Flora-Fauna

Crocus ochroleucus Boiss. & Gaill.

(First published in Diagn. Pl. Orient. ser. 2, 4: 93 (1859); Nouvelle Flore du Liban et de la Syrie, vol. 1; 1966)

• Life-form & habit : Perennial cormous geophyte; corm small, ovoid to subglobose, covered with brown membranous to fibrous tunics; plant low, flowering close to ground level.

• Leaves : Leaves narrow, linear, appearing with or shortly after the flowers, dark green with a pale median stripe, strongly channelled, usually 4–6 per corm.

• Inflorescence & flowers : Flowers solitary or few from each corm; perianth tube long and slender; tepals cream-white to pale yellowish-white, usually with a deeper yellow throat; anthers pale; style divided into orange to yellow-orange branches.

• Fruit : Capsule ellipsoid, developing near ground level after flowering; seeds small, rounded, brownish.

• Phenology : Flowers from October to December, usually after the first autumn rains; fruiting in late winter to spring.

• Habitat & elevation : Rocky slopes, open limestone ground, thin soils and montane grasslands; from low elevations to middle mountain zones.

• Lebanese distribution : Widespread in Lebanon, especially in rocky and open habitats of Mount Lebanon and adjacent districts.

• Native range : Lebanon-Syria, Palestine.

• Diagnostic remarks : Easily recognised by its autumn flowering and cream-white flowers with a yellow throat; differs from violet-flowered regional Crocus species by its pale perianth and orange style branches.