Quick Characteristics:
| Height: | 10-20 cm (3.9-7.9 inch) |
| Flower Colors: | yellow |
| Flower Season: | late autumn |
| Life form: | bulb |
Sternbergia clusiana (Ker Gawl.) Ker Gawl. ex Spreng is found in Jordan, Israel, Turkey to Iran. The first two photos of stereo pairs were taken in an England garden November 2003 by Brian Whyer. The first is a true left/right stereo pair, the second right/left, of the same clump. You should be able to see 1, or maybe both pairs of them in stereo, by crossing your eyes until the 2 images overlap, or a third image appears in the centre, and with practice they will/may suddenly appear in stereo. The flowers of eight bulbs emerge before the leaves through one relatively small hole, presumably taking the route of least resistance through the stony clay chalk soil. The third photo was taken in the wild in southwestern Turkey by Jane McGary in early November 2006. Plants were growing on a steep bank and in rocky soil in scrub. The fifth photo by Angelo Porcelli shows the pod growing at ground level, as this species flowers with the ovary buried in the soil and it appears above the ground only after successful pollination. (The fourth photo, by Jane McGary, is probably S. fischeriana.)
This species grows quite deep in the soil; the 3 years old seedlings below show the yearly 'migration' through the bottom of their pot. A new bulb is formed below the former one, which dries and is absorbed by the new one. The upper part of these bulbs are just dried tunics. Photo by Angelo Porcelli
Photos below of Sternbergia clusiana in the wild in Israel by Gideon Pisanty and Shlomit Heymann.
