With many thanks to Steve Lenton for these images of the newly classified Bellevalia juliana, I am still so proud to be the person this lovely little flower was named for. I originally found the plant some ten years ago, and despite being told that it was Bellevalia sitiaca, I was not convinced. After getting in touch with Nick Turland, he agreed to come to see it in the area around Elounda. Having seen the small population there, he telephoned the University in Patras and Peppi Bareka (an expert on Bellevalia)flew over the next day to confirm that it was a new species. It then took quite a few years for DNA to be processed and papers written. Many, many thanks to all concerned for this wonderful honour.
What an incredible species! I'd love to see it :-) Many congratulations!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Ana. It flowers in March and is very localised around Elounda. It is classified as rare on the Greek Red List. I am hoping to make a watercolour painting of it for the exhibition in Hungary in April.
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