One plant that has flowered well this spring is the Japanese Arisaema kishidae. The cobra-like spathes appear before the leaves above snake-skin mottled leaf sheathes; the spathes are translucent coppery-brown, veined whitish, appearing somber blackish-brown from the backside. The emerging foliage is near black in color, opening up to a lovely green, strongly mottled with silver. This is a smallish species, about 12"-16" tall. The PBS wiki page below has photos showing three aspects of this fine plant in early flower. http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/index.php/… Mark McDonough Pepperell, Massachusetts, United States antennaria@aol.com "New England" USDA Zone 5 ============================================== >> web site under construction - http://www.plantbuzz.com/ << alliums, bulbs, penstemons, hardy hibiscus, western american alpines, iris, plants of all types!