Crocus sieberi explained

Crocus sieberi, Sieber's crocus, also referred to as the Cretan crocus or snow crocus (as is Crocus chrysanthus), is a plant of the genus Crocus in the family Iridaceae. A small, early blooming crocus, it easily naturalises, and is marked by a brilliant orange which is mostly confined to the stamens and style, fading through the bottom third of the tepal. It grows wild generally in the Balkans: Greece, especially in the island of Crete, Bulgaria, Albania and North Macedonia. There are four subtypes: sieberi (Crete), atticus (Attica area around Athens), nivalis and sublimis. Its cultivars are used as ornamental plants. Height: 3inches-4inchesin (-in).

Subspecies

There are four subspecies of C. sieberi.^[1]

• Crocus sieberi subsp. sieberi - Native to Crete: flowering in April. The white flowers with yellow throats stand up to 8 cm, the outer surfaces of the flowers are marked with varying degrees of purple. The branched styles are deep orange or yellow.^[1]
• Crocus sieberi subsp. atticus - Native to the Attica region of Greece, it has lilac-blue or violet flowers with yellow throats. The corm tunics are more coarsely netted than the other subspecies.^[1] It is found growing in stony areas in the mountains and in woods and scrub areas usually above 1000 meters, with flowering occurring from March to June.^[2]
• Crocus sieberi subsp. sublimis - Native to the Peloponnese, southern Albania, North Macedonia, and also found in southern Bulgaria, has pale lilac flowers with pale yellow throats.^[1]
• Crocus sieberi subsp. nivalis - Native to the Peloponnese with lilac-blue flowers that have yellow throats.^[1]

Uses

Crocus sieberi is cultivated in gardens as an ornamental plant for its flowers. It has also been used as food; in Greece the corms are eaten raw - with the flavor said to resemble hazelnuts. In Turkey, the leaves are eaten as greens.^[1]

Cultivars

Examples:

• 'Bowles's White'^[3] (white with orange centre)
• 'Firefly' (lilac)
• 'Hubert Edelsten'^[4] is a cross between Crocus sieberi subsp. sieberi and Crocus sieberi subsp. atticus. (outside deep purple with broad white bands, inside pale lilac with orange center)
• 'Ronald Ginns' (pale pink to white petals with dark purple feathering on the outside and a yellow throat)
• 'Tricolor'^[5] (gold centre, middle white band, outer rich lilac-blue edge)
• 'Violet Queen' (deep amethyst-violet flowers, paler within, with a rich, golden centre)
• Crocus sieberi subsp. sublimis forma tricolor burtt. - from Mt. Chelmos in the northern Peloponnese. Plants are more variable than the cultivar 'Tricolor', with bright lilac flowers that have bright orange throats and a white band.^[6]

The cultivars marked have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.

References

• Jānis Rukšāns. Buried treasures: finding and growing the world's choicest bulbs, Timber Press, 2007.

External links

• The Plant Expert
• Paghat's Garden
• IPNI Listing
• Kew Plant List

Notes and References

1. Web site: Crocus sieberi J.Gay Plants of the World Online Kew Science. 2022-01-12. Plants of the World Online. en.
2. Book: Phillips, Roger. The Random House book of bulbs. 1989. Random House. Martyn Rix, Brian Mathew. 0-679-72756-6. New York. 19922564. 19.
3. Web site: RHS Plant Selector - Crocus sieberi 'Bowles's White'. 15 April 2020.
4. Web site: RHS Plant Selector - Crocus sieberi 'Hubert Edelsten'. 15 April 2020.
5. Web site: RHS Plant Selector - Crocus sieberi subsp. sublimis 'Tricolor'. 15 April 2020.
6. Book: Ruksans, Janis. Crocuses: A Complete Guide to the Genus. 2011-01-12. Timber Press. 978-1-60469-106-1. en.