Description
Normally we have just a few bulbs of this form, which is always in demand as it is the darkest flowered of all of the martagon forms, with intense purple-pink, burgundy-red and violet-purple blooms. This year (2022) the crop is much better and the price is reduced accordingly.
It is true-breeding but as the plant is a geographical variant only, so it is variable, that is just how nature is, cattaniae is not a clone. The colour shade can veer to pink-violet in one direction and rarely to near black in the other, thus the flowers may not match a particular picture of one, selected, especially dark colour form that you have seen somewhere on the Internet.
We have it in part shade under pruned trees, in a humus-rich soil but it will grow in a variety of similar habitats and situations, given good fertility, decent drainage and humus-rich soil, for perfection.
