Mary Sue et al, I have myself wondered about the origin of O bowiei. Whilst it does superficially resemble certain new world taxa I have never seen any evidence that the S African provenance is not correct. It is regarded as native there in the Salter monograph (which only covers S African taxa), as is another 'new world lookalike', O semiloba, a summer rainfall taxon. I have not been able to trace the origin of the O bowiei material in cultivation in the UK but it resembles the image that you have posted, and is illustrated in Rix and Phillips Conservatory and Indoor Plants vol 1 p188-189. For a survey of all the worlds Oxalis see Geraniales Species Checklist Series, vol 5 Oxalis ISBN 1-899742-43-3. This is not illustrated but contains much useful information. It is in print. The Salter monograph of the S African taxa is long out of print, but a facsimile was published a few years ago by Chuck Everson of Rainbow Gardens Bookshop in the US. Diana is quite correct to state that transfer between hemispheres is straightforward, certainly easier than irdis etc, the plants readily 'sorting themselves out' in 12 to 18 months. In a recent post Lauw mentioned that he has O palmifrons in flower. This taxon is notoriously shy flowering in the UK, and any advice as to how to encourage flowering would be welcomed! Regarding seeds, clones are generally self sterile as previously stated. The abundance of daughter offsets in many taxa effectively deals with propagation requirements. Also, in many species, the viability of fertile seed is of very limited duration. As far as hybrids are concerned, as previously stated a number of the S American 'alpines' have been developed into new commercial entities. Hybridisation has been noted in S African taxa, see Salter pp 21-22, but is rare in nature. From a personal viewpoint, I am rather glad that there has been no substantial artificial hybridisation work on the S African plants, as, given the abundance and diversity of the species therefrom, it would probably add little value horticulturally and confuse the already difficult taxonomic situation. regards Robin