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One of those things that just came up in a packet of seed of something else. Delightful in august, long before I want to think about autumn, although the garden is already
brandishing its cyclamen like a warning placard. The species occurs in Spain, Portugal and North Africa but the centre of distribution seems to be Morocco. It started flowering at the beginning of July this year, and was still going strong in October. In the wild the leaves die down at the end of spring and the autumn flowers spring naked from the ground. In cultivation it tends to be moister in the summer, and the leaves persist for most of the year (though they are looking really ragged by the end of autumn). It is perfectly hardy here, but I haven't tried it outside. I'm not sure that I have a corner that is sufficiently controlled to try a tiny bulb like this. I might try it in a raised planter, it seeds so freely that I have plenty to spare. The tiny white flowers are one of the fresh delights of summer, appearing as temperatures hit a peak but they are also one of the first signs of the autumn to come. Cambridge Botanic Garden say: "Related to the more familiar daffodil, this member of the Amaryllidaceae has 6 petaloid tepals typical of the family. Acis autumnalis, or Leucojum autumnalis as it used to be known, is a bulbous species with slender foliage. Leafless flower stems reach 20cm in height and have a reddish tip, and produce up to 4 bell-shaped white flowers, each with a red-flushed halo at the base. A Mediterranean species, it grows in poor soils in scrub and on rocky hillsides, where it often occurs in small groups. It can be grown in the open garden, rock garden or alpine trough if in a sunny spot with plenty of grit. The common name for this species is autumn snowflake." iNaturalist says: "Acis autumnalis was first described by Carl Linnaeus in 1753, as Leucojum autumnale. Richard Anthony Salisbury in 1807 in The Paradisus Londinensis was the first to suggest putting Leucojum autumnale in a new genus, Acis, although he did not actually use the name Acis autumnale, which was first published in 1829 by Robert Sweet. Most later botanists did not accept the distinction between Leucojum and Acis. The genus, and with it Acis autumnalis, was reinstated in 2004, after it was determined on morphological and molecular grounds that, when broadly defined, Leucojum is paraphyletic. Acis autumnalis was first described by Carl Linnaeus in 1753, as Leucojum autumnale.[4] Richard Anthony Salisbury in 1807 in The Paradisus Londinensis was the first to suggest putting Leucojum autumnale in a new genus, Acis,[5] although he did not actually use the name Acis autumnale, which was first published in 1829 by Robert Sweet.[6] Most later botanists did not accept the distinction between Leucojum and Acis.[3][7] The genus, and with it Acis autumnalis, was reinstated in 2004, after it was determined on morphological and molecular grounds that, when broadly defined, Leucojum is paraphyletic.[7] The species has been divided into a number of varieties, differing in minor characters. For example, A. autumnalis var. diphyllum from North Africa has two spathes. The World Checklist of Selected Plant Families regards all the varieties as part of a single species." |
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| 21st August 2006 | ||
