Jim send me this Roland Dear Roland: I read the PBS archives, but am not a member, so cannot contact Shmuel Silinksy. Could you be so kind to let him know that Karen Persson, the authority on Colchicum, lists Colchicum hierosolymitanum as a valid name. If he wants, he could contact her through the Göteborg Botaniska Trädgård, Göteborg, Sweden, or download some of her work which is online. She is writing a monograph which should be done in 2013 - we all hope. Cheers, Jim 2012/11/22 Jane McGary <janemcgary@earthlink.net>: > Shmuel in Jerusalem (the place for which this bulb is named) wrote: >>I have a bulb of Colchicum hierosolymitanum that was rescued from a >>construction area. It just finished flowering. The bulb is the size of a >>flattened ping pong ball. I have 2 questions: >> >>1) Colchicum hierosolymitanum is not listed on the PBS site, but that's >>what it is based on The Hebrew University Jerusalem website >>http://flora.huji.ac.il/browse.asp/… Any idea >>what else it may be called or does the PBS site need an update? I know >>tehre afre lumpers and splitters, but... >> >>2) Any way to propagate this bulb besides seed? After many years of >>watching this plant bloom in situ, I have never seen it set seed. > > I have grown a colchicum under this name for about 12 years, having > originally grown it from seed purchased from Monocot (Michael > Salmon), a nursery whose stock is in part now held by Kurt Vickery. > Salmon collected the seeds in nature. I have, I think, four > clones. They have been blooming for about 6 years. Since I moved > them out of their large pot and into a raised sand bed in my bulb > house, they have done much better. Each corm produces many flowers. > They have set seed at least three years and I've raised more from > seed and sent seed to other growers. Shmuel, I will make a note to > send you seeds if it forms any this year. > > It may be necessary to have more than one clone to get seed. I > hand-pollinated mine at least one year. My plants did not produce > offsets in the pot, but I suspect they may now be making offsets > since they have a better root run. > > This is one of the many small Colchicum species of the eastern > Mediterranean. Although little known in gardens, they are delightful > to grow in pots, troughs, and rock gardens. They have foliage of > modest size and often their flowers are large for the size of the > corm and leaves. Most have pink flowers but a few have white ones. I > grew all of mine from seed from various collectors and am still > trying to verify some of them. I sent out corms of a few species > (especially C. boissieri, which I now also grow in the open garden) > back when I was selling bulbs. A couple of white forms of C. > szovitsii are available commercially, and they regularly set seed here. > > And yes, I do have photos of it in bloom and I should put them on the > PBS wiki! I did make an attempt but did not get the photo files small > enough to upload to the wiki, so must start over. > > Jane McGary > Portland, Oregon, USA > > _______________________________________________ > pbs mailing list > pbs@lists.ibiblio.org > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/ -- R de Boer La Maugardiere 1 F 27260 EPAIGNES FRANCE Phone./Fax 0033-232-576-204 Email: bulborum@gmail.com