Post by kiwiearl on Oct 4, 2013 18:17:01 GMT -5
This I an interesting argument going back and forth here. I personally can see things from both sides. I understand the idea of keeping lines pure, for the sake of future conservation, and I will likely use the plants I am growing to that end (I have about 4 different lines of S. leucophylla going on, at least 2 I know the exact locations they came from), keeping seeds pure and from one populations, should the need to bring them back ever be found (and I pray that is not so).
However, I am a sucker for the hybrids and fantastic crosses as well. I have a flava atro x ornata growing on that, while the parents may have both come from the Carolinas, may also have been hundreds of miles apart and likely wouldn't have been crossed. I also love the rubri x cupreas I've seen out there, and wouldn't mind having one of my own. However, I strictly believe that once we have crossed such plants, they should remain in cultivation and distinct from wild lines (I am a labeler, strict as I possibly can be, no funny business or slacking on locations, clones, etc.)unless we happen to hit the absolute, worst-case scenario of needing a full-reintroduction and being stuck with only such crosses, which really isn't likely.
In a way, we can have both, the pure lines for genetics' sake, and the crosses and cultivars for cultivation's sake. But, the key is just to make sure we know who is what, and inform anyone who buys them exactly what they are getting and the importance of passing on that knowledge.
I agree - you make some great points. I too like hybrids and am not at all opposed to cultivated creations (how the hell could I be with a registered one myself ). I do, however, have problems with people breeding between geographically far flung varieties within a species and then proclaiming to have realised a variety in turn from the process. For example, remaining constant with my position on the two, my submission is, breeding between a Liberty Co. FL var. rubricorpora and a Green Swamp, NC var. atropurpurea (if you can find one) delivers up what might be a gorgeous entity but not a variety in and of itself. The variety names as proposed/revised are intended to refer to wild plants in defining the nature of the respective species. I have double problems with those, either through naivety or cold calculation, that propagate from cultivated plants in this fashion and then offer them for sale as something without credibility.