Last March I ordered several naturally occurring hybrids from two different people. S. x ahlesii and x. aerolata from one person and x. stevensii and x. willisii from another. It had been so long since I ordered them that I had totally forgotten about all of them until I received a bill for x stevensii and x willisii in September along with notification that the plants were going to ship and just recently the end of October a bill for the ahlesii and aerolata and notification those were going to ship. Geesh, I ordered all of these back early last spring. Problem is that I really had forgotten I had ordered any of those plants from any of those people so I placed another order for what I believed would be my first S. x stevensii (thought being I didn’t have one and wanted one) which I paid for and received back in September. The plant I received back in September was sent to me labeled S. “Stevensii” or maybe it was labeled S. ‘Stevensii’ and the plant I received in October was labeled S. x stevensii. I wish I would have taken photos of both of these plants because they look totally different. The S. x stevensii that I just received is consistent with what x. stevensii should look like. I probably would have never noticed differences if I didn’t have what I believed to be two plants that were both allegedly stevensii to compare. The one labeled as either a registered or unregistered cultivar is the one throwing me for a loop. That plant came from the UK and based on what I see, no way is it the naturally occurring hybrid x. stevensii. I wish I had taken photos of these two plants before they started going dormant but things have been rather hectic around here with kids, husband, work, endless piles of laundry, and weekend butchering of buckthorn. Can any one shed any light on this?
Gets better. Sometime over the summer (having forgotten I had already ordered a willisii last March) I ordered another x willisii. I received the plant and took a look at it and figured I just got what I paid for. It wasn’t x willisii. I gave it away and never bothered to contact the person I bought it from because the plant was small but healthy and made a nice gift to a friend who could care less what it really was.
Now, to add insult to injury, the x. willisii I ordered last spring and just recently received out of the blue is also not consistent with the plant that Peter D’Amato has labeled as x. willisii. My bet based on his photographs and based on the standard for this at the ICPS is that I just bought and paid for yet another plant that is not x. willisii. OK, accidents happen but this is now the second time I have bought x. willisii and not received what I believe to be willisii. Actually, I am sure neither one of them is x. willisii. Does any one have any idea how I can get my hands on a real S. x willisii?
For what it’s worth, the x. ahlesii and the x. aerolata are really ahlesii and aerolata and the alata pubescent ordered at the same time is really alata pubescent but I do have another aerolata on order for next spring because I forgot I had placed an order for one last March. Wonder if the aerolata coming next spring will really be aerolata or just an imposter?
I am way too out of my mind busy right now and wasn’t expecting any plants at all at this time of year so if there is any one out there who can help me figure out what I have done to myself, I would be most appreciative.
I really am not a scatterbrain although you’d probably think so from the above. I do think I need to start keeping better notes of what is on order though to avoid duplications and to be better able to manage my time. These last orders threw me for a total loop because I was shutting down CP shop for the year with holidays around the corner and I had to go out and scour the countryside looking for a bale of Canadian Sphagnum Peat so I could pot them up properly. Duplications were not a bad thing though this time as I could see myself sharing divisions of these mislabeled plants in the years to come and looking like an idiot when somebody spotted inconsistencies like I just did. I suppose best to find out now what’s going on rather than to perpetuate the mislabeling by sending clones out to others in the future.
Mislabeling problems and forgetfulness
Humm, you asked what I might know about S. stevensii. All I know is that it is confused and unknown. In the UK S. stevensii is a hybrid cultivar grammaticly correct is S. 'Stevensii' massed produced by a large company and sold in chain stores. Most belive it to have leuco and possibly rubra, but beyond that it is unknown. Here it seems that S. stevensii is a synonm for S. catesbaei and thus is not really used. From what I can figure S. stevensii is a particular clone of S. catesbaei from a specific place. A plant labeled S. stevensii that looks like S. catesbaei would be (S. purpurea X flava). Whereas S. 'Stevensii' is a cultivar with speculated parentage (S. rubra gulfensis X S. leucophylla). So if your plant looks like a rubra X leuco then I would assume it to be S. 'Stevensii' not S. stevensii.
Hope that helps.
Yup, I just came up with this too, "From what I can figure S. stevensii is a particular clone of S. catesbaei from a specific place." This would be why the plant I received looks somewhat different from the S. catesbaei I have growing here but is matching the S. x stevensii. .
OK, I found the info on the 'Stevensii'. You have to gather bits and pieces from a few different sources to put the pieces of the puzzle together. Totally different plant and it is as you say, mass produced... but not mass produced here in the US but in the UK which just happens to be where that particular plant came from. It's a very nice looking plant.
Here's hoping nothing happens to my plant stakes with all the names on them because I'll be in trouble is something every happens reconstructing what is what.