Turkey: Termessos Crocus
At first we couldn’t believe our eyes at Termessos – the ground was covered with beautiful violet-blue flowers, very much resembling the white crocuses that appear early in spring from under the snow. And surprise surprise! This was the very rare endemic Autumn Crocus aka Termessos Crocus that grows only here high up in the mountains and nowhere else on earth. Known in Latin as Colchicum Baytopiorum, this plant is actually from a separate genius and distinct from crocus. Moreover, it’s extremely poisonous and the poisoning with it resembles arsenic and has no known antidote. So there’s that!
