Description
This is a species described only in 1989. The purple-red spathes are so short that they are reduced to just a rim at, or slightly above, ground level with a huge, very fat, golden spadix sticking up from the centre. The base of the spadix is clearly and conspicuously covered in downwards-facing, white hairs. In addition to the phenomenal and intriguing inflorescence, the foliage on this plant is also very decorative, being a nice shade of blue-green with the leaf-blades conspicuously embossed with a lacework pattern (see gallery picture) which I have not seen in any other members of the genus.
This is surely the ultimate expression of specialisation in Biarum and it is totally different to all other species. In fact it really needs to be seen to be believed and the smell too is something else. You may be familiar with the fact that most (but not all) Biarum have a sewage- or corpse-like “scent”. This usually lasts only a day or so, but in this time it attracts appropriately interested flies for what we find is a very effective pollination, even in cultivation. Having said this, the smell of B. ditschianum raises the usual Biarum smell-experience to a whole, new level of nasal assault, and one vastly surpassing anything that you have already come across when growing Biarum and like the plant itself, this is something that you really should experience just once in a lifetime!
The plant was discovered (as an unknown species) in 1988 by German plant hunter and horticulturalist, the late Manfred Koenen in the Esen river valley, Mugla, Turkey. When it was realised that this was a species totally new to science this original location was re-explored and samples taken. This was subsequently to become the type locality. At that time the plant was known in only this one place, where it grew in humus-filled sink holes in limestone pavements. Thankfully the species is now known from other localities in Turkey and has also been recorded from the nearby Greek island of Kastellorizo (of Gɑlanthus peshmenii fame).
In 1996 Manfred sowed seed the original 1988 discovery. The resulting plants became our parent stock and subsequently we have raised seedlings from these seedlings so our offerings are second generation plants from the type location, with a full provenance, in horticulture. I repeat, these are 100% horticulturally-raised, second-generation tubers.
I do not find the species difficult to grow, in a well-drained, loam-based compost. We use our usual bulb mix with the addition of some porous limestone and pumice chips, topping off with pumice pebbles. Growth starts in Autumn and leaf growth is present all through the winter. It starts to die back slowly, from April onwards (which is when any seed spikes appear, from below ground). When drying it off in summer, temper the dry rest with the knowledge that in its native home it probably gets a trace of moisture in the soil, from water rising up, by capillarity, from the porous limestone karst in which it grows. Evaporation of this trace of moisture will also serve to cool the rocks and keep the tubers cooler than appears to be the case at the surface. Incidentally, although the Spring-flowering nature of the species is stressed in the original description, with us this usually flowers in August or September along with, or just after, several other Biarum species. In 2022, the very hot summer caused flowering of this species (and indeed several others) to start in June so it may be that this is why Spring-flowering is the norm in the wild and having said all o f this, in 2023, after the June flowering of 6 months ago, this produced flowers again, under frost-free glass, in January and then (on different plants) in April with further flower buds present in May! It is not unique in flowering in Spring; B. rhopalospadix usually flowers in April. However B. ditschianum is surely unique in being capable of flowering three times within 12 months.
