There are no warranties, and there can be surprizes.
I was greatly disappointed after some years of nurturing when the seeds of a much touted white berried foetidissima from the Exchange produced a plant with fruit the color of russian dressing. Too dreary for words. Off to the dump it went. On the other hand, a variegata represented as "white form," which I hoped might resemble 'Innocenza,' bloomed with pale butter standards and white falls striped carmine, a darling cheeky tiny plant.
The only issue among the seeds I have donated of which I am aware was that I received as a gift a good quantity of what was represented to me as a white tridentata--represented as such by someone who should have known-- and I sent half to the exchange. Some years later that person told me it had turned out not to be tridentata, but setosa.
Must we call these things NOIDS? The HIPS people have started using that terminology in recent years, and it has infested the web, but it has always seemed too "cute" for my tastes. I am still using the traditional HIPS term "Unknowns," myself, which offers the advantage--in addition to some dignity--of being easily understood by all. . . . but, by all means, follow your own bliss.
Has there been any thought given in recent years to having an actual rhizome exchange or by by-mail auction to benefit SIGNA? These things were done in past to benefit the MIS. I'd like to see some of these bearded clones and species get wider distribution.
AMW
-----Original Message-----
From: Dennis Kramb <dkramb@badbear.com>
To: iris-species@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Mon, Dec 27, 2010 10:11 am
Subject: Re: [iris-species] more NOIDs
Well, I have been asking donors to send me photos of the parent plants. I add them to the online version of the Seed Ex list, turning it into a mini color catalog than just a list. I only got three respondents this year though.
Also, some SIGNA members have done a great job of adding seed photos of true species to the database. This is intended to help people receiving seeds to doublecheck them. Once upon a time I was dying to grow Iris longipetala. Had I known what the seeds were supposed to look like I mightn't have wasted years growing siberians by mistake waiting for them to bloom. The species database itself was born out of that story, actually... about 11 years ago.
But as for keeping track of specific donations retrospectively, no, we don't have anything like that. Maybe we should just post a disclaimer "CAVEAT EMPTOR. ALL SALES FINAL." lol j/k
Dennis in Cincinnati (celebrating my dad's 80th birthday today!)
On Mon, Dec 27, 2010 at 8:44 AM, Sean A. Zera
<z*@umich.edu> wrote:
It just occurred to me: does SIGNA keep track of such things, to
reduce confusion for someone who receives a clone of an originally
misidentified seed-ex plant, or someone trying to submit offspring to
a later exchange?
