I have had beloved patches of Jacks-in-the-pulpit for years now, and have moved adults and have propagated from seed. And [red-faced] I am a botanist, who thought she had a clue or two about the growth and repro patterns of Jacks.

Well, I was wrong about that....

This year, I had a new area where I wanted to start them, and found an irresistibly cheap source [big employee discount] for packets of rootstock.... And I am now amazed and befuddled.

Got two packets, and planted them around mid-late April. One of the two had started to break dormancy and sprout, just a little bit, in the package.

About two weeks ago [end of first week in May], that one rootstock quickly produced one leaf, and then another, and then within the same week there was a **very** small, but outwardly typical hooded spathe, with typical stripy coloration, et al. Looked perfectly normal, except that it was about 3" tall! The leaves were just a smidge shorter at the time.

Now, mid-late May, the flower is still there, maybe a half-inch taller, and the leaves are about the same height as the flower.... And the second rootstock packet has just appeared from the ground as a more typical early growth spike, although tiny.

Does anyone have a clue about what would cause this weird and brave little early thing to try to achieve **flower** at that undeveloped a stage? The Jacks *I* know will leaf out, and build resources, and eventually be at a place where they are ready to flower.

The only answer I can think of is that it was panicked.... Woke up in a small plastic bag full of sphagnum moss, decided it had days to live, and wanted to make a baby! I have no idea whether it is developed enough to actually have a chance of setting a single seed. Haven't had the heart to poke at it.

Has anyone seen or heard of a Jack flowering in this tiny a way?