Daylily Abbreviations

Hi I thought since we have a sticky now for resource purposes (Thank you Terry!) that we could make a thread that has many of the acronyms and abbreviations that are commonly used with Daylilies, esp here on Dave's. I will start and hopefully some of the HemHeads who have been doing this forever can fill in some of the ones that maybe aren't so common but are important just the same. This is also a place to ask for definations of abbreviations or accronyms you may run into on daylily websites! Go For it!!

FFO: First Flower Open - Usually the first flower of the season for a particular plant. Noted because sometimes the FFO isn't so good looking or else just because we are excited

FFOE: First Flower Open Ever - The first time this daylily has ever bloomed.. Noted for same reasons as above but we are usually more excited :)

EMO: Early Morning Opener - refers to a daylily that opens up bright and early

CMO: Cold Morning Opener - Some daylilies are reluctant to open if it's a bit chilly. These kind will open anyway which is more important to those of us in the northern zones

Dor: Dormant
Sev: Semi-Evergreen
Ev: Evergreen
all refer to whether the foliage stays green instead of dying back through the fall (and maybe even winter for those down south)

Dip: Diploid
Tet: Tetraploid
Refers to the chromosome numbers of the daylily, Important for hybridizing (Can't cross a Tet with a Dip) Tets are usually considered more sturdy and have more interesting variations (In some folk's opinions :)


Poly: Polypetal - Most daylilies have 3 petals and 3 sepals for a total count of 6.. Polys have 8 or 10. The extras are all on the same level as the normal petals unlike doubles which are layered or have the extra petals/sepals sticking up into the air

Prolif: short for Proliferation - Sometimes daylilies get little plants that start growing on the scapes (the part the flower grows on) These little plants are identical to the mother plant and can be rooted to produce another daylily. If you leave them on the scape they will eventually die

Re: Rebloomer - This is a daylily that will rebloom after the initial flush is over. They send up new scapes later in the season. Happens more easily for those in the south who have a longer season.

Dbl: Double - Refers to a double bloom on the daylily.

Ext: Extended bloom - Means the blooms last longer? Or else they bloom for a long time.. I have seen it used both ways but not sure which one is right

Noc: Nocturnal - This is a daylily that opens or begins to open late afternoon or in the night

Fr: Fragrant - Most daylilies don't have much smell but these do

UF: Unusual Form - There are several "types" of daylily categories according to form. These don't match any of those categories

E / M / L: Early / Mid / Late - These refer to when in the season you can expect your daylily to bloom. Sometimes there will be a V in front which means Very. Or EE Which mean extra or extremely early.



Here is an example of a daylily listing as might be seen on a Daylily Nursery's website or catalog. I will interpret...

SIR BLACKSTEM Hager '88 24 Ere 2.5 Ev dip Highly unusual black stems and buds, gold flower, multiple rebloom

First is the name of the cultivar SIR BLACKSTEM. Next the Hybridizer's name and year of introduction, Hager "88. Then the daylily description. 24 inches high, Early Rebloomer. Bloom is 2 1/2 inches across, foliage is Evergreen and it's a Diploid. The rest of the description usually is in plain terms :)

However.. Now i have questions to ask about a few I have seen in the description area.
HM, EFA, HMAM, SSM. AM, HAS, HOSA 95, LAA 96, AGA Ok I'll stop there

This message was edited Aug 4, 2006 11:47 AM

keep going there are new ones,
you posted i did not know.
thanks for sharing
patty

HM - Honorable Mention
SSM - Stout Silver Medal
AM - Award of Merit
HOSA - Harris Olsen Spider Award (and year received)

Not sure about the others.

LFTO-Last flower to open. I think I might have coined this one. At any rate I've been using it.

ginger jar ;
that works for me .
every thing has to start from someone.
with some of my buys DOA could apply ?
dead on arrivial

I hope not to many,Tazz.

I looked on the AHS site and I wonder if these awards would fit some of the abbreviations you listed?

EFA - Eugene Foster Award - Best Late-Blooming Cultivar

LAA - Lenington All-American Award - Best Performer Over Wide Geographic Area

AGA - Annie T. Giles Award - Best Small Flower

I didn't realize there were so many awards!!!!!
http://www.daylilies.org/AHSCultivars.html

You know.. When I saw the years attached I wondered if they might not be awards. But, like you I didn't know or think that there were so many awards! Thanks guys!

How about UFO...what does this mean?
Thanks,
very interesting info for someone new to purchasing named daylilies.
JanetS

Somebody please explain what those spider ratios mean and how exactly (in plain words) do they measure them.

Also, does noc mean the flower is fully open before sunrise, and if so, is that why I've heard of folks being out polinating at daylight? If this is the case, you have to use previously collected dry pollen.. right?

Thanks for this thread. I'm just an ignorant newbie feeling my way along.

http://www.daylilies.org/ahs_dictionary/dictionary.html
I found this site to be very helpful!

UFO means Unusual Form. It's a complicated term. The AHS dictionary says "A class of daylilies based exclusively on form, not on color or color patterns. An Unusual Form must display Unusual Form characteristics on at least 3 petals or 3 sepals. No cultivar whose measurements meet the definition of a SPIDER, is on the official AHS Spider list, or has won the Harris Olson Spider Award is eligible." (A spider has petals that are at least 4 times the width of the petals).

Here's how to measure spiders, since it seems the exclusionary requirement.
http://www.daylilies.org/ahs_dictionary/spider_measurements.html

Unusual Form is made up of 3 types of flowers, based exclusively on their tepal (petal and sepal) shapes. These include: Crispate, Cascade and Spatulate forms.
Here's the link with photos of the various types of UFO

http://www.daylilies.org/ahs_dictionary/unusual_form.html

Hope that this helps rather than confuses.


This message was edited Sep 2, 2006 9:28 PM

It does indeed and thanks for the link as well!
JanetS
I received a beautiful one call Heavenly Starfire and it was described as a UFO with 10" blooms, so I was trying to figure it out!

Hey Doss. :) On that spider definition, I believe that the petal length needs to be 4 X the width vs 4 inches longer than the width :) So for example, if the petal was was 1 inch wide, it would need to be 4 inches long to qualify as a spider. Those links you provided are excellent :)


Twiggybuds, I haven't been out at sunrise but my "noc" daylilies certainly begin to open in the late afternoon and are always fully open when I go out in the morning. (As early as 6:30am) But "noc" daylilies aren't the reason people talk about pollinating at night or late afternoon. You need to pollinate early in the morning to get successful podset. Some people have noted better podset if they go out in late late afternoon evening and pry open buds that are going to open the next day and pollinate them. And yes they do often use pollen that they have collected earlier

This message was edited Sep 2, 2006 8:12 AM

Of course you are right about that Spider ratio. I was asleep at the wheel. Thanks for catching it. I've edited it so that there isn't any confusion.

I had a good time looking at the links. I had no idea how complicated the UFO category was.

:) Doss.. You always give good info so I was sure it was just a brain glitch.

Those links were excellent. I find it interesting how they measure the blooms. I would like to see a pictorial explanation on how they measure regular blooms.. but perhaps it is the same. I have read somewhere that the overall size of the bloom is measured as the flower naturally lies. I always imagined that it was measured on the scape with no straightening of the petals. So a bloom that was registered with a 6" bloom could actually have individual petals that were 5 inches long if when on the scape the petals curled back under.. does that make sense?
Maybe someone knows or has a link..

Nowhere in all these abbreviations do I see DF but I see it all the time - what does it mean???

double fan, which is actually 2 plants.

Oh of course - I just figured it out myself lol Tx!