Description
(C. gol-hassrat, halophilum, hausknechtii)
This was first collected in Iran (Persia) by C. Haussknecht in September of 1867 and later described by Boissier in 1882. One recent taxonomic view is that the name represents a synonym of C. persicum , which is itself a variable plant, (of which we offer two strains). However the plants that we grow under these names are very different and so very distinct horticulturally that it seems a shame to simply unite them under one and ‘lose’ a good plant based on a very inadequate study. Especially when other ‘opinions’ rubbish this first opinion of synonymy anyway!
As we grow it C. haussknechtii makes good-sized flowers of strong, bright pink, clearly delineated with a large white throat and chrome yellow anthers. If it is C. persicum, then it is a very good C. persicum of remarkable colouring and much greater size which looks nothing like persicum as we know it.
C. haussknechtii grows perfectly well outside here and in the garden in central Germany whence our stock first came. The stock was originally obtained in the 1970s, from the Iran Botanical Garden in Teheran, as wild collected seeds, by Manfred Koenen who subsequently raised it, however the exact location data is lost.
Flowering is in September and October, with clusters of good-sized flowers, usually two per corm. The leaves following in spring. The foliage is not miniature but neither does it reach the proportions of C. speciosum or its forms!
Introduced to our lists, March 2018.
