Rodger Whitlock wrote: >Plate 55 in "Bulbs of North America" purports to show a specimen of >Erythronium revolutum with mottled leaves. Indeed, there are flowers >that look like E. revolutum in the middle background, and leaves >with prominent mottling in the foreground. > >The fly in the ointment is that those foreground leaves aren't from >the same plant as the flower scape. The foreground leaves are almost >certainly a form of E. dens-canis -- the manner of mottling and the >shape of the leaves are characteristic of that species. > >The photo does show leaves in the middle background that probably are >those of E. revolutum, and there is some mottling visible on them. >Again, the leaf shape and style of that mottling are diagnostic of a >west-coast species rather than E. dens-canis. odger Whitlock wrote, Plate 55 in "Bulbs of North America" purports to show a specimen of >Erythronium revolutum with mottled leaves. Indeed, there are flowers >that look like E. revolutum in the middle background, and leaves >with prominent mottling in the foreground. > >The fly in the ointment is that those foreground leaves aren't from >the same plant as the flower scape. The foreground leaves are almost >certainly a form of E. dens-canis -- the manner of mottling and the >shape of the leaves are characteristic of that species. > >The photo does show leaves in the middle background that probably are >those of E. revolutum, and there is some mottling visible on them. >Again, the leaf shape and style of that mottling are diagnostic of a >west-coast species rather than E. dens-canis. EDITOR's REPLY: I fail to see how there could be any confusion if one reads the entire caption, which is only ten words long and states in full, "Erythronium revolutum with mottled leaves, E. dens-canis with spotted leaves." The author's distinction between "mottled" and "spotted" is clearly explained in the chapter, and one reason for using this photo was to illustrate that point. I doubt that those who read more than four words into the caption, and particularly those who read the text itself, will have to pen in a correction in their books. Jane McGary