Hi all, Some of you may recall that over the years I've had some interest in ex situ conservation of geophytes. Last year, we started a little cc-mailing list for Hymenocallis. This has been working out rather well so far. Everyone in the group has some Hymenocallis species already, has a real interest in growing and preserving Hymenocallis species, and is willing to share. I've been the usual distribution point, but others have also distributed materials on their own within the group. If we were to call it by a formal name, I suppose we would have to name it something like "Hymenocallis Species ex Situ Conservation Interest Group" which is, obviously, too long and a bit awkward. So far, it does not have a formal name. We have distributed seeds and/or small bulbs of HH. lehmilleri, cf. phalangides, palmeri, and probably a few others that I have forgotten for the moment. Some members of the group have sent out a few bulbs of things like liriosme, latifolia, and even a couple caribaea plants. If you have a serious interest in Hymenocallis, and particularly in growing and conserving the species, you can contact me privately at: <jshields@indy.net>. I am thinking of setting up a similar group around Haemanthus and Scadoxus. Anyone having interest in that group, please contact me privately. We can discuss getting something going. I don't have the personal resources in Haemanthus or Scadoxus to launch such a group on my own, so we need a few like-minded souls to do this for these two genera. Regards, Jim Shields ************************************************* Jim Shields USDA Zone 5 Shields Gardens, Ltd. P.O. Box 92 WWW: http://www.shieldsgardens.com/ Westfield, Indiana 46074, USA Tel. ++1-317-867-3344 or toll-free 1-866-449-3344 in USA