fawnridge
Well-Known Member
- 1,430
- 04/07/09
- 49
- 68
I will accept on face value that there are people out there who know the names of the original varieties of Crotons, i.e. the ones in The Book, the Dreer Catalog, and Exotica. I will also accept without question that there are new varieties appearing on the market on a regular basis that have been named by the person who first found the seedling or sport. Likewise for those lucky enough to cross-pollinate two known varieties.
So what I'm wondering is this, is there some way that all the original known varieties, let's say up to the date of publication of The Book, can be verified in our wiki by the true experts? I've never met Bob Alonzo, but enough people here who I respect say that he is a true expert on the original varieties. Can we get him in front of a computer screen to put the stamp of approval on our photos? And if there are other true experts of this caliber, can we get a second opinion on our photo collection? At least that way, we can say to the world, here is a verified collection of the original Crotons.
This gets even more important for original varieties that were never put in any book or photographed for posterity. I have Crotons, Lillian Stofregan for example, that's not in The Book or my copy of Exotica. (I've never seen the Dreer Catalog.) But yet these old varieties exist and we have them in our wiki. What if we're wrong?
As far as any Croton propagated after the cutoff date, as long as the originator can be found and make a claim, then we're done with any further naming controversies. Well, not really, there's always going to be is it an X or a Y or a Z? But as long as we have a certified database to compare to, it should be a much less complicated problem setting a name to a Croton someone has found in a back alley, a Home Depot, or a nursery deep in the 'glades.
I'll leave this task up those who know Bob Alonzo or Dr. Brown or any of the other archivists of Croton history. But if this database is to have any true value, it's a task we should all consider as a requirement.
So what I'm wondering is this, is there some way that all the original known varieties, let's say up to the date of publication of The Book, can be verified in our wiki by the true experts? I've never met Bob Alonzo, but enough people here who I respect say that he is a true expert on the original varieties. Can we get him in front of a computer screen to put the stamp of approval on our photos? And if there are other true experts of this caliber, can we get a second opinion on our photo collection? At least that way, we can say to the world, here is a verified collection of the original Crotons.
This gets even more important for original varieties that were never put in any book or photographed for posterity. I have Crotons, Lillian Stofregan for example, that's not in The Book or my copy of Exotica. (I've never seen the Dreer Catalog.) But yet these old varieties exist and we have them in our wiki. What if we're wrong?
As far as any Croton propagated after the cutoff date, as long as the originator can be found and make a claim, then we're done with any further naming controversies. Well, not really, there's always going to be is it an X or a Y or a Z? But as long as we have a certified database to compare to, it should be a much less complicated problem setting a name to a Croton someone has found in a back alley, a Home Depot, or a nursery deep in the 'glades.
I'll leave this task up those who know Bob Alonzo or Dr. Brown or any of the other archivists of Croton history. But if this database is to have any true value, it's a task we should all consider as a requirement.