Description
Described in 1970 (Bot. Zhurn. (Moscow & Leningrad) 55: 1193 (1970.)) this rare species is known only from Lagodechi in Georgia, where it is a very limited endemic. In Georgia it grows in Fagus orientalis forest. Its closest relative, based on DNA sequencing, appears to be the Balkan G. maloi (syn. G. scipetarum).
It has large and beautifully conspicuous, vivid yellow flowers early in the spring, on very short stems.
These are seed-raised from plants traceable to the original find from which the plant was described. The parents were obtained from a Georgian botanical garden. The plants have been grown now for a few years outside, without any protection, and they seem to be tolerant of moisture all of the year round, as long as the soil is not permanently soggy or wet. A well-drained, loam based compost with added coarse sand and rotted humus is ideal. It likes to grow in light shade as it does in nature though in keeping with this natural theme, it is best given full light in early spring (when the Fagus trees would be leafless), during flowering. This keeps the flower stems shorter.
