On Jan 6, 2007, at 1:09 PM, Jim McKenney wrote: > Can anyone tell me the Chilean name for Tecophilaea cyanocrocus? A > friend of > a friend is from Chile, and I thought it would be interesting to > see if she > had ever heard of it. Furthermore, even though it has been found again, I asked Osmani Baullosa if he was planning to eventually offer seeds of it since he seems to be finding and offering seeds of so many other Chilean natives, including Tecophilaea violiflora that Jane mentioned, and which was much longer in coming into my collection than T. cyanocrocus. He told me that it was completely unavailable commercially in Chile and that he had been saving money from his seed sales to one day purchase a single bulb of each of the three main varieties and attempt to import them. (So I sent him seeds of each variety, which he says have germinated for him earlier last year, and I've set aside a couple of bulbs of each type to send him after they become dormant again.) (I offered them too late for him to attempt switching hemispheres last summer.) US$15-25 per bulb, not counting shipping and importation costs, is pretty outrageous for Chileans. (And I'd say it's quite steep even for most people in the First World too, unless they're crazy bulb people. But the color sure is amazing.) Bottom line, I'd be surprised if anyone in Chile these days, other than some botanists or hobbyists, knows of it by its scientific name, let alone the common name it had back before it became "extinct". Just my guess. --Lee Poulsen Pasadena, California, USA, USDA Zone 10a