Re: naming irises

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There are roughly 250 to 300 wild species of irises. There is no exact number, partly because not all species are yet known to science, but mainly because not all botanists agree on which plants are distinct species. This is often because the plants themselves don't seperate neatly into the discrete units people would like them to! To name a new species, youÂdescribe it in a peer-reviewed scientific journal, at which point it is considered published. Preserved specimens are stored permanently, commonly at a university, so that future scientists have access to an example of the exact plant you were talking about.

Gardeners use cultivar names to uniquely identify clones of irises in cultivation. These could be unique forms of wild species, or more commonly garden hybrids. To name a new cultivar, you introduce it by offering the plant for sale to the public, publishing the name and description in a nursery's catalog. Popular plants like irises will have an official registrar group to try to keep track of all the cultivar names. It is not required that you registerÂyour cultivar, but doing so helps to prevent accidentally duplicating one of those 65,000 names.

Sean Z