Sternbergia colchiciflora Waldst. & Kit.
Taxon info
Sternbergia colchiciflora has rather inconspicuous, yellow flowers appearing in the autumn, with capsules ripening in the spring. It is widespread but scattered in limestone mountains of the Greek mainland; the general distribution comprises much of S Europe and SW Asia. The seeds have a large, fleshy, whitish aril. This species was discovered by Sibthorp and Bauer on an autumn excursion to Mt Erimanthos (Olonos), then believed to be “the highest mountain of the Morea [Peloponnisos]”. It was subsequently described as Amaryllis citrina, but that name is antedated by Waldstein and Kitaibel’s Sternbergia colchiciflora (described from Hungary).A
A. Dimopoulos, P., Raus, Th., Bergmeier, E., Constantinidis, Th., Iatrou, G., Kokkini, S., Strid, A. & Tzanoudakis, D. 2013: Vascular plants of Greece: An annotated checklist. 31: p. 318 [Plate 1.8]
