Amana edulis is a close relative of Tulipa and sometimes placed in that genus. It comes from East Asia. I've been growing this plant, bought as a bulb, for about 20 years and had never seen it flower. Since I planted it in my new garden about 3 years ago, it has increased a lot (it spreads by underground stolons). Today, the second non-raining day in a long time, it opened numerous flowers. The starry little flowers are white with deep pink stripes, the pink being darker on the reverse. The scape is only about 3 inches (7.5 cm) long, and the flowers are solitary. I imagine the extremely hot summer of 2015 and this unusually warm winter had something to do with initiating flowering. Perhaps this plant is very sensitive to temperature over its annual cycle. It will probably start raining again tomorrow or Saturday, but it's nice to have seen this charming little thing after so many disappointing years. The dry days have also allowed the erythroniums (thought to be closely related to Tulipa) to expand their flowers. Indeed, this is an extraordinarily flowery spring even for Portland, Oregon. Jane McGary