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Merendera
species in Turkey - by Liam McCaughey |
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| Merendera
are attractive bulbous plants; they differ from
colchicum in having the tepal bases separate
from each other, rather than fused as in
Colchicum, to which they are closely related.
The AGS Encyclopaedia states that there are
about 10 species, whose home ranges from the
Pyrenees to western Asia. However more
recently molecular genetic studies have resulted
in most of these species being reassigned as
Colchicum (though as usual all botanists do not
agree). |
| We
found two high altitude species while on a visit
to Eastern Turkey with Greentours
this year. Merendera trigyna (Colchicum
trigynum) was in snowmelt at 2600m, on the
slopes of the volcanic Mt Tendurek, and M.
kurdica (C kurdicum) a little higher at
2900m on the Karabet Pass, south of Lake Van |
| Both
these areas are high pasture, grazed by the
enormous herds of sheep and goats kept by the
local Kurdish shepherds. |
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