Nomenclature

Species name :

Crocus longiflorus  Rafinesque

Authority :

Constantine Samuel Rafinesque-Schmaltz, Turkey/France/Sicily, 1783-1840

Synonyms :

Plant Family :

Iridaceae  Juss.
(Iris Family)

English name(s) :

Yellow-throated Crocus

Maltese name(s) :

Żagħfran selvaġġ skars

Status for Malta :

Subendemic. Found in Malta and neighbouring territories such as in south Sicily, Lampedusa, Pantelleria, etc.

Name Derivation :

Crocus = Saffron (Latin);
longiflorus = Long flowered, referring to the long neck of the flower (Latin).

Remarks :

-

Morphology and structure

Plant description and characters

Life Cycle:

Perennial.

Growth Form:

GEOPHYTE (bearing underground bulbs, rhizomes, stolons, etc.)

Habitat:

Grassy land in rocky places and garigue.

Frequency:

Rare

Localities in Malta:

Very Rare but locally frequent in one area at the South-South West of Malta (ie. Dingli Cliffs, Ghar il-Kbir, Girgenti).

Plant Height:

15cm.

Flowering Period:

Nov-Dec

Protection in Malta:

Not Protected by Law (LN200/2011 or LN311/2006)

Red List 1989:

This species has a threatened status and is listed in the Red Data Book of the Maltese Islands

Poison:

Unlikely to be poisonous.

This low (10cm approx) perennial grows from underground brown and fibrous corms. Around the start of Autumn, the vegetative corm start developing the reproductive flower. The flower grows directly from the corm with no real stalks or stems. The stalk-like structure is actually the long neck of the flower. The leaves also grow directly from the corm and strangely they develop fully just at or after blossoming of the flowers.

The leaves are simple and variably long (about 5-10cm), thin (2 to 3mm), have an entire outline and a characteristic central white stripe running longitudinally along the leaf axis. The shape of these leaves is sometimes described as ensiform, hence having the shape of sword-blade.

If the leaf is simple, the flower is not! It is highly coloured, sweet scented, and attractive. It is made up of 6 petals of a pale violet / lilac colour, but no sepals. At the outer side there is a pattern of pinnate dark-violet/purple veins which are less prominent at the inside part of the petal. The petals are mostly un-fused, but they constrict and then join at the 'base' of the flower to form a thin tube which goes further down under the soil to the corn. At along half way its length. the flower tube is protected by a whitish to pale green sheath which also supports the flower neck.

At the zone where the petals constrict to form a tube, hence at a region referred to as the throat, there is a yellow coloration, more prominent from inside of the flower, but still noticable from the exterior. At the throat region, 3 stamens are joined to the 3 petals (= the inner whorl of 6 corolla tepals). The stamens are erect, and have a rod-shaped anther which is bright yellow in colour. The female part is more contrasting, having a bright orange-red colour, prominent, and the style divides to three branches of stigma which have short lobed ends. The style goes down the flower neck until it reaches the ovary located under the soil.

The ovaries develop into the seed capsule (the fruit) which open up in March, when the seeds are ripe. The young fruit can be difficult to locate since it is found at or just above ground level. The fruit capsule is an ovate structure, about 1cm long and dull green. When ripe it splits longitudinally into 3 parts bearing the orange or reddish-brown seeds. The seeds are subspherical in shape and measure about 2mm.

Information, uses and other details

Sub-endemic species

This plant is found in few places around the central Mediterranean region and so it is nearly an endemic species to Malta, or what is referred to as sub-endemic. Apart from Malta it is only found in Egadi islands (West of Sicily), some parts of Sicily and South Italy mostly in Calabria, Murge, Basilic. a Serraneta, Pollino, Sila, Rosarno, Mongiana, Serra S, R nel Salern. (Monte di Stella, Monte Sacro), Bruno and also in Dalmazia. Reports that it was seen in Tunisia, were false. [WWW-42]

Propagation

Once the leaves have died down, the corms can be lifted and separated for replanting. Seeds may also be sown in pots of sandy soil in the fall and placed in a cold frame. The seedlings grow very slowly, however, and will not bloom for several years. [WWW-43]

Uses for Saffron

The spice saffron comes mainly from the stigma of a closely related Crocus, thus the C. sativus. This species is cultivated purposely to extract saffron. However a paper reports that C. longiflorus also have very similar characteristics of producing saffron like the C. sativus. The paper by Casoria et al, 1996 called a preliminary note on an interesting species of crocus (Crocus longiflorus, Iridaceae) similar to Saffron (C. sativus) discusses a wild crocus in the Salerno region of Italy that local people use like saffron. Chemical tests show that C. longiflorus contains some of the same coloring and flavoring agents as true saffron. Interestingly, C. longiflorus reproduces sexually, unlike C. sativus. Further studies might show that the two species are related. [299]

Personal Observations

Species in danger of disappearing from the Maltese islands
It has been reported by many botanists, namely E. Lanfranco [300] that this plant is continually decreasing in number from our islands, mainly due to land management and bad disposing of rubble in the environment. It is very difficult to resist the temptation of not picking up this wonderful, colourful and scented flower, but bear in mind that this species is in danger of disappearing from our country and must NOT BE PICKED UP at all costs. Apart from the fact that the plant is attractive and scented, another factor which acts against the plant is that of growing low and one is more encouraged to cut it up to look closer without bowing down. Additionally each individual plant may develop only 2 - 3 flowers in its life cycle and so it is more important to leave the flowers to perform their reproductive process. Unfortunately, seed production and dispersion in the wild is not much effective for this plant either.

