I've been thinking of writing a note on Crocus speciosus for some days, so this thread is timely. I used to grow stocks obtained under the various names mentioned, but long ago gave up the struggle to either a) recognise or b) maintain them. As has been pointed out the species is prolifically fertile and seedlings soon muddle things up. The two old cultivars (I don't know 'Aino') that are distinct are 'Oxonian' and 'Aitchisonii'. 'Oxonian' is an appropriate dark blue, and 'Aitchisonii' has enormous soft blue flowers. I think I could recognise it from the mixed population in my parents' garden where the different stocks planted been spreading nicely for the past 15 years. Seedlings now appear in all sorts of places in all sorts of shades, probably with some hybrids from C. pulchellus (although this doesn't happen as much as people think). I recently found a really beautiful clone that has arisen on the rock garden there, with soft, almost unveined, blue outer segments, without the greying typical of most stocks. I'll get it out and try to bulk it up. One of the advantages of C. speciosus is that it also multiplies very well by production of offsets and over time quite big patches of recognisable clones develop in old gardens. There are such patches here at Colesbourne and some really fine ones in the arboretum at Kew. No doubt the occasional mole or a scratching rabbit or pheasant spreads the cormlets around. The Dutch still maintain stocks of the names: a wholesale catalogue I have in front of me gives the following (note the interesting set of shades of blue!): speciosus subsp. speciosus lilac-blue 35 euro/1000 'Aitchisonii' soft blue 55 'Albus' white 175 'Artabir' light blue 55 'Cassiope' violet blue 55 'Conqueror' blue 35 'Oxonian' dark violet blue 100 35 euro for 1000 corms of such a splendid plant is pretty good value! I think I'll invest in a few thousand next year and see what the stocks look like. Last autumn I bought some packets labelled C. speciosus and C. pulchellus that were reduced to a very cheap price in the local garden centre because they were about to flower. They all turned out to be the same clone of C. speciosus, but it is a real beauty with big pale flowers and each planted corm has produced 4-5 noses this year, so it's probably been selected for rapid increase. The great fault of C. speciosus is that its flowers soon fall over, but in any sort of still weather they stay up for several days and give a glorious effect. C. pulchellus is perhaps prettier and more beautiful for the connoisseur, but can't approach C. speciosus for garden effect. The plant sold as C. pulchellus 'Zephyr' is probably a hybrid with speciosus, and is a lovely soft grey - my favourite of the whole lot in fact - but its seedlings give white C. pulchellus. John Grimshaw Dr John M. Grimshaw Sycamore Cottage Colesbourne Nr Cheltenham Gloucestershire GL53 9NP Tel. 01242 870567