Gymnospermium is indeed an interesting addition to the winter bulb collection. G. albertii, mentioned by other correspondents, is the one most commonly grown. I have two others that were identified as different species by the seed collectors -- G. altaicum and G. sylvaticum. They are all very similar, and I suspect that at least some botanists consider them conspecific. Seed sellers, however, often take the most "splitting" route in order to interest their customers! I grow them in the bulb frame because they emerge so early; they are certainly cold-hardy but would be spoiled by the heavy rains here. I suppose that they emerge later in their native haunts. They set plenty of seed, which is quite curious in form -- it looks like tiny bottles. The seed has a fleshy appendage that attracts ants, which carry the seeds here and there, dropping them after eating the "good part." The remainder produces seedlings quite some distance from the parent. You have to watch carefully for the seed to ripen, because it drops and disappears rather suddenly. These plants can be increased, as far as I know, only by seed; the tuber does not multiply. They flower in the third year from sowing. The foliage is very ornamental but withers by mid-June here. Jane McGary NW Oregon