Dear Jane In reply to your questions: 1. Hyacinthella lazulina is not the same as Scilla lazulina, it is a true Hyacinthella. It requires a Mediterranean-type climate. 2. Scilla intermedia had been treated as a subspecies of Scilla obtusifolia in Flora Europaea. Only S. obtusifolia has been transferred to Prospero, so either the two are inseparable or S. intermedia has been forgotten in the transfer. Pfosser & Speta stated that the distribution of the 2 Barnardia species is "a typical radiation pattern of an old taxon"; probably there were species occurring in the intervening region that became extinct? 3. Speta had proposed the sinking of Chionodoxa during the early 1970s. It does make some sense, owing to the ease with which S. bifolia can cross with Chionodoxa but with no other Scillas or genera. 4. Rest assured, Bellevalia is and will remain a separate genus. Scilla, Schnarfia, Chouardia, and Nectaroscilla are more closely related to Muscari than to Bellevalia. The 2 have obviously different seeds: Bellevalia are round, smooth, with a powdery texture; Muscari are smaller, drop-shaped, matte, with a finely wrinkled texture. The seeds of a few species of Bellevalia do not fit the above pattern, so they may need to be investigated further. Regards Julian Slade