Does anyone grow other species of Spiloxene besides S. capensis? There are 25 spp in South Africa and 4 in Australasia, according to Goldblat & Manning. Several were flowering when I was in South Africa in August-September this year and they form an attractive component of the Cape bulb flora. Unfortunately we were a little early for S. capensis in full glory, but S. canaliculata, with equally large but rich orange-yellow flowers with a dark eye, was magnificent in one or two places. Others were mostly smaller flowered (~ 2-3 cm diam.) and mostly yellow. The most extraordinary species, at least in terms of behaviour is S. aquatica, which grows in seasonal pools or damp places. When actually in water the leaves and flowering stems elongate and float like a waterweed, with the small, pure white flowers floating on the surface; an extraordinary sight among geophytes. Where it grew out of water the plants were perfectly normal and rather undistinguished upright-growing monocots. I would be most interested to hear if anyone has grown this plant. John Grimshaw Dr John M. Grimshaw Garden Manager, Colesbourne Gardens Sycamore Cottage Colesbourne Nr Cheltenham Gloucestershire GL53 9NP Website: http://www.colesbournegardens.org.uk/