On 9 Jun 2009, at 10:16, Jim McKenney wrote: > Is this the normal flowering time for Arum dioscoridis (note spelling) in > your area? I have several accessions of this species which have not yet > bloomed here. I hope at least one of them has a decoratively splotched > spathe. I honestly can't say, as I don't keep records, but it's probably about the same date as in other years. Another "plant for the gardens of the curious" that I grow is Mandragora. I have two forms, one of which I believe to be M. autumnalis, the other the common mandrake, M. officinarum. It looks like I'm getting an exceptionally good crop of fruit off one plant of M. officinarum this year, so hopefully there'll be enough seed for a donation to one of the exchanges. I used to grow M. officinarum ssp. haussknechtii, but they were in pots when we had a month-long destructive freeze in February 1989 and perished. They'd been lifted when I moved house the previous fall. No dogs were sacrificed in the process. -- Rodger Whitlock Victoria, British Columbia, Canada Maritime Zone 8, a cool Mediterranean climate on beautiful Vancouver Island http://maps.google.ca/maps/…