Bulbs and dionysias - Iran in April (3)

10 comments

After three nights at Semirom, we checked out of our hotel, hoping the next one would be a little more comfortable. Our destination was Chelgerd with a few plant stops on the way.

First another dionysia, D. bolivari, showing how they grow on rocks to avoid excessive heat and rain

Later we found my ‘star’ plant of the trip, gladiolus atroviolaceus

The prize for the flower with the worst scent went to eminium lehmannii

Another fritillary, F. persica, with our route through the Karaba Pass in the background

Tulipa polychroma is similar to T. biflora, but only has one flower head per stem

We arrived in Chelgerd to a red carpet welcome and three nights of luxury

Next morning, we started with dionysia archibaldii. Ironically, many dionysias grow in inaccessible places high on rockfaces, but this one grew at eye level yet had only been discovered and named in the last few years

Corydalis verticillaris is variable in colour, but this was a good form

Next we visited a small canyon, totally invisible from the road. Here was growing another dionysia, probably D. lamingtonii

And under it puschkinia scilloides which grows happily in my own garden. How can such a prima donna and an easy-going plant share the same home?

Two colour forms of merendera wendelboi (closely related to colchicums)

We continued through the Kuhrang valley, dotted with a few small villages and farmsteads

Here grew scilla persica

Fritillaria persica comes in two colour forms, and now we saw the second, paler, form

There are several orthithogalums that grow in Iran, but we only saw one in flower, O. sigmoidium

Finally in this section, fritillaria reuteri. This breaks all the rules by growing in sopping wet soil all year round

To be continued ….

• 23 Apr, 2017
• 6 likes

More blog posts by AndrewR