I purchased some seed last year from a very reputable seed merchant
that I have grown on, beleiving that it was Meadow Cranesbill.

I have since planted lots of plugs out into my fields.

The problem now comes, that I have kept some plugs in my greenhouse,
for seed collection.

Only to find that the flowers are white ??? They are not White Campion
as they do not have the bladder behind the flower.

I have tried scouring the internet to see if White Cranesbill is a
native or not, any help please.

In message , gray
writes
I purchased some seed last year from a very reputable seed merchant
that I have grown on, beleiving that it was Meadow Cranesbill.

I have since planted lots of plugs out into my fields.

The problem now comes, that I have kept some plugs in my greenhouse,
for seed collection.

Only to find that the flowers are white ??? They are not White Campion
as they do not have the bladder behind the flower.

I have tried scouring the internet to see if White Cranesbill is a
native or not, any help please.

Quoting Yeo, of Geranium pratense (Meadow Cranesbill) "white-flowered
plants are not infrequent in nature".
--
Stewart Robert Hinsley

In article , michael adams
writes

"gray" wrote in message
.. .
I purchased some seed last year from a very reputable seed merchant
that I have grown on, beleiving that it was Meadow Cranesbill.

I have since planted lots of plugs out into my fields.

The problem now comes, that I have kept some plugs in my greenhouse,
for seed collection.

Only to find that the flowers are white ??? They are not White Campion
as they do not have the bladder behind the flower.

Presumably there's also a size difference ;-)


I have tried scouring the internet to see if White Cranesbill is a
native or not, any help please.



Meadow cranesbill may be violet, blue, or white.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/gardening/plant...ges/1303.shtml



The white, violet, striped etc certainly are all forms of Geranium
pratense. But do you know whether any of those occur naturally in the
wild? I suspect they may do, but rarely - I've certainly only ever seen
the blue ones wild.

I imagine they are rare forms which are then deliberately propagated.

--
Kay
"Do not insult the crocodile until you have crossed the river"

In article , michael adams
writes

"Kay" wrote in message
...
In article , michael adams
writes

"gray" wrote in message
.. .
I purchased some seed last year from a very reputable seed merchant
that I have grown on, beleiving that it was Meadow Cranesbill.

I have since planted lots of plugs out into my fields.

The problem now comes, that I have kept some plugs in my greenhouse,
for seed collection.

Only to find that the flowers are white ??? They are not White Campion
as they do not have the bladder behind the flower.

Presumably there's also a size difference ;-)


I have tried scouring the internet to see if White Cranesbill is a
native or not, any help please.



Meadow cranesbill may be violet, blue, or white.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/gardening/plant...ges/1303.shtml



The white, violet, striped etc certainly are all forms of Geranium
pratense. But do you know whether any of those occur naturally in the
wild? I suspect they may do, but rarely - I've certainly only ever seen
the blue ones wild.

I imagine they are rare forms which are then deliberately propagated.


If they went to all that trouble I'd imagine they'd market the seed
accordingly. More especially if their cutomers are expecting the more
common form. And providing the seed could be relied on to breed true
in any case.

They would, but if they are already doing that, then it's possible to
get seed packets mislabelled, or simply seed contaminated.


--
Kay
"Do not insult the crocodile until you have crossed the river"

In message , Malcolm
writes
Quoting Yeo, of Geranium pratense (Meadow Cranesbill) "white-flowered
plants are not infrequent in nature".

Which work by Yeo? The standard flora (Stace - New Flora of the British
Isles, 2nd edn) says the flowers are "blue to violet-blue". He would
normally mention colour variants occurring in the wild, e.g., for
Bluebell, he says "blue, sometimes white or pink". The fact that he
doesn't in this case could be taken as indicating that any other
colours are due to artificial propagation.

"Hardy Geraniums"

Stace doesn't mention the white forms of G. sanguineum or G.
robertianum. I've seen the latter in apparently wild contexts, and also
a white form of a 3rd species.
--
Stewart Robert Hinsley

In message , Malcolm
writes

In article , Stewart Robert Hinsley
writes
In message , Malcolm
writes
Quoting Yeo, of Geranium pratense (Meadow Cranesbill)
"white-flowered plants are not infrequent in nature".

Which work by Yeo? The standard flora (Stace - New Flora of the
British Isles, 2nd edn) says the flowers are "blue to violet-blue".
He would normally mention colour variants occurring in the wild,
e.g., for Bluebell, he says "blue, sometimes white or pink". The fact
that he doesn't in this case could be taken as indicating that any
other colours are due to artificial propagation.

"Hardy Geraniums"

Thanks.

Stace doesn't mention the white forms of G. sanguineum or G.
robertianum. I've seen the latter in apparently wild contexts, and
also a white form of a 3rd species.

Good point, nor he does. However, you prompted me to check my first
flora, Clapham, Tutin and Warburg, who say that white forms of
G.sanguineum and G.robertianum both exist, but don't mention a white
form of G.pratense. Draw what conclusions you like, including about
Stace :-)

I'd guess that the white form of G. pratense is rarer than those of G.
sanguineum and G. robertianum. And that Stace has a higher threshold of
frequency for mentioning the occurrence of white forms. I see Stace's
description of the colour of bluebells applies to the genus as a whole,
rather than H. non-scripta; the naturalised H. hispanica and H.
hispanica x non-scripta, like Malva moschata, are more likely to be
white-flowered than the true wild forms.
--
Stewart Robert Hinsley

"gray" wrote in message
...
I purchased some seed last year from a very reputable seed merchant
that I have grown on, beleiving that it was Meadow Cranesbill.

I have since planted lots of plugs out into my fields.

The problem now comes, that I have kept some plugs in my greenhouse,
for seed collection.

Only to find that the flowers are white ??? They are not White Campion
as they do not have the bladder behind the flower.

I have tried scouring the internet to see if White Cranesbill is a
native or not, any help please.

Personally, I've never noticed a white flowered Meadow Cranesbill in the
wild, but I wouldn't be surprised if there were some. Nor would I be
particularly bothered if they were naturalised, as opposed to native, either
:-)