Andrew Byfield is the co-author of Important Plant Areas in Turkey (2005) and the following features in Cornucopia
Crocus Abantensis
Where have all the flowers gone Cornucopia 3 £28 (US$44.80)
The slopes and pastures around lake Abant, a national park high in the mountains between Ankara and Istanbul, are a crocus-hunter's paradise. Crocus Abantensis, named after the area in 1975, is found nowhere else on earth.
Pinguicula balcanica ssp. pontica
Battle for the bogs Cornucopia 14 £28 (US$44.80)
Anatolia's new peat gatherers follow a rugged, self-sufficient way of life. But they are taking a toll on the rare flowers of the Turkish moors.
Arum Creticum
The land of the flowering penguins Cornucopia 6 £8 (US$12.80)
They are smelly and poisonous, and trick insects into doing their dirty work; but arums and aristolochias are among the most striking wild flowers in Turkey.
Primula vulgaris ssp.sibthorpii
The primrose path Cornucopia 15 £10 (US$16)
In the garden we may take them for granted, but in the wild, their colours make the heart sing. Cultivated forms are insipid affairs by comparrison. Where pink and yellow primrose meet they hybridise madly.
Digitalis ferruginea and Euphorbia amygdaloides
The natural history of a living landscape Cornucopia 7 £28 (US$44.80)
A beautiful, rarely visited wilderness surrounds the long wall of Anastasius. The result of centuries-old symbiosis between man and nature, it is home to diverse and unusual species.
Sternbergia candida
Skulduggery among the cedars Cornucopia 16 £20 (US$32)
The story of one of Turkey's rarest bulbs could be taken from the pages of a thriller. The white, freesia-scented Sternbergia candida was discovered only twenty years ago among the Cedars of Lebanon in the Toros Mountains where it is known as 'Jackal Daffodil'
In the cedar forests of the Taurus Mountains conservationists, botanists and bulb merchants from all over the world joined the villagers in tiny Dumlugoze to celebrate Turkey's first crop of cultivated snowdrop bulbs - good news for the wild ones.
Iris suaveolens
Greenbelt or backyard? Cornucopia 21 with Andrew Finkel £8 (US$12.80)
The Omerli Reservoir, surrounded by heathlands, is just 20 miles from the centre of Istanbul. This is not picture postcard country, but its ecological status cannot be overstated. This one province holds more plant species than the whole of the United Kingdom.
Crocus mathewii and Crocus baytopiorum
After the snows Cornucopia 12 £28 (US$44.80)
The large gaudy flowers of the Dutch hybrid are derived from a European species, but these exquisite, smaller, earlier-flowering 'botanical' crocuses have their origins in the exposed hill and mountain slopes of Anatolia.
Ophrys holoserica
The orchid hunters Cornucopia 25 £10 (US$16)
They are a dedicated breed, but not all orchid hunters share the same agenda. Some are driven to record in minute detail the glory of Turkey's orchid species - all 148 of them. Others are more interested in eating them.
R. Luteum or the Pontic Azalea
Flowers that made men mad Cornucopia 13 £28 (US$44.80)
The truly intoxicating rhododendrons of northeast Turkey. A single shrub will fill a whole valley with its scent. Its nectar is the source of 'mad honey'.
Lilium carniolicum ssp. ponticum
A day on Black Rock Pasture Cornucopia 42 £10 (US$16)
Some know it as Black Rock Pasture, others as Singing Rock. Andrew Byfield has battled rainstorms and fog to capture the secrets of a haunting northern spur of the Kackars.
To be published September 2009 Pre-order now
Three Grasses New to Turkey, research notes by Andrew Byfield and Hildemar Scholz 1999. Download Research Notes
The full list of botanical features in Cornucopia including features by Kate Clow, Paul Harcourt Davis, John Drake, Brian Mathew and Martyn and Alison Rix
Peten Travels has arranged a series of orchid tours in Turkey and Northern Cyprus www.petentour.com Andrew Byfield travelled in the Kackars with www.greentours.co.uk
Flowers of Anatolia Photographs by Fatih Orbay Botanical notes by Martyn Rix
£80 (US$120)
Last few copies
The Most beautiful Wildflowers of Turkey by Erdogan Tekin
