Official -vs- Unofficial Names
DETHCHEEZ,
I agree, if I like a plant, and can locate it, I will grow it, regarless of its name status.
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With unofficial names:
Imagine that you are visiting a botanical garden and you see the most amazing and desirable Nepenthes plant you've ever seen. You know you won't be able to get any from the botanical garden. So you ask them what it is called and where they got it, thinking you'd like to grow it too. They say, it's called N. "Slim Beast", and they got it from NN, back in 1984. Well, you know that NN went out of business in 1985, so you know you'll need to look somewhere else. You check your references, CP Photo Finder, CP Database, and ICPS Cultivar Registrations list. You only see it listed in the CP Photo Finder, it's in double quotes, so you know it's not a valid registered cultivar, and when you go to its individual page, you see no lineage, or any other identifying information, just a list of a few jpg images hosted on two or three different photobucket accounts. So you look at the various images posted there, thinking that maybe you can find a photo that resembles the plant you saw at the botanical garden, locate the owner, and obtain a cutting or division. But after carefully examining each and every photo, you realize that not a single one of these N. "Slim Beast" photos even remotely resembles the one you saw at the botanical garden. Obviously unofficial names; pet names; or nicknames for plants can be disappointing.
With Official Names:
Imagine that on your next visit to the same botanical garden you again see the same kind of amazing and desirable Nepenthes plant. You ask and are told they aren't propagating this particular plant. Then they tell you that it is the registered cultivar, N. 'Slammin Beast' which they obtained in 1984 from NN. And, of course, NN went out of business in 1985, so they’re no longer a source. You again check your references, CP Photo Finder, CP Database, and ICPS Cultivar Registrations list. But this time you discover N. ‘Slammin Beast’ is listed with all three, and the ICPS Cultivar Registration list has links to the published description and standard photograph. The description and standard match the plant you saw almost exactly. Woo Hoo, now you’re getting somewhere. You discover that several nurseries also carry this cultivar and theirs appear to match the official cultivar description, so you purchase mature plants from three different nurseries. On arrival, two of them appear to be the plant you’ve been looking for, N. ‘Slammin Beast’. But one looks entirely different, so you contact the nursery that one came from, explain to them the problem (the plant they sent does not match the standard), and they apologize for the mix-up and exchange the wrong plant for the right one. Now you have three specimens of N. ‘Slammin Beast’, and you enjoy them for the next thirty years.
Without the official published standards, anyone can call any plant by any name, with impunity. Once a cultivar description is officially published, plants that don't match the description can be excluded by anyone who can objectively compare descriptions to live plants.