I'm sorry to keep this thread up, but had to comment on: >It sounds like perhaps I could have been using Romulea cf. >bulbocodium instead of Romulea aff. bulbocodium. A botanist once told be that "cf." should not be used unless one has actually compared (one meaning of conferre) the plant in question with herbarium specimens. It this is so, "aff." would be safer for those of us who don't have access to the world's herbaria. However, I shall continue to use question marks, particularly on the totally confusing green-and-brown Fritillaria species, quite a lot of which are now in flower here. Jane McGary