| Where the garden meets the wild | |
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BELLEVALIA BELLEVALIA Hyacinthaceae (Hyacinth family) / Asparacageae (Asparagus family) |
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| Return to Plants Index Bulbs Index | |
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| Bellevalia forniculata: the rarest of blues. Photograph © A.M.D. Hoog | |
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| Bellevalia
is native around the Mediterranean and into Central Asia. It
includes many "blah" species and a couple too beautiful to
ignore. The genus is named for Pierre Richer de Belleval, who founded the
Montpellier Botanical Garden in 1593.
In bud, Bellevalia might be confused with Muscari, the grape hyacinths. In bloom the difference is plain. Bellevalia's petals are fused together only partway up the flower tube and have 6 large lobes at the mouth. Muscari's are fused to the mouth and the lobes are minimal. If you like Bellevalia, please take a look also at Camassia, Fessia, Hyacinthoides, Hyacinthus, Muscari and Scilla. |
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Photographs © A.M.D. Hoog |
Bellevalia
dubia (Guss.) Schult. & Schult.f. Wands of bright blue florets with
white lips bloom
in April above narrow leaves. The
florets are deep blue in bud and bright blue on opening, fading to
fawn and brown as they age.
Brown is beautiful, its subtle variations suddenly interesting when we stop excluding them from the permissible palette of flower colors. This species grows wild around the Mediterranean: in Algeria, Morocco and from Portugal to W Turkey. Our plants, a short, compact form, descend from seeds collected in Greece, in the Peloponnesus, in 1993 and received from Dr. Ir. Elisabeth Sahin of the Dutch seed house K. Sahin. Height 20-30 cm (8-12"). Zone 6, perhaps colder. Bulb (Fall shipping only). $3.50 |
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Photograph © A.M.D. Hoog |
Bellevalia
forniculata (Fomin) Deloney. Also called Pseudomuscari
forniculata. Hard to come by, and craved by gardeners for its
turquoise-blue flowers, this dwarf treasure is native to wet alpine
meadows in NE Turkey, where it blooms in May-June.
Our stock descends from bulbs collected by
Jānis
Rukšāns
in a wet meadow
at 2000 m (6500') between Bayburt and Erzerum. Zone 6, perhaps colder.
Bulb (Fall shipping only). $20.00 |
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| This page was updated April 5, 2008. | |
