1959 – 2020 LSHR Plant Releases
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Louisiana Society for Horticultural Research (Plant Releases: 1959 - 2020) William E. Fletcher The Louisiana Society for Horticultural Research (LSHR) is a non-profit organization whose purpose is both educational and scientific. All activities support these purposes. The objectives are to benefit both society members and the horticultural industry. Availability of superior plants, their distribution, and improved horticultural practices are intended for individuals ranging from home gardeners to industry professionals. LSHR was officially organized in 1954 at a gathering of plant enthusiasts hosted by the University of Louisiana at Lafayette (UL Lafayette or UL). Prior to 1999, the institution was the Southwestern Louisiana Industrial Institute and later the University of Southwestern Louisiana. Individuals who were most instrumental in forming this society were Ms. U.B. Evans (Ferriday, LA) and Professor Ira Nelson (UL Lafayette). Ms. Evans was interested in sponsoring plant collecting trips to obtain new plants materials adaptable to Louisiana. During June and July of 1954, Ms. Evans contacted individuals she felt would be interested in this project. In July, Ms. Evans and her enthusiastic supporters, along with faculty and staff from UL Lafayette, organized the Louisiana Society for Horticultural Research. The following month (August 1954) Professor embarked on a plant collection trip to Bolivia. This venture became the first collection trip of many for Professor Nelson and others who would follow him. Several significant contributions have resulted from these explorations. LSHR and UL Lafayette have benefitted from this cooperative relationship. The University has furnished staff members for collecting trips, cared for plant materials resulting from these trips, along with the propagation and distribution of plants for each society member to evaluate under their gardening conditions. The society in turn has financed collection trips, provided numerous grants to departmental and plant research groups, provided scholarships for undergraduate and graduate students, as well as funding classroom and laboratory improvements at the Ira Nelson Horticulture Center. Members of the Louisiana Society for Horticultural Research (LSHR) were presented selected plants for evaluation and personal enjoyment at the first formal meeting of the organization in 1959. Since that time, plant distribution has become an established part of this annual event and a total of 109,566 individual plants have been distributed to members. Plant representatives, selected from 5 plant families, comprised the first 10 plants chosen to be released to members of the LSHR for evaluation purposes. Plants representing 114 plant families have been represented in society releases since the inception of LSHR. Since plants were first presented to society members in 1959, over 13 (13.81) percent of all plants released have been members of the Amaryllis family. Of Amaryllidaceae, 7.17 percent have been Hippeastrum (Amaryllis) and 3.86 percent have been Zephyranthes (Rain Lily). While Amaryllidaceae has been the most dominant family providing plants for distribution, the second most prolific family, providing more than 4 percent, was Acanthaceae (4.12 percent). 1 Araceae and Solanaceae each provided 3.72 percent of all plant releases. Plant releases also providing more than 3 percent included Rubiaceae (3.32 percent), Asparagaceae (3.19 percent), and Malvaceae (3.05 percent). Providing almost 3 percent of plants released for evaluation purposes included Euphorbiaceae, Fabaceae and Lamiaceae, each providing 2.92 percent. Asteraceae provided 2.79 percent of LSHR releases. Other plant families providing at least two percent of plant releases included Apocynaceae (2.26 percent) and Rosaceae (2.13 percent); whereas, Moraceae and Verbenaceae each provided 2.00 percent. Each plant family’s contribution to plant releases appears beginning with Page 96 in the segment 1959 - 2020 LSHR Plant Releases (Family, Number and Percent Contributed). Some 83 plant families have provided multiple plant releases while 31 plant families have been represented only by a single release. The typical plant number included in a release has usually been between 12 and 15. Excluding 2020, the lowest release number was 7 in 1960 and the highest was 36 in 1964. In an attempt to increase plant survival and greater evaluator satisfaction, the distribution of larger, more well-established plants was initiated in 2020 with the release of 6 plants. Since 1959, a total of 748 different plants representing some 725 genera have been released for evaluation purposes. A complete listing, alphabetized by plant genera, appears starting with Page 105 in the