''Crocus sieberi'', Sieber's crocus, also referred to as the Cretan crocus or snow crocus (as is ''

Crocus chrysanthus ''Crocus chrysanthus'', the snow crocus or golden crocus, is a species of flowering plant in the family ''Iridaceae''. Description ''C. chrysanthus'' bears vivid orange-yellow bowl-shaped flowers, and it has smaller corms and a smaller flower ...

''), is a

plant Plants are the eukaryotes that form the Kingdom (biology), kingdom Plantae; they are predominantly Photosynthesis, photosynthetic. This means that they obtain their energy from sunlight, using chloroplasts derived from endosymbiosis with c ...

of the genus ''

Crocus ''Crocus'' (; plural: crocuses or croci) is a genus of seasonal flowering plants in the family Iridaceae (iris family) comprising about 100 species of perennial plant, perennials growing from corms. They are low growing plants, whose flower stem ...

'' in the family

Iridaceae Iridaceae () is a family of plants in order Asparagales, taking its name from the Iris (plant), irises. It has a nearly global distribution, with 69 accepted genera with a total of about 2500 species. It includes a number of economically importan ...

. 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 A tepal is one of the outer parts of a flower (collectively the perianth). The term is used when these parts cannot easily be classified as either sepals or petals. This may be because the parts of the perianth are undifferentiated (i.e. of very ...

. It grows wild generally in the Balkans:

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

, especially in the island of Crete,

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

Albania Albania ( ; or ), officially the Republic of Albania (), is a country in Southeast Europe. It is located in the Balkans, on the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea, and shares land borders with Montenegro to ...

and

North Macedonia North Macedonia, officially the Republic of North Macedonia, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe. It shares land borders with Greece to the south, Albania to the west, Bulgaria to the east, Kosovo to the northwest and Serbia to the n ...

. There are four subtypes: ''sieberi'' (

Crete Crete ( ; , Modern Greek, Modern: , Ancient Greek, Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the List of islands by area, 88th largest island in the world and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fifth la ...

), ''atticus'' (

Attica Attica (, ''Attikḗ'' (Ancient Greek) or , or ), or the Attic Peninsula, is a historical region that encompasses the entire Athens metropolitan area, which consists of the city of Athens, the capital city, capital of Greece and the core cit ...

area around

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

), ''nivalis'' and ''sublimis''. Its

cultivars A cultivar is a kind of cultivated plant that people have selected for desired traits and which retains those traits when propagated. Methods used to propagate cultivars include division, root and stem cuttings, offsets, grafting, tissue cult ...

are used as

ornamental plant Ornamental plants or ''garden plants'' are plants that are primarily grown for their beauty but also for qualities such as scent or how they shape physical space. Many flowering plants and garden varieties tend to be specially bred cultivars th ...

s. Height: .

Subspecies

There are four subspecies of ''C. sieberi''. * ''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. * ''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. 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. * ''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. * ''Crocus sieberi'' subsp. ''nivalis'' - Native to the Peloponnese with lilac-blue flowers that have yellow throats.

Uses

''Crocus sieberi ''is cultivated in gardens as an ornamental plant for its flowers. It has also been used as food; in

the corms are eaten raw - with the flavor said to resemble

hazelnut The hazelnut is the fruit of the hazel tree and therefore includes any of the nuts deriving from species of the genus '' Corylus'', especially the nuts of the species ''Corylus avellana''. They are also known as cobnuts or filberts according to ...

s. In

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

, the leaves are eaten as greens.

Cultivars

Examples: *'Bowles's White' (white with orange centre) *'Firefly' (lilac) *'Hubert Edelsten' 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' (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 The Peloponnese ( ), Peloponnesus ( ; , ) or Morea (; ) is a peninsula and geographic region in Southern Greece, and the southernmost region of the Balkans. It is connected to the central part of the country by the Isthmus of Corinth land bridg ...

. Plants are more variable than the cultivar 'Tricolor', with bright lilac flowers that have bright orange throats and a white band. The cultivars marked have gained the

Royal Horticultural Society The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), founded in 1804 as the Horticultural Society of London, is the UK's leading gardening charity. The RHS promotes horticulture through its five gardens at Wisley (Surrey), Hyde Hall (Essex), Harlow Carr ...

Award of Garden Merit The Award of Garden Merit (AGM) is a long-established award for plants by the British Royal Horticultural Society (RHS). It is based on assessment of the plants' performance under UK growing conditions. It includes the full range of cultivated p ...

. File: Crocus sieberi Bowles White1.jpg, ''Crocus sieberi'' subsp. ''atticus'' 'Bowles White' File: Crocus_sieberi - tricolor.jpg, ''Crocus sieberi'' corms

References

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

External links

IPNI Listing

Kew Plant List
sieberi Garden plants Flora of Bulgaria Flora of Greece Plants described in 1831 Taxa named by Jaques Étienne Gay {{Iridaceae-stub