Jude wrote >Hi gang, >Who here has experience with Biarum ? I got some B. davisii and have no >previous experience with them - From what I can see, they are strange >little things. I have grown a number of Biarum species from seed and also grow Biarum davisii which I got from a friend. The seed germinates readily after sowing and forms small tubers that can be moved on after one year. I find that the plants respond best to a free root run (I now have them in raised beds) but can also be grown for a long time in pots. However, in pots they do not reach anything like the size they achieve in nature. I keep them dry in summer. They flower at odd times of year, some in late summer before the leaves emerge, and some have an unpleasant scent. Some that I grow increase well vegetatively, such as Biarum karduchorum, while others remain as a single tuber. Slugs will prey on the leaves of some but not others. Biarum davisii and Biarum marmarisense, which I think some botanists regard as the same species, are available commercially and are especially valued for their pink spathes. Most of the others have blackish or dark reddish spathes and black spadices. All the ones I've grown have leaves of modest size and make comfortable companions to other bulbs. Jane McGary Portland, Oregon, USA