I am not a collector of Galanthus forms, but over the years I have acquired some thanks to various friends and purchases from the Temple Nursery (New York), which operates via a postal catalog. For members in the USA who are interested in this genus, I think it would be worthwhile to compile a database, which would NOT be available online (no thieves in the back garden at midnight, please), gathering the holdings of a group of growers who are willing to exchange or actually sell surplus bulbs. I suppose someone could set up a forum for this purpose -- not I, particularly since in the past week my internet connection goes off about every ten minutes. I think we would be surprised to find how many species and selections are being grown within the country and not subject to CITES restrictions. Also, we could mail the bulbs when they are dormant, which is better than sending them "in the green," an outdated practice. I think we would have to agree not to bother others for material of plants of which they have only a tiny amount; perhaps the database could include some such information. I don't know how many people would want to participate in an effort like this, but I would be willing to keep the database if someone else will set up the rest of it. If there are only a dozen or so participants, we could even use just e-mail with "reply to all" correspondence. We should keep it separate from PBS. Jane McGary Portland, Oregon, USA At 08:27 AM 3/6/2015, you wrote: >Right now I'm searching everywhere for Canadian >sources of galanthus other than g.elwesii and >g.nivalis, wonderful as they are. Importing >seems impossible, the barriers are so high. So >if anyone has any advice or suggestions, I would >appreciate them very much. (This isn’t a >direct answer to your question.) Would-be >galanthophiles here in the U.S. feel your pain. >I looked at the information from Environment >Canada for importing snowdrops and it seems >similar to what is required in the U.S. It looks >like you need a CITES import permit as well as >an export permit from the country of origin. >(Someone can correct me on this if I’m wrong.) >The cost of a CITES export permit from the UK is >£74, plus an additional £2 per bulb. (Then >there’s the cost of the snowdrops themselves.) >The cost of an import permit in the US is $100. >And apparently, even when you pay for the >permits, there is no guarantee that the permits >will be granted. There are a couple of >mail-order nurseries that do export snowdrops. >One mentions the U.S. in particular, but says >nothing about Canada. So, technically, the >barriers aren’t really high, if you have >enough money to spend on permits and snowdrops, >and a willingness to fill out a form that makes >filing tax returns look like nothing. Bob Nold >Denver, Colorado, USA >_______________________________________________ >pbs mailing list pbs@lists.ibiblio.org >http://pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/