CROCUS BORYI

Family and Genus:- See- IRIDACEAE

Common Names:- None

Homotypic Synonyms:- Crocus boryanus, Crocus boryanus var.

cephalonensis, Crocus laevigatus var. boryi, Crocus laevigatus subsp. boryi.

Meaning:- Crocus (Gr) Thread, (reference to the stigmas of Crocus sativus).

Boryi (L) Possibly for the French naturalist Jean Baptiste Bory de

Saint-Vincent (1778-1846).

General description:- Bulbous plants, stem very short, below ground.

Corm:-

1) Broadly ovoid, 10-18 mm in diam.; tunics membranous to coriaceous, smooth,

pale brown, sometimes splitting at the base into parallel fibres.

Leaves:-

1) 3-7, synanthous, 1-2.5 mm wide, dark green with white median stripe.

Flowers:-

1) Creamy-white, sometimes slightly veined externally with purple, rarely tinged with

lilac, throat glabrous, slightly papillose.

2) Bract, and bracteole subequal, membranous, white, sometimes green at the

apex, well-exserted from the scale-like cataphylls.

3) Perianth-tube, 2-15 cm, white, segments 1·5-5 x 0·4-2·3 cm, elliptical to obovate.

4) Filaments, minutely papillose; yellow, usually glabrous.

5) Anthers, creamy-white.

6) Style, yellow to deep orange, equalling or exceeding the stamens, dissected into

many slender branches.

Fruit:-

1) Capsule, 0·5-1 cm, subglobose to broadly ellipsoid.

Key features:-

1) Flowers, creamy-white, sometimes veined or tinged with purple; closing in dim

light.

2) Filaments, papillose-pubescent.

Click here for a glossary of terms used.

Comment:-

Close to C. tournefortii, but usually distinct on account of its snow-white flowers and

relatively short style branches. Sometimes growing in mixed populations with

C. laevigatus (white forms of the latter are best distinguished on the bulb tunics).1)

1) "Atlas of the Aegean Flora" Book1, Arne Strid 2016.

Habitat:- In soil pockets on rocky limestone slopes with open dry shrubby

vegetation, occasionally olive groves, fallow terraces or open pinewoods. 0-900(-

1500) m.

Distribution:- Endemic S. & W. Greece, S. Aegean region. Its main area on Crete

is across the extreme eastern end from coast to coast and a few scattered

locations in the west between 150 and 550 m.

Flowering time:- Sept-Dec.

Photos by:- Steve Lenton