Description
(syn Crocus gaillardotii)
This is a winter- and very early spring-flowering species found in stony places and low scrub across a wide area from western Syria (in the Aleppo region – hence the name) into Jordan, Lebanon and Israel. It is little known so that the possibility exists that some of the reported locations may be other, as yet undescribed species.
It make a rosette of very narrow leaves each with a very prominent central white vein from a small corm with a parallel fibrous corm tunic.
The flowers are borne from about November to February, depending on climate and cultivation. They are quite small but are borne in clusters of several to each corm. The flower colour is generally white, varyingly marked with a little yellow in the throat below a divided orange style and yellow-orange anthers. The golden throat inside the flower sometimes shows through a little on the exterior also. On the exterior there is usually some blue-purple or violet on the centre vein of each of the outer segments, especially towards the throat and tube however this too varies.
In its native, semi-desert habitats it experiences a very dry summer and cool winters. By repute it requires protection from frost and freezing, in the UK and it is perhaps best kept under cold or alpine glass. It will certainly need a dry summer rest, though I would hesitate to give it a fiercely hot and dry “bake” recommended by some writers, as surface temperature and underground conditions in the wild do not equate with the conditions in a pot under glass. Frost-free, loam-based, well-drained compost dry in summer but not baked silly.
Propagated stock raised from an original Jordanian collection made between Petra and As-Shawbak at 1,588m.
picture courtesy and copyright of Gideon Pisanty at Wikipedia, with thanks, used under CC BY 3.0
