BCSS - Forum

Hi All,

This was in flower over the weekend.
I have it labeled as Stapelia ambigua, but according to Bruyns it should now be called St grandiflora var grandiflora.

A question.
When a the name of a plant changes, do you change the name on your label to reflect this change? Or leave it as it was originally?

Thanks
Aloenut

Hi Aloe,

I always prepare new labels when a plant arrives and if the name is "wrong/ changed" I'll amend it at that stage and record the change in my database. However if I find a name change once I have re-labeled it then it stays, but the new name is recorded in my database.

Hi Aloenut,

Many of course may not accept name changes and so don't change labels or records. This seems to be especially true amongst cactophiles, and many can't swallow the wholesale lumping that's occurred, for instance, in The New Cactus Lexicon, published earlier this year.

why not just giv it a number & then you can record the name changes in a database - cheaper on labels at any rate :-)

If you want to change a handwritten label change it rather than replacing it with a new one. I find a quick rub with a bit of 'wet and dry' paper erases the offending bit.

I generally make a label in the format that suit sme, and record it in my spreadsheet. The name at that stage is what I assess it to be from the current literature, but always record the name on the label if it is different. I also give it a number - probably the only thing that can't change.
I update the names in my database from time ot time - and as opportunity presents itself. I haven't made any changes as a result of the |NCL, but, for example, I have followed up to now the Hunt/Pilbeam Mammillaria naming as per John's last book.
If I only have one or two of a genus, and decide I'm going to grow a number more, I might then look at the NCL or other reference and relabel all of the plants. I did this recently with my rather few Copiapoas.
The thing is, lumping or not lumping - no-one can really say who is right - because no-one can really define in my view adequately what defines a species, and what a subspecies. And even with the rules given in the ICBN, there are squabbles over the interpretation. Just have to look at a recent copy of the German Mammillaria journal to see how opposite two botanists can be.

So my advice is: choose what authority you follow, and follow that. Ignore everything else, until if and when you judge there is a more suitable authority to follow. And that will be based upon qualitative and quantitative factors.

Personally, I believe that natural variation occurs significantly enough to be more of a lumper, so I follow Hunt on Mamms not Reppenhagen and so on..

I have all this fun to come!

At the moment I have seeds labelled 1 to 8, wrapped in stapled paper. Each has a page in a notebook with the mother and father species, date collected and other bits like whether the seed pod died and fell off, or if it came from a pod of one or three seeds. I'll see if there is any correlation between any of these factors and germinatability.

I think labelling in my long narrow tray would have to be with cocktail stick markers or small stones (and a corresponding diagram), as stickers would not last long in a soggy ziplock bag.

Any plants for sale would have a label telling the parentage at least... and maybe my own code in case I meet them again. Hmm... had not thought about that until now.

The beauty of freezer bags is that you can write the name of your seeds on the outside with a marker pen, so you don't have to worry about labels until you come to pot them up.

Phil