Thanks everyone for this very interesting thread. To add a bit to the discussion on chromosome numbers, my amateur experience so far has been that the "rules" apply very thoroughly until they don't, and you cannot know where the boundaries are until you test them. Case in point, in the work I've been doing with Moraeas, most of the species I am crossing (M. aristata, gigandra, neopavonia, etc) all have the same chromosome number, 2n=12. However, some are 2n=24 (M. villosa, tulbaghensis). In other words they have double the number of chromosomes. Here's what is supposed to happen: --Crosses between the 12-chromosome species should have a good chance of being fertile. --Crosses between the 24-chromosome species should have a good chance of being fertile. --Crosses between the 12- and 24- chromosome species should produce "triploids" that may be vigorous but are almost always infertile, because they do not inherit a matched set of chromosomes. So what happens in real life? --Many of the crosses that are 12 x 12 produce plants with withered anthers, little or no pollen, and sometimes won't even set seed if pollinated from something else. That makes them a dead end for breeding. --Many of the 12 x 24 crosses produce plants with abundant pollen, and they set seed readily. One more data point: a famous cross in Moraea history was speciosa x polystachya, which is 20 x 12. It was important because M. speciosa does not look like a traditional Moraea at all. I wish I had the capability to do a chromosome count on these things myself. In the absence of that, my philosophy is to cross everything and see what happens. Comments/suggestions from the more experienced and educated people on the list would be deeply appreciated. Mike San Jose, CA