So I'm going through the stock of Euphorbia that Mountain Crest Gardens bought from Abbey Gardens when Lem retired, and right now I'm trying to figure out specifics about plants labeled 'Euphorbia Ice Cube' and 'Euphorbia Frosty.' I guess my first question relates to how inter-species hybrids are named scientifically. For example, Graptoveria ‘Fred Ives’ doesn't seem to have a name that fits into the typical Genus species × species format. I find this perplexing.
Secondly, I'm trying to determine if Ice Cube and Frosty are indeed two different cultivars of Euphorbia. When I googled them, I came up with no results for Ice Cube and the only result for Frosty was Mountain Crest's own website. They look exactly alike to my eye. Does anyone know any background on these cultivars? Has anyone heard of them before? Are they the same thing? Thanks! I can take photos if that would help.
Euphorbia Ice Cube/Frosty
-
Brontosaurus
- Posts: 278
- Joined: Mon Sep 12, 2016 5:49 pm
-
esp_imaging
- Posts: 1503
- Joined: Sun Jun 28, 2015 4:27 pm
- Location: England
- Contact:
Re: Euphorbia Ice Cube/Frosty
For horticulture, specially selected clones of crosses may be propagated vegetatively. As the hybrid offspring are all(?) genetically different, additional information is needed to specify the selected clone - just naming the parents is not specific enough.
Alternatively, attractive or interesting mutations or "sports" are selected from a genetic line and used for propagation.
These may be named by the person originating the cross, or by a nursery distributing them. So there may also be a commercial incentive to give interesting, catchy names to plants produced for profit. The naming is not likely to have (much, if any) scientific weight, it is not likley to be validly published in a relevent journal, for example.
Over time, some popular clones get widely propagated and the name becomes widely accepted, E.g. Crassula cv. Gollum etc.
With Frosty vs. Ice Cube, it looks as though the plants have not yet been widely propagated. You may have one nursery simply re-naming an existing clone, or else producing a very similar looking plant independently, quite possibly using the same cross, and giving it a new name.
Alternatively, attractive or interesting mutations or "sports" are selected from a genetic line and used for propagation.
These may be named by the person originating the cross, or by a nursery distributing them. So there may also be a commercial incentive to give interesting, catchy names to plants produced for profit. The naming is not likely to have (much, if any) scientific weight, it is not likley to be validly published in a relevent journal, for example.
Over time, some popular clones get widely propagated and the name becomes widely accepted, E.g. Crassula cv. Gollum etc.
With Frosty vs. Ice Cube, it looks as though the plants have not yet been widely propagated. You may have one nursery simply re-naming an existing clone, or else producing a very similar looking plant independently, quite possibly using the same cross, and giving it a new name.