Flower rays - 2 possible species or are they regional variations?

I have two flower rays right now, a normal male with about an 8-9" disc, and a 'Trebol' female with a 9-10" disc. I brought them both in myself, with the female coming in as 'Trebol' flower and the male a normal flower. The male was only 5-6" when he first arrived, and his colour is the same now as it was then (he's the light ray pictured). Even though he's grown considerably, his colour has yet to darken to any noticeable degree. The female 'Trebol' was roughly 9" when she came in, and looks almost the same now as then (almost black with vibrant spots). I had some other 'Trebol' flowers come in at the same time and same size as my normal male, and even at 5-6" you could see a difference in their color when side by side in the holding tank (they were slightly darker overall, with a bit more colour to them and not so washed out looking). And now that my the male has reached almost the same size as my 'Trebol' female, he's still washed out and shows no signs of getting any darker. Unfortunately the person who purchased the other Trebol flowers from me lost them all, so I have no Trebol growouts to compare mine to (other than a female that skynoch has that's very similar to mine).

I'm wondering if they're just regional variations (of course the exporters are vague and not really wanting to tell anything about where they're caught) of the same species, or if there's a possibility of them being different species.

Has anyone else heard of the 'Trebol' name being associated with flower rays? From what I could tell when I had the two variations side by side in the same tank, the 'Trebol' flowers appeared to be more black based with the normal flowers more brown.

What about colour change - has anyone raised any flower rays from small and them taken forever to darken up, or have them darken up at different rates?

Wow, I guess I've really been asleep lately!

I guess another question, is has anyone paid any attention to the development of the different flowers? Do the lighter and darker types appear to mature at different rates? My light male I keep having to check to make sure he is in fact a male, because even at 9" his claspers are almost non-existent.

FishDog - great colour transition of that flower. She definitely looks very similar to my male. I have seen him slightly darker than he is now, and seeing the pics of yours I'm thinking that black sand just might help him to continue his darkening a little quicker.