Re: AR: Preservation of the C.G. White Arilbreds

From: Bill Shear <BILLS@hsc.edu>


>
>To complicate matters, It's not just a question of plant supply but also of
>lost knowledge.   There are few left who came to know these cultivars when
>they were new and correctly labeled.  Some of the imposters have been in
>distribution so long that they've become accepted.  For example, the real
>JOPPA PARROT has been deemed most likely extinct by the mid-70s, but an
>imposter was known to be in distribution.  The color was very close, but
>while the real JP had a broad, diffuse beard the imposter had a
>modern-style, bushy one.  If the imposter still exists today, how many
>could distinguish it from the original?
>
>I hesitate to say that assembly and maintaining such a collection would be
>impossible -- but it would certainly much far more difficult to do today.

This is sad news--sic transit gloria mundi (say, wouldn't 'Gloria Monday'
be a great iris name?).  As I recall the old Val Slamova catalogs, the
descriptions were quite detailed.  Perhaps they could serve as a partial
guide, anyway.  I seem to recall, too, that Tom and Wiloh Wilkes had a very
large slide collection that undoubtedly documented many CGW varieties.
Where is that collection now?
Of course, if most of the varieties are extinct, it's a futile effort.

CGW didn't keep any records of his crosses, I have read.  Is that true, or
were there records that were incomprehensible to others?

Bill Shear
Department of Biology
Hampden-Sydney College
Hampden-Sydney VA 23943
(804)223-6172
FAX (804)223-6374
email<bills@hsc.edu>




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