Description
This is the TRUE plant and not so-called “karduchorum” of the trade, a plant (kotschyanus leucopharynx) knowingly misnamed since 1948. If the price that you see in another list is per ten or per dozen then rest assured that what is being sold there is not true, but the imposter – well over 60 years after the error was reported.
Ours is genuine, true-to-name material. It has mid lilac-blue flowers which are borne before the leaves, very early in the Autumn. In the centre of each flower is a fantastically frilled and divided conspicuous white style surrounded by pale yellow anthers. There are no yellow markings in the throat (unlike the imposter).
This is naturally a cool growing species but it does like a dryish summer rest. A loam-based compost with good drainage suits it well. Our stock is raised from seed obtain from plants from the original site near Lake Van in N.E. Turkey.
The species was named in 1859 and gained an A.M. as long ago as 1928 but the original introduction was then lost to horticulture as the changeling took over its identity. The true plant was only rediscovered and re-introduced to cultivation in 1974.
