Thanks to Nhu Nguyen aka xerantheum@Flickr (original) for today's photograph of a cultivated plant in California. Much appreciated!
In many of the online articles about Chilean blue crocus (not a true crocus), you may learn that it was thought to have been extinct in the wild since the 1950s due to overcollecting (for ornamental purposes), grazing and habitat loss. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Corporación Nacional Forestal (CONAF) initiated a plan around 2001 to reintroduce the species back into wild from the existing cultivated material. However, a survey of the genetic diversity of the cultivated material first needed to be done: Maunder, M. et al. 2001. The genetic status and conservation management of two cultivated bulb species extinct in the wild: Tecophilaea cyanocrocus (Chile) and Tulipa sprengeri (Turkey). Conservation Genetics. 2(3):193-201. For Tecophilaea cyanocrocus, the researchers learned that the genetic diversity from single sources (where presumably propagation was clonal or highly inbred) had little genetic diversity, but variation increased as more sources of cultivated material were found and analyzed.
However, at the same time as these studies were being done, a native population was located in its native Chile (the mountains near Santiago): Eyzaguiree, MT and Garcia De La Huerta, R. 2002. Tecophilaea cyanocrocus Leyb. (Tecophilaeceae) Rediscovered In Its Natural Habitat. Gayana Bot. [online]. 59(2): 73-77. ISSN 0717-6643. If you click through to the article (Spanish only), you will find photographs of a mass bloom of the species in habitat.
For those of you interested in cultivating it (and please, only from previously cultivated material), this article from the International Bulb Society on Tecophilaea cyanocrocus gives details about how to successfully propagate it.
Photography resource link (for local readers): Ron Long is presenting on "Photographing Flowers" this Thursday (Feb. 5) for this month's South Coast Group meeting of the Native Plant Society of BC.
can i post botany photo the day from India.
i mean i wish to post a photo of indian plants everyday.
is it possible. if yes then please tell me the procedure and other formalities that need to be followed.
What an amazing blue color. Chile seems to have a really wonderful assortment of wild plants. If I were to try and grow this in my hometown here in India, how could I make an educated guess as to whether this plant is likely to become invasive where I live? Seems unlikely but I'd like to make sure.
An amazing color, indeed. I love the one of them on the ground at the site that's in Spanish. It looks like they grow on almost nothing.
Another reason blue is my favorite color. Thanks.
I don't think I've ever seen such a vibrant blue in a flower before! Amazing. I can see why people would over pick them! Stunning.
Fabulous blue that reminds me of a Himalayan blue poppy's colour. There is still hope out there for endangered species now that some people have become aware of what has already been lost and make the effort to correct some of the damage we have done.
Wow! This is gorgeous!
Thanks so much Daniel for posting the info. It's amazing to see them in habitat like that! The photos in the article are of T. cyanocrocus var. lechtlinii. The one featured on this page is just plain T. cyanocrocus. There is another variety violacea which has a more purplish color.
There are available sources for this species these days, and they can be ordered over the internet. Many are vegetatively cultivated because it takes many years to flower from seeds. However, for this lovely blue, bulb lovers do not mind growing from seeds. For this same reason, they may not become invasive outside of habitat. Successful cultivation require a completely dry summer dormancy and a cool (never freezing) and wet winter. Telos Rare Bulbs is a great legitimate source for these plants.
Nice work Daniel, and great photo, Nhu.
This is another of those "grail" plants that I've tried again and again to successfully cultivate (ie. raise to flowering), in this botanical garden. It is a testament to the fact that there are still many organisms out there that remain (I had typed "to be discovered", but that implies they needed to be found by us in the first place), in spite of humans' agressive tendencies.
i do enjoy this web site
hard freeze in florida tonight
With single digit temperatures in Pennsylvania this morning, this photo reminding me of Spring was a joy to see. Thank you.
What a beauty blue photograph. Blues are hard to take and get true rich colours. I always enjoy the infromation. This really brightend my day,as it is very cold here in Massachusetts.
Thank You,
Margaret-Rae