Hi Doug: I've got two Veltheimia capensis var. deasii from Dr. Jim Ault, who worked on breeding them when he was at Longwood Gardens. Both of mine are syblings. One has just come into growth (14 leaves) the second is just beginning growth. Despite what appeared to be a promising seed crop from my attempts to cross pollinate my two plants last year, all but 3 of the developing seeds aborted. Of the 2 seeds, 1 apparently rotted, 2 germinated (1 died) so I am left with a single seedling. Neither plant will come into flower until next spring. Can you collect some pollen for cross pollination with my plants? I'll share the seed harvest. I shared a mature leaf from both plants with Harold Koopowitz when he visited the Chicago Botanic Garden last winter in an effort to propagate it by leaf cuttings or tissue culture. Haven't heard if he had any success. Boyce Tankersley btankers@chicagobotanic.org -----Original Message----- From: Douglas Westfall [mailto:eagle85@flash.net] Sent: Sunday, September 21, 2003 9:19 PM To: Pacific Bulb Society Subject: [pbs] Veltheimia deasii I have a mature Veltheimia deasii sending up a flower spike - so what is unusual about that? NOTHING! The interesting part is that there are eleven (11) leaves which. are narrower and more undulated than V. capensis. That is several more than Veltheimia capensis. YET, the "experts" are maintaining that it is just a variation of V. capensis. I can hardly wait for the thing to bloom so that I can compare it with V. capensis. Does anyone have any thoughts on the subject? Doug Westfall _______________________________________________ pbs mailing list pbs@lists.ibiblio.org http://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php