Re: OT: Registration/Introduction

Marck A. Cook wrote:

>      If I am not mistaken, any registered Iris is eligible for show awards.
<snip> 
>      I have an old TB Iris called WALMAC YELLOW.  It was registered in
> 1953, but never was introduced.  I and others have taken blue ribbons with
> it.  I was once told that the fact that it is in the Checklists is good
> enough.  If there is an official rule to the contrary, please let me know. 

and Walter Moores added:

:	I am not really sure.  Keith Keppel would be the final authority
:  on this.  I just know that I had registered but not introduced an iris
:  several years ago and subsequently used it in a cross where one from the
:  cross was registered and introduced.  In double checking his records Keith
:  noted that I had not ever introduced one parent in the cross.  He
:  advised that I withdraw the name and use the seedling number and parentage
:  for the withdraw irises in recording the parentage of the iris I
:  introduced.

<snip>
	
:	Let's here from the experts, Sharon?

FInally, RIck Tasco added:

:  I do know that to be eligible for AIS awards an iris must be
:  "introduced".  And that means that the AIS registrar (Keith Keppel at
:  present) must have a copy of the  catalog where it was introduced or the
:  page number if introduced in the AIS Bulletin. 


We're talking about several different things here, and I think it will be easier
to understand if we go back to basics:

Step #1 -- Registration.  A duly registered iris goes into AIS records, is
included in the R&I booklet for that year, and the decennial Checklist when it
is compiled.

Step #2 -- Introduction.  It's offered for sale.  In a catalog, flyer, or just
an ad.  

Step #3 -- Documentation.  Evidence of introduction (in the form of a copy of
the catalog, flyer, or ad) is submitted to the AIS Registrar.

As Rick explained, to be eligible for AIS awards like the HM or AM a cultivar
has to make it through all three steps.  

For show purposes, though, the rules don't seem to be so stringent.  Sometimes a
hybridizer may introduce an iris, but fail to submit the proof.  Sometimes, when
one is registered near the end of one decade and introduced in the beginning of
the next, the information on introduction hasn't been included in the later
Checklist.  The Registrar has it, it just hasn't been published

Overall, the Checklist information on introduction is not as comprehensive as
that on registration.  There are so many in distribution whose Checklist entries
cover registration but not introduction that, for practical purposes, when one
of them turns up at a show it is reasonable to assume that it has been
introduced into commerce.  Local conventions may vary, of course,  but I've seen
many specimens with no record of introduction in the Checklists take ribbons.
(Of course, you should expect to be challenged if you tried to enter an
unintroduced 1996 registration in a 1997 show, but that's another matter
entirely!)

The situation Walter described is different, though -- an example of the
Registrar's rules that PREVENT confusion.   If a hybridizer decides not to
introduce a previously registered cultivar,  it is best to withdraw the
registration and release the name.  For example, in 1992 I registered a
scrumptious pale peach ABM as ALTOGETHER LOVELY.  That was before I discovered
its lamentable tendency to bloom out.  I released the name, withdrawing the
registration, and transferred it to a flesh-toned halfbred.  Anyone who has both
the 1992 and 1995 R&I booklets has the complete documentation -- but only the
cultivar that was actually introduced will appear in the next decennial
Checklist.


Sharon McAllister
73372.1745@compuserve.com
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