Stupid Question

ScotTi

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16/04/08
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Yellow Iceton? Why is it not named White Iceton? And do we know who came first the pink (aka Appleleaf aka Imperialis) or yellow? I would think the white (yellow) as that is why ice is in the name. Was it named after a person with the name of Iceton?
 

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It was in the Reasoner's catalog. If we could find out the publishing date, we may whittle away at the mystery. Any one know any contacts at the existing nursery? If not, I'd be happy to contact them. They may even have additional historical content they'd be willing to share.

I've been adding the cataloged references to the wiki. One thing I have noticed is that those past nursery folks were terrible with punctuation and spelling was a close second.
 
I think the original name was "Mrs. Eyeston"...

Mrs Icetone seems popular if you do a search. Mrs Eyeston turned up nothing. I was just curious on who was first, the yellow or the pink. I noticed this morning on my yellow that it threw a leaf with a little pink. So did the yellow sport the pink? Did the pink sport the yellow?
 

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I would guess that the red one came first and the yellow one sported off later...
The name "Mrs. Iceton" was reported by Frank Brown in his first book, Florida's Beautiful Crotons, on page 126 where he noted that it was listed in the 1911 catalog of Flandria Nursery in Bruges Belgium, and that the Belgians spelled it "Eyeston".
Somewhere I read that it has been seen sporting from a 'Black Prince' - I think that was mentioned in Brown's second book.
I also recall reading somewhere that it was known as 'Vulcan" in England or Europe at one time.
Still looking for more references...
 
Peyton, Thanks for the info. Do you have any idea what the Black Prince looks like? Here is a Mrs Iceton that I have that has a dark sport.
 

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Peyton, Thanks for the info. Do you have any idea what the Black Prince looks like? Here is a Mrs Iceton that I have that has a dark sport.
According to Crotons of the World page 60,
Black Prince "is an orange colored form of 'Ovalifolium' in which the new leaves come out yellow and turn to orange as they become older. The color underneath the leaves is a very dark brown..."
and the leaves "tend to grow in a vertical position"
so that "the underneath color of the leaves stands out giving the entire plant the appearance of being black..."
and it "is grown extensively throughout the South Pacific and tropical Asia"
and "is especially prolific in Taiwan."
Brown also says "it sports more regularly and in more different forms than any other croton."
He then mentions seeing "'Mrs. Iceton' as a sport on 'Black Prince' in the Tropical Garden at Heng Chun" (Taiwan).
Surprisingly to me there is no photo of 'Black Prince' in Dr. Brown's book...
 
I have 6 Mrs Iceton's and 1 has the best dark pink color. The others the pink is light.
 

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These Icetons are in Longwood Gardens, in the same conservatory as the "Miss Peters", but not the same plant.:)


Randy
 

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