises have hybridized with the local I. tenax there.

Sometimes people also dump truckloads of garden debris in remote 
locations. I expect the surprising number of daffodils that we see 
around Oregon may have arrived that way. Bulbs can also persist for 
many decades after the habitation near which someone planted them has vanished.

Jane McGary
Portland, Oregon, USA


At 06:10 PM 3/28/2012, you wrote:
>I got a request from a non member  who found Leucojum growing in a
>wilderness area in Michigan.  She was wondering if this was an
>unusual finding. Does anyone know?




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