Despite centuries of plant hunting and botanical science
many new are plants are still being described and I’m sure many of us would
love to discover a beautiful new flower or to have one named for ourselves. Well I’m delighted to say I now have the
honour of both. In 2010 I visited the
little explored Anti-Taurus Mountains near Malatya. The tour I was leading with Basak had been
delayed by the infamous Icelandic volcano so we arrived in May rather than
April. Searching for flowers on a pass I
came across a small bellevalia with distinctive broad leaves which was quite
unlike any I’d seen before. Searching
further afield we came across more and better specimens. A couple were collected and despatched to the
botanical garden in Istanbul, but nothing happened with these. In 2012 I returned to the same location, this
time with the experienced and respected Turkish botanist Mehmet Koyucu and I
showed him the bellevalia, which were in fine flower at the time and he quickly
came to the same conclusion as me that they represented something new. Again a few more were collected and this time
they were looked at thoroughly. Initially
it was thought to be a form of Bellevalia
glauca (known from northern Iraq – a long way away) but closer examination
by a team of four Turkish botanists – Hasan Yildirim, Yusuf Altioğlu, Bilal Şahin
and Serdar Aslan - suggested it was not this species and it has now been
formerly described as the new and rare Bellevalia
chrisii. It is closely related to Bellevalia crassa and rixii and is known only from the type
locality. Worrying for me is the small
population of only a couple of hundred plants – I could easily go extinct! In fact I have genuine concern – upon the
discovery of Sternbergia candida in the
1970s within no time many were
offered for sale and hundreds stripped from accessible locations. Anyone offered this species in the next few
years can be sure they were stolen from the wild, so please don’t buy them I’d
like to last a while longer!
Naturally the species features in the Flowers of the Silk
Road which is now due for publication in May.
Below are three images of ‘my treasure’ at its’ best.
Chris Gardner, 22nd April 2014
Chris Gardner, 22nd April 2014
