In two recent posts Lycoris squamigera has been described as sterile. That’s true in the sense that no one has ever raised flowering plants from seed of this hybrid. But I think there are two things to keep in mind about this. One is of historic interest. Caldwell reported that Lycoris squamigera will sometimes form viable seeds if the scapes are cut when the plants are in bloom. He was not the first to discover this, but when he heard about it he tried it and was able to get hard black seeds now and then. These seeds would germinate normally, but he was never able to grow the resulting seedlings on to flowering size. If someone were to try this today using modern embryo rescue and tissue culture techniques, the results might be very different. If such seeds were produced apomicticly, they would be clonally identical to the parent plant. In other words, even if successfully grown on, you would just get more Lycoris squamigera. The other thing to keep in mind is this: prospective hybridizers of this genus should be on the lookout for a tetraploid with 36 chromosomes. Pollen from such a tetraploid used on Lycoris squamigera would probably result in an abundant set of viable seed. Are there any 18 chromosome diploid Lycoris other than the hybrid x albiflora? If so, that’s where I would start with the colchicine. Tetraploids derived from the 19 chromosome forms might be worth trying, too. Jim McKenney jimmckenney@jimmckenney.com Montgomery County, Maryland, USA, 39.03871º North, 77.09829º West, USDA zone 7 My Virtual Maryland Garden http://www.jimmckenney.com/ BLOG! http://mcwort.blogspot.com/ Webmaster Potomac Valley Chapter, NARGS Editor PVC Bulletin http://www.pvcnargs.org/ Webmaster Potomac Lily Society http://www.potomaclilysociety.org/