At our NARGS chapter meeting Tuesday evening, PBS member Terry Laskiewicz showed a beautiful specimen of Fritillaria striata, with the flowers not quite open. There was something about the foliage that didn't look quite typical to me, but I thought it may have been the result of the plant having been grown in a frost-free greenhouse, whereas I grow mine under cover but where they experience some frost. This is a species from southern California and is regarded by English writers as not very hardy, but I have found it fully hardy to at least 20 degrees F (about minus 6 C). Terry has now sent me a photo of the open flower, and I can't tell whether it is within the range of variation of F. striata, but it seems more widely flared and very bright pink, so now I'm wondering if it is a hybrid with F. pluriflora, another Californian pink-flowered species that I also grow. I have plants grown from seed of my F. pluriflora that are obviously hybrids with F. striata, and Ian Young in Scotland has also has these occur in his collection. Terry's plant is one from a large batch of seedling bulbs that I distributed through my "surplus list" a few years ago, and I wonder if the bees went both ways between the two species. Has anyone who received seedling bulbs of F. striata from me flowered plants that don't quite match the species description? My hybrid from seed parent pluriflora lacks the sweet fragrance characteristic of striata, but plants with striata as the seed parent might be fragrant. So far the striata seedlings I have in bloom here all appear to be typical striata. Another difference between the species is the leaves, which in pluriflora have a slightly undulate margin; those of striata are flat. My obvious hybrid has pluriflora-influenced leaves. Foliage form is one way I can spot another common hybrid in the collection, between F. biflora and F. purdyi, before the plants even bloom for the first time. The hybrid California frits I have are also particularly robust, which is a bonus since, except for F. biflora, all the parents are reputed to be difficult in cultivation. Jane McGary Portland, Oregon, USA