Hello to all: New plants of Ledebouria galpinii are in bud here in the windowsill, but this is the first year so I can't tell you if this lovely species is self fertile. I can tell you that some clones of L. socialis are self fertile and produce variable seedlings, while other clones are at least self sterile under my conditions as windowsill plants, even with hand pollination. The self fertile clone of L. socialis which I have had for several years is in bud now also and will have flowers until June. As I recall it is only in May and June that seed sets from my hand pollination. The seedlings from the self fertile clone of L. socialis are variable and I loose quite a few from unknown causes. My intention is to select for increased leaf patterning and coloring, increased floral color, and miniature or compact growth. So far I have one seedling with dark red-violet leaves and bulb scales and several seedlings which appear to be miniatures. Only one of these seedlings has so far flowered, and it had flowers paler than the parent clone, where most of the color comes from violet anther filaments. I plan to store some pollen this season, may have more to report later. As I understand it L. socialis, as Scilla socialis, was named, published, and illustrated first, then came the clone which was then thought a species, Scilla pauciflora, and then many many years later came the publication of the form with violet undersides to the leaves, Scilla violacea. The problem and delight of this species is that it has many variations in size, and leaf pattern in the green-leaved form and also many variants in the forms with violet tinted leaves. Unfortunately Venter's monograph on the Ledebouria of South Africa has not been published. Fred > pbs mailing list > pbs@lists.ibiblio.org > http://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php > >