Date: Sun, 22 Feb 1998 16:31:30 EST From: CALIFCARN@aol.com To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com Message-Id: <aabcdefg706$foo@default> Subject: On cultivars
Greetings, folks; Peter D'Amato here in muddy California. I found the last
few days of comments about cultivars interesting, and would have responded
sooner, but our roads have been flooded and I could not get to the greenhouse,
where our office and computer are.
I don't know if Mr. Evan's comments on the publication of cultivars and
laziness were directed to me, for if he knew me, he would certainly know I am
far from being a lazy person. One of the reasons I personally delayed
publication of several cultivars is that after six years of trying to have
plants like S. x 'Judith Hindle' tissued cultured, and meeting only with
failure, I for one will not be publishing these plants until I am reasonably
certain the plants will be mass produced and available to those who want them.
I have Ron Gagliardo to thank for getting some of these plants in vitro.
After the publication of S. x 'Judith Hindle' back in 1993, I receive calls
and letters almost on a weekly basis on her availability. Unfortunately I
have to respond in the negative. Worse, the plant is on display at California
Carnivores, and it is singly the most popular plant of all 600 or so we have
in our collection. Some people get downright angry if this or that plant is
"unavailable at this time".
I have continued to breed, evaluate and choose cultivars, and I mention
some of these in my upcoming book - only because I now have hope that they
will be soon or eventually in vitro, thanks to the hard work and patience of
people like Mr. Gagliardo, who must put up with my fairly frequent phone calls
and cards inquiring as to their status.
I agree with Jan that the publication of these plants should be done
through ICPS, since they are the official registrar. However, if I am not
mistaken, by law cultivars may be published also in catalogues, magazines and
books, etc., that receive wide circulation. This is not how I go about
publication, and my mentioning in "The Savage Garden" of certain cultivars
does not, to me, mean that they are "published". Since I am a strong
supporter of the Society, I will be publishing these plants in The Newsletter,
as they become available, and I urge others to do so as well.
There is, of course, another problem, which ICPS has not yet addressed,
and the problem is a large one. I discussed this during my lecture at the
1997 International meeting in Atlanta, and I go into quite a bit in my book.
So far, ICPS only registers CULTIVARS, and not simply new crosses, as does
more organized and established hobbies as orchids. When a new hybrid is
produced, if it is the first time such a cross was made, then it should be
published and registered with a fancy non-Latin name. Thereafter, anyone
duplicating the cross would always call it by that name. If a particular
plant from that cross warranted distinction, enough to be propagated
vegatatively to preserve its uniqueness, then that particular plant would be
given a cultivar status and published further. Currently ICPS does not do
this, as it only registers cultivars, and not new crosses. Frankly, if
anyone were to tackle this job, and backtrack and trace down all hybrids so
far done, and find out who did them and when ... well, as you can see this
would be a daunting task that just might drive one to suicide. So as it is,
only cultivars are published by ICPS.
Th-th-th-that's all folks, and its back to the mud.
Peter
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