Description
(Gymnospermium altaicum peloponnesiacum)
Gymnospermium altaicum is supposedly native from Greece eastwards to China and over the border into Russia though several species may actually be involved in that overly broad geographical sweep. Certainly the westernmost “forms” in Albania and Greece have already been separated off and described as new species. G.peloponnesiacum is one of these new species and it is found in two locations in Northern Peloponnese where it grows in light shade in scree conditions.
This is naturally a very small tuberous species, though none of the Gymnospermium are monsters anyway. It make simply divided, blue-green foliage with each of the three to five leaflets being split into further subdivisions in larger specimens. The stems are red-tinted upon emergence. Soon after leaf emergence the flowers themselves appear, in April. They are a very bright, and vivid buttery yellow, in a colour and shape familiar to all who know the flowers of Berberis in the garden and, remarkably, this dwarf tuberous species, is a member of the Berberis family, as a closer examination of the 6-petalled flowers will confirm.
Despite emerging early, this is a very tough and hardy little plant. Both the leaf growth and flowers will take ice and snow with impunity. One thing it does need is perfect drainage however. Having said this, we prefer to keep it under glass, in a pan, but simply in order to appreciate its superb, early flowers. These are both nectar-rich and honey-scented. You can fit several in even a small pan as the tubers seldom exceed 2cm in diameter.
We do not have a photograph but you can find more about this fascinating species in a paper by Pavel Sekerka.