The March 2004 issue of "The Alpine Garden" (bulletin of the AGS) contains the following news item (I have edited Robert Rolfe's text a little): "Tecophilaea cyanocrocus has been relocated in Chile, over 50 years since it was pronbounced extinct there. M. Teresa Eyzaguirre and Rosario Garcia de la Huerta, in 'Gayana Bot.' 59(2):73-77 (2002 [probably published in Santiago]) describe how, while conducting a routine botanical mapping survey in the spring of 2001, they encountered a large but very localised population of the Chilean Blue Crocus at just over 2000 metres, within 40 kilometres of Santiago, inhabiting an area no more than 20 x 50 m. Several illustrations accompany the article, one of them showing the tecophilaea in spectacular abundance on a level, stony site, which it is reported to share with a sparse covering of various spiny and hummock-forming shrubs, along with Calandrinia affinis and Barneoudia major. The density of this stand is estimated at 30-50 corms per square metre, in clumps of 5-20; the colony is said to be somewhat aberrant, in that generally the blooms have an extensive white 'eye', approaching but not analogous with the stocks long cultivated under the varietal name leichtlinii. In just three examples, the flowers were pure white. The exact location is not revealed." This note tells us something about T. cyanocrocus's habitat preference. Calandrinia affinis and Barneoudia major (the former similar to a deciduous Lewisia, and the latter to a small alpine Ranunculus) are "snowmelt" plants of the subalpine zone, growing quickly in spring and flowering while their soil is still very damp, then going dormant. They are often accompanied by an Olsynium (I don't know the species) very similar in appearance and habitat preference to North American O. douglasii. These very well drained sites dry out in the summer, but the stony soil probably preserves some trace of moisture well into the dry season, and stays fairly cool below the immediate surface layer. Let us hope that now that botanists have found this site, somebody puts up a serious fence around it to keep out the cattle and goats! Jane McGary Northwestern Oregon, USA