segment 1959 - 2020 LSHR Plant Releases (Genera, Number and Percent Contributed). Due to the popularity and excellent reception of some plant releases, the same plant has been included as a release on more than a single occasion. The most popular plant release has been the Red Passion-Vine, Passiflora coccinea, which was discovered by Professor Ira Nelson in Bolivia, in 1954. Since this plant was first distributed to members of LSHR in the spring of 1962, 5 subsequent releases have been made (1965, 1969, 1972, 1979 and 2001). Another plant collected in Bolivia by Professor Nelson and named in honor of Ms. U.B. Evans – Hippeastrum evansiae (Yellow Bolivian-Amaryllis) – has been a release on 4 different occasions (1959, 1963, 1971 and 2004). A total of 5 plants have been released on 3 different occasions and 48 plants have been released on 2 different occasions. When different varieties, selections or cultivars of the same plant are involved (Ilex, Pentas and Solenostemon), they are considered as a separate or individual release. One may find the year, or years, a plant was released by referring to the list of all plants presented or the list of plant families making up LSHR releases. An alphabetized list of all releases, along with the year (or years) of release starting with Page 6 in the segment 1959 - 2020 LSHR Plant Releases (Plant and Year(s) Released). An alphabetized list by plant family appears starting with Page 96 in the segment 1959 - 2020 LSHR Plant Releases (Family, Number and Percent Contributed). Although each plant has only one correct scientific name by which it is recognized worldwide, some apparently are called or listed by more than one name. Mistakes in plant identification (recognition), labeling or distribution by commercial plant dealers, or the average plant enthusiast, are not uncommon. When improper nomenclature is the case, this error is often perpetuated. 2 Among the reasons a plant may have apparently more than one scientific name could be because of an unintentional error or a recent major correction made in botanical nomenclature. These changes involved corrections based upon proper descriptions and prior naming in botanical literature or new evidence that permits a plant to be properly identified and named in the first place. It is quite understandable that confusion exists in naming plants. Many plants are purchased, exchanged or given away without the use of either a common or scientific name. Many other “passalong” plants are distributed using only a verbal indication of name. The number of new plant introductions is increasing quite rapidly and there is a mushrooming demand for “different” plants by both the amateur and professional. Efforts to obtain and distribute these uncommon plants may have also played a significant role in causing problems in nomenclature. With increasing dependability of Internet sources, as well as for speed and convenience, obtaining the most current information about a specific plant has never been easier. The requirement of reference books as a source for proper nomenclature has been significantly diminished by the use of electronic data searches. Using a computer and searching the Internet, using either the scientific or common name, one may readily obtain information available by major libraries and botanical gardens as well as from most professional plant organizations and specialized plant societies. Nomenclature in this article for plant family, genus and species is almost entirely from An Online Flora of All Known Plants [1]. Other primary reference sources include World Checklist of Selected Plant Families [2], and The Plant List [3], a working list of all plant species. Plants once considered as members of a well-established plant family may now appear as members of the plant family currently considered correct. While this information is true for plant family, genus and species – obtaining a proper varietal or cultivar name is much more uncertain. Just what is a simple distinction between a varietal and cultivar name? In the most simple terms, a variety indicates a plant form that arose in nature; however, a cultivar (cultivated variety) is a plant form resulting from some sort of human intervention (selection of deviants for any reason or the physical act of hybridization). Seed propagation for a variety generally results in individuals which are like the parent plant (true to type). Seed from a cultivar may abort, be sterile or produce individuals which are unlike the parent plant. Varietal names are usually Latinized, written in lower case and italicized (the same as genus and species); whereas, cultivar names are most commonly not Latinized, the first letter of the name is capitalized, not italicized, and the name enclosed by single quotation marks. Cercis canadensis var. alba