Question about bloodroot cultivar names?

Hi everyone,

   I'm putting together some of my bloodroot photos for the hort.net gallery,
   but I'm getting really confused about the names for these.

   It used to be that Sanguinaria canadensis 'Flore Pleno' was the name
   given to the double-flowering form that looks like one of the double
   bomb peonies.

   More recent literature suggests that these double-flowering forms with
   30+ petals should be named S. canadensis 'Multiplex' and the forms with
   15 petals or so should be named S. canadensis 'Plena'.

   Now I'm reading the RHS Plant Finder and see that they have the following
   hierarchy:

      Sanguinaria canadensis
         Sanguinaria canadensis forma multiplex
            Sanguinaria canadensis forma multiplex 'Plena'

   Here's where I get confused.

   Under their scheme, 'Plena' is a cultivar of forma multiplex.  But 
   under the older scheme, multiplex was the super-double form.

   Is RHS changing the name so that what used to be multiplex (the form
   with lots of petals) is now 'Plena'?  Otherwise it would seem that
   they're listing a form with more petals as the naturally appearing
   form and the 15-petalled form as a cultivar.  I'm finding that hard
   to believe, so I have to conclude that they're swapping the accepted
   names around again.

   Does anyone have any references that might help straighten this out?

Thanks,

Chris

http://www.hort.net/gallery/      3213 online plant photos and growing!
http://www.hort.net/gallery/date/2003-04-13/       The latest additions

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