Thank you Ben, for this critical detail in assessing morphological appearance. I'm not sure than many Americans will believe you without further details . The information about "breaks" being due to virus has been around for at least 50 years here in the U.S.. Some of us even remember how the idea of virus being introduced to the genome and becoming part of it (to transmit the character of "broken color" through subsequent generations of progeny) caught hold in our minds. And many of us still don't believe that it is not transmissible as an infection a la tobacco mosaic virus (tobamo virus) from discarded cigarette butts in the garden. Could this be a thread or topic for general interest?. It seems particularly appropriate in light of current comments in many venues that all Netherlands nursery stock being virus infected. And apropos of this, perhaps-- does anybody have bulbs of Fritillaria persica that they've personally bloomed which are not stunted without flowers. I've now bought bulbs for 5 years (from different dealers) hoping to get another plant of "Adiyaman" which I had-- that bloomed reliably every year (36 years ago) and apparently can no longer obtain even at a price of $6.95 each. I'd like to purchase one that is guaranteed to bloom. I know how to grow the thing, but the bulbs I have of persica show no capability. The stem ends with no hint of necessary vegetative process for flowers. Other frits grow and bloom well. Adam Fikso in Glenview, IL USDA Z 5a ----- Original Message ----- From: "Zonneveld, B.J.M. (Ben)" <zonneveld@nhn.leidenuniv.nl> To: <pbs@lists.ibiblio.org> Sent: Monday, April 19, 2010 2:35 AM Subject: Re: [pbs] pbs Digest, Vol 87, Issue 18 >I agree that not a single tulip is free of virus. However that is true