Re: OT: Seeking Names

I've been delighted to see such a widespread understanding develop of the both
the potential benefits and hazards of putting names to UFOs (Unidentified
Flowering Objects).

Celia Storey wrote:

:  I failed to mention in my original post that I'm working off a master list
:  of a finite number of  plants purchased from specialty iris growers. One of
:  the plants concerned is definitely WABASH, another is definitely FLYBY. I
:  haven't seen FLYBY growing under a reliable name stake.

This is a great example of a puzzle that CAN be readily unscrambled.  It shows
the benefits gained by keeping both master lists (or maps, like mine)  AND
garden labels.  Thanks, Celia!

And Kathy Marble cautioned:

:  Even if two irises look the same, they will not have the same
:  genetic material unless they were asexually propagated.  So naming an iris
:  can only be done by KNOWING what it is.  If someone makes a "best guess"
:  that an iris is such and so, treat it as that, a GUESS.  

I'd like to add -- take into consideration:

1.	Who is making the guess.  (There are a few that are so distinctive I'll
hazard a guess.  For example, BIG BLACK BUMBLEBEE or PRECIOUS MEMORIES.)   

2.	Whether the guess is made on the basis of a personal inspection, a
photograph, or just a description. 

3.	Whether the iris is grown for display, to be entered in a show, or used
for hybridizing.  

If you grow it for your own enjoyment, don't enter it into shows, don't pass it
on, and don't register its offspring -- 'may be' labels are fun.  

Kathy continued:

:  The reason why this
:  occurs to me is that I have often heard Lynn Markham and Marty Schafer
:  discussing their respective breeding programs and they "go on and on" with
:  fascinating discussions of how "the parents have ... in their ancestry and
:  here it is, showing up in the seedling".

Absolutely correct!!!  I've tossed hundreds of seedlings after discovering a
parent had been incorrectly labeled.  Close enough to have "passed" when I
compared initial bloom to registered description, but clearly wrong when later
compared to photographs.   Thanks, Kathy. 

Sharon McAllister
73372.1745@compuserve.com
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