Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Pretty picture: Scilla NOID Puschkinia scilloides var. libanotica

One of our suppliers sells us pre-made bulb gardens from time to time, which usually contain some daffodils (often Narcissus 'Tete a Tete'), some Crocuses, and some Scillas Puschkinias. I see lots of the daffodils, and quite a few Crocuses, but by the time the Scilla Puschkinia flowers open, the pot has already sold, or else work is crazy and I just can't get a moment to stop and take a picture. And then the pot sells. The stars aligned last Friday, though, and we had a bloom and a spare moment, so now there's a picture.

Picture can be viewed much larger if opened in a new window.

I'm glad I got it: in person, I'd never noticed some of the details, like the stripe down the center of the petals. And how often do you see blue pollen?


6 comments:

equipaje said...

Hello Mr. S. :)

Scilla sibirica, maybe?

mr_subjunctive said...

Perhaps. I confess I wasn't that interested in pinning down the precise species for this one.

And even if I were, I wouldn't have had the time. This spring at work is turning into a real wrist-slitter.

Don said...

Puschkinia scilloides var. libanotica

Gardeness said...

I see why it sells quickly. It's very sweet.

GaryG said...

This flower has the white flower with blue vein and the same leaf structure but the center of the flower is slightly different. Can you tell if mine is the same?
Scilla pushkina

mr_subjunctive said...

GaryG:

I can't tell. It doesn't look quite the same to me -- the flowers seem smaller and closer together on your picture than on mine (you can see other photos I've taken of Puschkinia here), and I agree that the center of the flowers doesn't look the same. On the other hand, it could just be that your photo was taken earlier in the development of the flower spike, or something like that.

If I had to guess, I'd guess that it's not the same thing, but this isn't really my area of expertise, either. If you're looking for a positive ID, I'd suggest checking the davesgarden.com pages for Scilla and Puschkinia, and failing that, try posting your question at the UBC forum under the appropriate category (requires free registration).