While weeding in the bulb frame during a "sun break" (a peculiarly Oregon weather term, I think) yesterday I found the first winter crocuses up -- C. ancyrensis and C. olivieri, since I consider C. laevigatus the tail end of fall crocuses -- and also a plant that I had never known to flower here before: Ambrosinia bassii, a western Mediterranean aroid. Several correspondents have mentioned it flowering for them, and I think they got the plant from me. I believe they were seeing the flowers in mid fall; perhaps the later flowering here occurs because I start giving it moisture later. It is a very small aroid, and the inflorescence is also small, resembling an Arisarum but lying open-side-up on the soil surface. The spathe is mottled and difficult to see amid the foliage. It was too cold to tell whether it has an odor, but given the color and low stature, I assume it's beetle-pollinated. "Of botanical interest," as the lists say, and I'll have some available next summer. Jane McGary Northwestern Oregon, USA