Primulina yungfuensis grown by Bill Price |
Primulina yungfuensis grown by Drew Norris |
Common names
and marketing names are a part of Horticulture.
They evolve and there is no stopping them.
Primulina yungfuensis has tremendous
potential as a commercial plant, but we need a better name if it will be talked
about.
Several names have been proposed to
me and the consensus is that Frosted Jade should be the one. Jade has a
Chinese connection and the leaf has a dark green color. If you look at yungfuensis with the sun
shining on it, the silver variegation on the dark green jade sparkles like
frost looks on grass.
Hybrids get nice English word names that have some significance
to the hybridizer who usually gets to name his selected new releases.
Species have Latin names but can be designated with a cultivar
name, if there is variability in the collected specimens. Sometimes, a geographical name will be added
to a species name to distinguish it from other clones of that species. Occasionally, some named species cultivars are
determined, by taxonomist, to be different enough to be named a different
species.
While all of this is going on,
common names and marketing names are valuable to keep the plant world turning
and the horticulture trade moving.
Through a technicality, the
botanical name cannot be Primulina yungfuensis ‘Frosted Jade’. By adding the cultivar name, it implies that
there are other different clones of the yungfuensis species. Since at this time there is only one known
clone of yungfuensis in North America, there cannot be any distinction.
By announcing my marketing name of
Frosted Jade, I hope that it becomes the common name for Primulina yungfuensis.
In casual conversation it will be
much easier to ask: “How’s your Frosted
Jade doing?” then saying: “How’s your Primulina yungfuensis doing?”
Will Frosted Jade gain acceptance?
--- The market will decide.
I recently bought a small plant of P. yungfuensis from a seller on Ebay. Imagine my surprise when I finally got around to looking carefully at the label and realized the plant originally came from you! Thanks!
ReplyDeleteThis is the variety I have... it's looking just a little sad, I can't quite figure out how much sun it needs and I think I was overwatering until recently. New growth, baby leaves, but there seem to be a good amount of leaves dying.
ReplyDelete