Dear Angelo, It is so helpful to have people from the countries we are interested in on our list so they can educate us. Maybe Lee will have to redo his chart. The point you make about when it rains is an important one that I did not include in my introductions. When I visited Lauw, I learned for the first time about this pattern of early rain followed by a dry period and spring rains. I hadn't thought much about it just assuming that the pattern would be similar which it isn't. Here in California we have haphazard rainfall in the fall. People start talking about how dry it is and how much rain is needed and worry about fires since there would be no rain from when it stopped say sometime in April or May most years until September or October or sometimes even November. Winter is when we get most of our rainfall and then it tapers off in spring. Perhaps Sheila or Mary can explain the details of Western Australia's rainfall and someone from Victoria rainfall in that part of the Medit climate. Do we have anyone from South Australia? Some of our Australian members are very quiet and I don't know where they live. I believe South Africa has earlier rainfall too. If you think of plants blooming when the pollinators are going to be around then the peak of all the Mediterranean plants will be at different times. Although some of the California geophytes bloom in winter, a lot more bloom in late spring early summer when the rain is less. Mary Sue Mary Sue Ittner California's North Coast Wet mild winters with occasional frost Dry mild summers