Description
‘Oliver Cromwell’
1W-Y
[Trumpet 1c]
(Gerritsen, J., & Son; pre-1922)
A large flower reminiscent of ‘Madame Plemp’, with perianth segments which soon reflex to resemble quilled propellors, but of a more sulphureous hue. Both possess long, straight, chiselled trumpets, but ‘Oliver Cromwell’’s is a mite shorter and of a softer tone. The mouth of both is widely expanded and recurving, but the trumpet rim of ‘Oliver Cromwell’ has fewer, wider, more rounded, overlapping lobules, which tend to roll back gently. “La Plemp”’s trumpet is etched with more ridges and furrows, creating a more incised and unevenly-crenate rim. In Flower-Bulbs for 1939, P. de Jager & Sons recommend this “very beautiful early… very free-flowering” variety for “pots and pans”.