I will have to overcome my distaste for seeing early bulbs flattened by rain and put some of my present surplus of Gymnospermium albertii in the garden. John Lonsdale also mentioned the related Bongardia chrysogonum. I bought one tuber of it from Potterton's around 1990 and had it in the garden for a few years, but I had to move it and so put it in the bulb frame. It is much more vigorous there, even stirring the admiration of a visitor who knows it in the wild, presumably because it is a little warmer and doesn't get so much water. Because it never set seed, I bought another tuber from another source about 4 years ago and put them side by side. Unfortunately, the two flower about 3 weeks apart, and they even look extremely different: the petals are differently shaped, and the inflated cases of the seed capsules are long and pointed in one, and almost spherical in the other. There are also minor differences in the foliage. I assume that these represent quite different wild populations. Does anyone know? One year I did manage to get about 5 good seeds, and a couple have germinated, but it is obvious why Bongardia is not common in the bulb trade! Too bad: the red-marked foliage is highly ornamental, even though, like that of Gymnospermium, it withers by early summer. Jane McGary NW Oregon