Sternbergia schubertii

Sternbergia schubertii is a diminutive autumn-flowering bulb that was described in 1840 from near Torbalı in western Turkey, then vanished from the botanical record for more than 150 years. A targeted survey in 1998 located a second, and so far only other, population about 300 km to the south-west in the Lycian section of the western Taurus Mountains, where the species grows on stony, east-facing limestone slopes at 180–300 m amid open scrub of Euphorbia, Cyclamen and scattered Olea europaea and Pinus brutia. The rediscovery confirms that S. schubertii is a narrow Turkish endemic and casts doubts on earlier records from elsewhere; its tiny extent of occurrence and attractiveness to bulb collectors make it highly vulnerable to disturbance. Morphologically the species sits between the widespread S. lutea and the much smaller S. colchiciflora but is readily recognised in the field. The spherical bulb is 1–1.5 cm across and gives rise to two or three arching, dark-green leaves before the f......read more on Wikipedia.