Jane McGary wrote: "I have two Bellevalia species (or maybe just one) that have extremely long pedicels; one is called B. longistyla and I don't remember, offhand, what the other one is labeled. " Several years ago I acquired B. longipes from Jane. It's a bizarre plant, one I'm very glad to have. It is to Bellevalia what Allium cristophii and A. schubertii are to other Allium: they all are tumbleweeds. The infructescence, with the greatly elongated pedicels to which the seed capsules are attached, is said to roll around driven by the wind dispensing seed as it goes. Bellevalia longipes begins its annual display looking like an especially vigorous Muscari. The foliage in particular is very wide and long, wider than any Muscari I know - in fact, it looks more like substantial Allium at an early stage. The inflorescence at first looks like the standard-issue Muscari or Bellevalia inflorescence. The individual flowers are in the general size range of these plants, too. But it keeps getting taller, and as it goes, the pedicels on which each flower is formed get longer and longer until they are several inches long. By the time the seed ripens, the infructescence can be six or eight inches in diameter and a foot long. It's pretty impressive. Jane also mentioned Muscari dionysicum. When I first learned about this plant, it was still being treated as a form of M. comosum. Its outstanding characteristic is its height - when in bloom it can be a couple of feet tall. This is another plant I got from Jane, and I'm happy to report that unlike typical forms of Muscari comosum, this M. dionysicum blooms yearly here. This is another plant I'm very glad to have. We're in the throes of a heat wave here: daily temperatures are topping 90 degrees F. This is expected to continue into the new week. Tulips are frying to a crisp on their stems. Jim McKenney jimmckenney@jimmckenney.com Montgomery County, Maryland, USA, 39.03871º North, 77.09829º West, USDA zone 7, where hummingbirds and wood thrushes are back and morels are popping up in the woods. My Virtual Maryland Garden http://www.jimmckenney.com/ BLOG! http://mcwort.blogspot.com/ Webmaster Potomac Valley Chapter, NARGS Editor PVC Bulletin http://www.pvcnargs.org/ Webmaster Potomac Lily Society http://www.potomaclilysociety.org/