Thanks, John. You've confirmed what a lot of us have long suspected: that this var. leucopharynx is in fact simply part of the normal if infrequent variation of Crocus k. kotschyanus. It's interesting that among the various forms of Crocus kotschyanus, there are variants which have white tepals yet retain the yellow throat spots, and other variants such as so-called leucopharynx which keep the tepal color yet lose the spots. This name leucopharynx is a bit of a problem. As gardeners, it helps us to distinguish a particularly nice form of this species. But since it is not based on a sexually reproducing population (i.e. presumably no where in the world in the wild is there a field of sexually reproducing "leucopharynx"), it's suspect from a taxonomic point of view. Why? Because if the only criterion for inclusion in the concept "leucopharynx" (or the "albus" forms which sometimes appear on lists) is the presence or absence of what is evidently a simple mutation which presumably has occurred more than once and will occur again in the future, then these names do not correspond to sexually reproducing populations. More to the point, these names are apt to come to refer to polyphyletic entities. For instance, if these white-throated forms or white-tepaled forms are likely to occur in all the subspecies of Crocus kotschyanus (or for that matter, any species of flowering plant), then the white-flowered forms derived from one subspecies cannot have the same name as white-flowered forms derived from another subspecies (that's where the polyphyletic bit comes in). You're setting yourself up for chaos if you think you have a Crocus x-us ssp. y-us var. albus and a Crocus x-us ssp. z-us var. albus, which is bad enough, and it becomes meaningless when it's reduced to Crocus x-us albus. Entities assigned to rank varietas (abbreviated var.) are often just a step or two away from taxonomy's trash bin, and that may well be where "leucopharynx" is headed as a taxonomic entity. But for gardening purposes, let's not lose track of this handsome plant. Jim McKenney Montgomery County, Maryland, USA, USDA zone 7, where the crocuses were open for several hours today, but will probably be closed for the rest of the day and tomorrow, too.