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appeared to be some morphological differences, and it was thought that Z. 
simpsonii occurred only in south Florida except for one disjunct population in 
Mississippi. Over time I discovered populations of Z. simpsonii in Alabama, 
Georgia, South Carolina, and southeastern North Carolina (Fig. 10), and came to 
understand that what I thought was a new species fell well within the 
morphological variation of Z. simpsonii. 
Figure 10. Distribution of Zephyranthes species endemic to southeastern USA. 
The year after I joined Carolina Biological, Dr. Flory became Babcock 
Professor of Botany at Wake Forest University, one hour from Burlington by car. I 
was fortunate that he was so near, and also that for a period of time Dr. Gerald L. 
Smith was his Research Associate. Notwithstanding a very full teaching load at 
High Point University, Gerald (HPU Professor of Biology) has maintained much 
of Dr. Flory’s live amaryllid collection at his home greenhouse. I am indeed 
privileged to have such a dedicated and capable colleague with keen taxonomic 
insights just a 45-minute drive from my home. Dr. Smith and I began 
collaborating on rain-lily research in the 1990’s. 
