Jim McKenney asked, Grey's Hardy Bulbs (c. 1938) describes a Brevoortia venusta in this way: >"...venusta, Greene. Known only in the Mendocino Range. Very similar in >habit to B. Ida-Maia, but the flowers are rose-purple; the tube constricted >above; the staminodes pink, overtopping the anthers. Mr. Purdy suggests >that it may be a hybrid between B. Ida-Maia and Brodiaea congesta. It is >not in cultivation." > >Does anyone know if there is a connection between this Brevoortia venusta >and the plant we grow as Pink Diamond? According to Dutch lists, 'Pink Diamond' is a hybrid of Dichelostemma ida-maia (the genus Brevoortia has long been sunk) and D. congestum, but I have seen specimens, long grown in gardens, of something called "Brodiaea venusta," and it is a totally different plant. It looks more like a deep, vivid rose-purple version of Brodiaea californica in general appearance and does not twine like 'Pink Diamond'. The latter I would not call "rose-purple" but rather a medium rose pink. I've been assured by European growers that 'Pink Diamond' is indeed this cross, but it looks and acts so much like Dichelostemma volubile that I really wonder. The flower in the description Jim quotes is not at all like that of 'Pink Diamond', which is nearly identical to the flower form of D. ida-maia. Jane McGary Northwestern Oregon