Crocus tommasinianus

{{Speciesbox

|image = Crocus tommasinianus (Xytram).jpg

|taxon = Crocus tommasinianus

|authority = Herb.

|synonyms ={{species list |Crocus vernus var. tommasinianus|(Herb.) Nyman

|Crocus serbicus|A.Kern. ex Maw

|Crocus tommasinianus f. jeremicii|Randjel.}}

|synonyms_ref =

}}

Crocus tommasinianus, the woodland crocus,{{PLANTS|id=CRTO8|taxon=Crocus tommasinianus|accessdate=17 January 2016}} early crocus,{{BSBI 2007 |accessdate=2014-10-17 }} or Tommasini's crocus, is a species of flowering plant in the family Iridaceae.{{cite web |url= https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:436740-1 |title= Crocus tommasinianus Herb. |author= |date=n.d. |website=Plants of the World Online |publisher=The Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew |access-date=30 November 2024}}{{cite web |url= https://www.catalogueoflife.org/data/taxon/ZL48 |title= Crocus tommasinianus Herb. |author= |date=n.d. |website=Catalogue of Life |publisher=Species 2000 |access-date=30 November 2024}} It is named after the botanist Muzio G. Spirito de Tommasini (1794–1879). It is native to Bulgaria, Hungary, Albania, and the former Yugoslavia.{{cite web |url=http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/namedetail.do?name_id=327764 |title=Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families}} It is often referred to as the early or snow crocus, but these terms are shared with several other species, although C. tommasinianus is amongst the first to bloom. Multiple plants are often called tommies in the horticultural trade.{{cite web | url = http://gardenersapprentice.com/gardeningtips/tommie-crocus/ | title = Tommie Crocus | date = 14 March 2016 | publisher = The Gardener's Apprentice | access-date = 24 January 2022}}

Description

It is a cormous perennial of the genus Crocus in the family Iridaceae with a lilac flower, and is one of the smaller of the cultivated species. It has slender flowers about {{convert|2|-|4|cm|0|abbr=on}} long, with white perianth tubes, petals (6) pale silvery lilac to reddish purple, while the outer petals may be overlaid with silver and darker tips. A variant, C. tommasinianus f. albus, is white. Its cultivars are used as ornamental plants. Height: {{convert|3|in|0|abbr=on}}

Habitat

The species is found growing around 1000 meters in woods and on shady hillsides, commonly on limestone with flowering occurring in January and February; the narrow leaves are fully developed by the time the purple flowers with white tubes blooms.{{Cite book|last=Phillips|first=Roger|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/19922564|title=The Random House book of bulbs|date=1989|publisher=Random House|others=Martyn Rix, Brian Mathew|isbn=0-679-72756-6|location=New York|oclc=19922564|page=19}}

Cultivation

It naturalizes easily earning an official recognition as a weed and is naturalized in the US state of Delaware.{{Cite journal|last1=Serviss|first1=Brett E.|last2=Peck|first2=James H.|last3=Benjamin|first3=Kristen R.|title=Crocus Flavus: A New Genus and Species of Non-Native Iridaceae for the Arkansas (U.s.a.) Flora |date=2016|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/44858594|journal=Journal of the Botanical Research Institute of Texas|volume=10|issue=2|pages=513–516|jstor=44858594 |issn=1934-5259}} It is often planted in large drifts in gardens and parks.

This plant has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.{{cite web |title=Crocus tommasinianus |url=https://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/25699/Crocus-tommasinianus/Details |website=RHS Gardening |publisher=Royal Horticultural Society |accessdate=2020-04-17}}

Cultivars

File:Crocus(loz).JPG

Examples:

'Barr's Purple' (amethyst violet)
'Lilac Beauty' (purple)
'Roseus' (Pink Snow)
'Ruby Giant' (purple)
'Whitewell Purple' (silvery reddish purple flowers, pale mauve on the inside)

References

External links

[http://www.paghat.com/crocustommasinianus.html Paghat's Garden]
[https://web.archive.org/web/20160303202623/http://www.theplantexpert.com/springbulbs/Crocus4.html The Plant Expert]
[https://www.bbc.co.uk/gardening/plants/plant_finder/plant_pages/240.shtml BBC]
[http://www.thealpinehouse.fsnet.co.uk/crocus%20pages/ Alpine House - Crocus Group] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090223080638/http://www.thealpinehouse.fsnet.co.uk/crocus%20pages/ |date=2009-02-23 }}
[http://www.theplantlist.org/tpl/record/kew-327764 Kew Plant List]

tommasinianus

Category:Garden plants

Category:Flora of Europe

Category:Plants described in 1847

Category:Taxa named by William Herbert (botanist)