Hi Alberto: Few people do grow Oxalis. The showier species from South Africa are rarely available and seem to receive little attention. Without an up-to-date reference, I think they will continue to languish in obscurity. It certainly isn't because they lack beauty!! I think there are also other reasons they have not become more generally available. One is, that they don't (usually) set seed, so someone has to have originally obtained them from the wild in South Africa. There they are at their peak of bloom in mid to late winter before most South African monocots have started their display, so visitors often see them just as they are finishing, if at all. To obtain wild specimens, therefore, one would have to make a special trip in the middle of winter. Michael Vassar did this at least a couple of times (with, I am sure, appropriate permits), so this is why his collection is the best in this country. There are a number of people growing them in Australia, although it is now illegal to import Oxalis to that country, but OK to sell or distribute the ones already there. Telos usually offers thirty or so Oxalis (out of my collection of over 300), and they are the most popular item in the catalogue, so hopefully they will slowly become more recognized and appreciated. One day I hope to be able to photograph the collection so that people can see how lovely they are. Diana > [Original Message] > From: Alberto Castillo <ezeizabotgard@hotmail.com> > To: <pbs@lists.ibiblio.org> > Date: 2/18/2003 2:05:56 PM > Subject: [pbs] The Color Encyclopedia.... > > Dear Diana and all: > I have just asked Peter why they did not include Oxalises > and he replied that it was because so few are grown and that the volume was > large enough. > Is it that only you, Mary Sue, Mike Vassar and I grow > them? What a shame for specialist bulb nurseries! > Regards > Alberto > > > > > > _________________________________________________________________ > > > _______________________________________________ > pbs mailing list > pbs@lists.ibiblio.org > http://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php --- diana chapman --- rarebulbs@earthlink.net --- EarthLink: The #1 provider of the Real Internet.