Description
A stout 15cm long, red-purple to black spadix sits in the centre of a deep, satiny, purple spathe which is folded around the base of the spadix but not joined to it (this is a distinguishing point). The spadix is incredible, being massively extended and pokes right up into the air.
The sterile flowers are whorled, not dotted here and there as in the related eximium. The spadix can be colours other than the deep black in our stock, which looks uniform enough to be a strain, though it is not a clone.
A truly spectacular autumn-flowering species, happy in a well-drained, loam based compost under glass, dry over summer. Perhaps just hardy in a sheltered spot, but hardiness is not guaranteed with most Biarum as the tubers especially, are easily damaged by intense freezing or persistent low temperatures.
Second picture (photographed in the wild) from Wikipedia, copyright Eitan f, with thanks, used under CC BY-SA 3.0
