Dear Paul, I am sure a lot of us grow Aristea ecklonii. It has the reputation for needing lots of water and seeding itself around a bit so some people don't grow it long. I grow mine dryish and it doesn't reseed as much, and does better than I expected with less water. I have gotten seed for Aristea major that turned out to be Aristea ecklonii too which was disappointing. I've been meaning to get some pictures up on the wiki Aristea page, but haven't had time. My flower is closer to blue than purple but you know how hard that is to capture. I'll try to get some pictures to the wiki soon if someone doesn't do it first. In Pooley's book she does not give another name for it and usually she does if there was one. And the common name for this species is Blue Stars. Aristea is only an African genus. Here is what she writes (A Field Guide to Wildflowers Kwazulu-Natal and the Eastern Region): Up to 1 m. in clumps. On forest margins, streambanks, grassland, scrub....Leaves: Basal, in a fan, ± 600 x 14 mm., curved, outer edges white, stem leaves 36-400 x 3-12 mm, narrow, bases keeled. Flowers: Inflorescence stem flattened, branched or not, upper part zigzig, bracts rusty brown, flowers ± 20 mm diam., pale to deep mauve-blue. Hope this helps. Mary Sue