Okay, so some of you may recall the HCW I gave away a few weeks ago. Well I was talking with Barry Rice and John Brittnacher about my plant yesterday and here is what Barry had to say:
Rather disappointed to hear this as you might imagine.
How did Barry know it was not the real deal? The bloom was all he needed to make the assertion.
HCW, while it is a high white plant, has perfectly normal leucophylla blooms.
So, here are the blooms from two different, perfectly normal leucophylla:
Note the dark red petals and the maroon sepals
Here is the bloom off the plant sent to me as HCW:
A rather drastic difference.
So, why am I bringing this up (aside from the obvious gripe)?
This is a very important lesson that I think everyone need to take home. Plants that are "rare" get high value attached to them. And occasionally this leads to someone somewhere deciding to pull a fast one. And then the thing gets perpetuated onto others out of ignorance. If you get your hands on a plant that is supposed to be "rare" then take the time to confirm it and if you discover it is not the real deal then do not keep sending it out with the wrong label!!
I know who I got my plant from and I know he sent it to me fully believing it was the real deal. I also know who sent him the plant and I am fairly certain they sent it to my source believing it was the real thing as well. I am not going to out anyone because I am not looking to start a galactic finger pointing fiasco.
Now I do not know who the progenitor of this plant was so I can not follow the progression of possession but if anyone else has a plant labeled as HCW and the blooms look like those of mine then CHANGE THE LABEL NOW!!
If it were my plant, I'd give it away. Whatever it is, it ain't the advertised article.
Rather disappointed to hear this as you might imagine.
How did Barry know it was not the real deal? The bloom was all he needed to make the assertion.
HCW, while it is a high white plant, has perfectly normal leucophylla blooms.
So, here are the blooms from two different, perfectly normal leucophylla:
Note the dark red petals and the maroon sepals
Here is the bloom off the plant sent to me as HCW:
A rather drastic difference.
So, why am I bringing this up (aside from the obvious gripe)?
This is a very important lesson that I think everyone need to take home. Plants that are "rare" get high value attached to them. And occasionally this leads to someone somewhere deciding to pull a fast one. And then the thing gets perpetuated onto others out of ignorance. If you get your hands on a plant that is supposed to be "rare" then take the time to confirm it and if you discover it is not the real deal then do not keep sending it out with the wrong label!!
I know who I got my plant from and I know he sent it to me fully believing it was the real deal. I also know who sent him the plant and I am fairly certain they sent it to my source believing it was the real thing as well. I am not going to out anyone because I am not looking to start a galactic finger pointing fiasco.
Now I do not know who the progenitor of this plant was so I can not follow the progression of possession but if anyone else has a plant labeled as HCW and the blooms look like those of mine then CHANGE THE LABEL NOW!!