Re: Naming of plants
- To: Multiple recipients of list <i*@rt66.com>
- Subject: Re: Naming of plants
- From: C* <C*@aol.com>
- Date: Fri, 16 Jan 1998 02:40:09 -0700 (MST)
As a professional nurseryman, I thought that I should add a footnote on the
recent discussion. Accurate naming of plants is a constant problem - the most
relaible of sources can still be wrong, and we all obtain plants in good faith
that the name is true. Often, without some photographic or other reference to
guide us, checking the authenticity of the name is pretty near impossible -
this is particularly true with historic irises, especially when descriptions
in the earlier check lists are reduced to such useless gibberish as "TB-E-W1".
Nothing irritates more than someone (who will usually consider themselves an
"expert") coming along and saying that something is incorrectly labelled
because it does not match the plant that they grow. Who is to say that my
plant is right and their's is wrong? I will investigate any question set
against my irises (and other plants), but unless I can find conclusive proof
that the name is wrong and (better still) find out what the correct name is, I
am inclined to stick to the name I know. If I have doubts, I will often append
a "?" or "not sure about this name" into the catalogue or label description,
but only if I have good reason - to do this will virtually render the stock
unsaleable, because we all like to buy a plant with the correct name on it.
We do make mistakes - thanks to Mike Lowe and Clarence Mahan, last year I
discovered that the plant we have been selling as I.sibirica TROPIC NIGHT is
in fact just an unnamed siberian seedling and not the true article. Fair
enough - this year it will be labelled as such (and apologies to anyone who
has bought it from us). And if someone is making an obvious error (deliberate
or otherwise) such as the example quoted by Walter of someone selling JIs
under a name previously used for a TB, then they should correct it at the
earliest opportunity - that sort of basic mistake (especially amongst iris
specialists) is inexcusable when the register is freely available. But it is
very difficult when we have fifty thousand or more registered varieties, so
many of which are so very similar to umpteen thousand others!
Please do not label all nurseryfolk as disreputable ogres - we are trying to
make a living and we do our best (especially with only 24 hours per day!).
Anyone on this list who suggests that they are 100% certain of the name of all
the irises in their collection is either a liar or a fool.
Graham Spencer
Croftway Nursery
West Sussex, UK
USDA zone 8
croftway@aol.com
You can see our 1998 iris list at http://members.aol.com/croftway/
