Description
This was originally selected by Mrs. W. Hoog from a stock of C. cartwrightianus raised from our CEH612 (1982) collection. It was selected in flower on 29/10/2011 as a single corm with deeply incised segments, which made it appear to be a double flower. Antoine Hoog relates that the following year it “returned to normal and was purple flowered, then subsequently it has turned and remained white” !
An amazing history and a delightful plant which may yet have a surprise up its corm tunic. Brian Mathew in his 1977 paper on the sativus group (of which C. cartwrightianus is a member) records that C. cartwrightianus does have “a marked tendency to produce albinos” and relates that Minoan frescos on Crete, dated to 1600 BC, show what appears to be saffron Crocus and white forms of the same.
