On 1/22/2016 11:49 AM, Travis O wrote: > I would be happy to receive photos of "mystery" species, and try my hand at identifying them. This is not a genus, or genera, that one can identify from photos. Not only do you have to see the details of the reproductive parts, you need to examine the leaves and the leaflike structures (I'm not sure if they are called prophylls and cataphylls, as in Crocus) that may be all or partly below the soil surface. The color of the anthers is one of the diagnostic features, and it can change some as the flower ages. Some species have unusually shaped corms, too. The color of the flowers is variable; I have seen both white and pink flowered forms of the same species growing together. Also variable is the degree of tessellation among individuals, though some species are definitely not tessellated. When I joined a group viewing fall bulbs in southern Greece and Turkey, at least three populations our guide's fieldnotes identified as Colchicum parlatoris were visually quite distinct, and only one of them resembled what I grew here under that name (Archibald seed). Finally, we have in cultivation many named hybrids in the large, fall-flowering colchicums, and it seems likely that smaller species might hybridize in cultivation as well. They are bee-pollinated. If you are going to post photos of these plants, please ask the contributors to specify the location in the wild or, if cultivated, the geographical origin of the illustrated plants. The large number of species that have been named, the apparent variability within some populations, and the similarity of some groups of named entities make one wonder if the eastern Mediterranean is home to continua of Colchicum and/or Merendera which continue to evolve. I admit to preferring lumping to splitting, but others tend in the opposite direction. Jane McGary Portland, Oregon, USA