Jim, I don't think there's any parallel with Crocus korolkowii. The latter flowers and is pollinated normally but the ovary is below ground and not extended above ground to release the seeds. This Sternbergia is only pollinated below ground if the flowers don't form properly. Somehow the fertilization process is fine, I assume the plants are self fertile and the pollen/stigma comes into close contact, close enough to effect pollination. After this time seed capsule formation proceeds normally and the capsules appear above ground, mature and shed the seeds. I am saying that a given plant might or might not form flowers correctly above ground depending on some limiting factor (presumable temperature or moisture related) - and I want to know what that limiting factor might be so I can make sure it is not limiting. It is not some genetically fixed property. It may be that the plant 'thinks' conditions above ground will not support a pollinator or pollination so it doesn't bother making flowers - more likely it is some other physiological limitation that just screws things up? Thanks, John John T Lonsdale PhD 407 Edgewood Drive, Exton, Pennsylvania 19341, USA Home: 610 594 9232 Cell: 484 678 9856 Fax: 801 327 1266 Visit "Edgewood" - The Lonsdale Garden at <http://www.edgewoodgardens.net/> http://www.edgewoodgardens.net/ USDA Zone 6b _____ From: Jim McKenney [mailto:jimmckenney@jimmckenney.com] Sent: Friday, February 02, 2007 11:09 AM To: john@johnlonsdale.net; 'Pacific Bulb Society' Subject: RE: [pbs] A mystery solved, sort of - Sternbergia colchiciflora I wonder how many other people thought what I thought on reading John Lonsdale's post: doesn't this remind us of something? That something is the way the seed capsules of Crocus korolkowii form underground and never appear at the surface. Synge described Colchicum colchiciflora as sweetly scented, so perhaps this species has a pollinator which responds to scent and not to the sort of visual clues provided by petals. Or, maybe those seeds are produced by apomixis. This species is also described elsewhere as having a short style. It would be interesting to know if the plants which bloom underground have long styles which protrude above ground. There are orchids which bloom underground, too: maybe this Sternbergia is moving in that direction. John, when you say "why do some plants do this and others not", are you saying that certain plants always do this and certain other plants always do not, or are you saying that a given plant might or might not do it depending on some limiting factor? As I read your full query, it seems to suggest the latter. But isn't the former a possibility? Keep us posted: this is fascinating. Jim McKenney jimmckenney@jimmckenney.com Montgomery County, Maryland, USA, USDA zone 7 My Virtual Maryland Garden http://www.jimmckenney.com/ Webmaster Potomac Valley Chapter, NARGS Editor PVC Bulletin http://www.pvcnargs.org/ Webmaster Potomac Lily Society http://www.potomaclilysociety.org/