Found in very early Spring just by the melting snow, this small crocus endemic to Turkey was at its very best in the mountain sunshine of Mount Olympos. We found the usual colour variants of pale blue, pale yellow and white plus a much deeper golden yellow variant all growing together.

Crocus danfordiae was named by the botanist George Maw who wrote one of the first books on the species: Monograph of the Genus Crocus. He was given samples of this plant by the wife of Charles George Danford an ornithologist and artist who travelled extensively in the near eastern countries. So George Maw named the crocus after Mrs Danford.

The fifth large close-up example shows how much smaller Crocus danfordiae is compared with "normal" crocus sized Crocus biflorus - we were very lucky to find them growing together in good condition.

Mount Olympos, South Western Turkey 5th April 2015

Added on 11th April 2015