So, avoid picking this wild, sub-endemic and rather endangered, flowering wild plant. [SM]

Photo Gallery   (40 Images)

IMAGE: CRCLF-01

Photo of the whole plant consisting of a few narrow leaves and a single violet flower.

IMAGE: CRCLF-02

Photo of flower made up of six violet petals, 3 yellow anthers and a bright red (saffron) style which sub-divides into 3 stigma.

IMAGE: CRCLF-03

Photo of flower taken in November 2007.

IMAGE: CRCLF-04

Close up photo of flower showing the detail of the anthers and the feathery stigmas. In the shade, the corolla takes the bluish hue.

IMAGE: CRCLF-05

Scanned image of flower against a dark background.

IMAGE: CRCLF-06

Scanned image of young flower showing the stamens and style.

IMAGE: CRCLF-07

The external surface of the petals is lilac with violet veins. The veins are not conspicuous on the inner face of the tepals. There is also a yellow collar at the throat (constriction) of the flower.

IMAGE: CRCLF-08

Scanned lateral view image of the flower. The dark purple veins on the external surface persist down towards the flower's long neck. This becomes covered by protective silvery-white sheath.

IMAGE: CRCLF-09

Magnified scanned image of the flower with some petals dissected off to show the arrangement of the 3 stamens and the 3-branched style.

IMAGE: CRCLF-10

Magnified scanned image of flower's reproductive organs -the three yellow stamens and the bright orange style which subdivides into three long stigmas ending with lobed of fimbriated ends.

IMAGE: CRCLF-11

Magnified scanned image of the three stamens adnexed (joined) to the base of three tepals. They produce large quantity of yellow pollen which gets easily trapped on the insects body when they visit the flower to search for nectar.

IMAGE: CRCLF-12

Magnified scanned image of the style and stigma. Like many crocuses species the stigma is highly coloured and conspicuous. It subdivides into 3 branched stigma each having fimbriated ends. In few crocuses, like the C. sativus the stigmata are the main part of the plant from which saffron is produced.

IMAGE: CRCLF-13

Photo of the linear leaves, 3-4 mm wide, bearing a smooth outline and decorated with a white central stripe.

IMAGE: CRCLF-14

Photo of the leaves in situ (pic 2).

IMAGE: CRCLF-15

Photo of bud showing the beautiful pattern of the dark violet veins present on the abaxial (outer0 surface of the petals. This photo is taken from http://www.bulb.biz/HardyBulbs/.

IMAGE: CRCLF-16

Photo of underground corm. The shape and coating of the corm is important to distinguish between various crocuses.

IMAGE: CRCLF-17

Photo of the attrtactive flowers from a large population located in Dingli-Siggiewi area.

IMAGE: CRCLF-18

Photo of flower in situ.

IMAGE: CRCLF-19

Photo of 2 plants and their leaves emerging out from the soil.

IMAGE: CRCLF-20

Side view photo of flower showing its slender long neck decorated by white / purple longitudinal stripes. Flower height is about 12cm. The name longiflorus referes to the long neck of the flower.

IMAGE: CRCLF-21

Photo of the colourful flower in situ. Note the fimbriated ends of the stigma branches.

IMAGE: CRCLF-22

Photo of the attractive 6-tepal flower in its typical rocky habitat.

IMAGE: CRCLF-23

Photo of plant in shallow soil of rock basins (solution pans) in karst rock.

IMAGE: CRCLF-24

Photo of plant in its habitat.

IMAGE: CRCLF-25

Photo of three flowers in situ. They attain a reddish-purple colour during sunset - that is when this photo was taken.

IMAGE: CRCLF-26

Photo of a bud just before blossoming.

IMAGE: CRCLF-27

Photo of a bunch of flowers with their contrasting violet and orange-red colours.

IMAGE: CRCLF-28

Photo of very rare albino specimen with only 4 tepals!

IMAGE: CRCLF-29

Photo of the narrow leaves with a characteristical white central stripe.

IMAGE: CRCLF-30

Photo of seed capsule in situ. It splits into 3 parts along the length of the capsule. Seeds are spherical orange-red bodies.

IMAGE: CRCLF-31

Photo of a split-open capsule with some of its reddish-brown seeds.

IMAGE: CRCLF-32

Scanned image of the reddish-brown, subspherical seeds measuring about 3mm across.

IMAGE: CRCLF-33

Photo of two specimen with rather large flowers found near Verdala Palace.

IMAGE: CRCLF-34

Photo of a garigue dominated by Crocus longiflorus during the month od November.

IMAGE: CRCLF-35

Photo of several flowering plants decorating and colouring the Maltese garigue during autumn.

IMAGE: CRCLF-36

Close up photo of the orange style and stigma known as the pistil (female reproductive parts) and the yellow stamens (male reproductive part).

IMAGE: CRCLF-37

Attractive group of flowers.

IMAGE: CRCLF-38

Closeup image of flower showing the detail of the three stamens and pistil.

IMAGE: CRCLF-39

Photo of flower (lateral view)with its typical long neck (or throat).

IMAGE: CRCLF-40

Photo of a group of flowers.