Species names for sale

totototo@telus.net totototo@telus.net
Tue, 18 Sep 2007 10:51:02 PDT
On 17 Sep 07, at 20:07, Kenneth Hixson wrote:

>     In the Rose Hybridizers group, there have been at least a
> couple people offering to buy the right to name a new rose--no color
> or type specified. There was a small discussion about whether or
> not this was an acceptable/ desirable thing or not--from the
> hybridizer's standpoint. 

It's an old practice. The rose 'Electron' is (was) called 'Mullard 
Jubilee' in Britain, being named in honor of the Mullard company, a 
one-time manufacturer of electronic equipment. Those of us who had 
the big ol' Dynaco Stereo 70 amplifiers back in the 1960's will 
remember chasing down Mullard 5C4 tubes for the output stage. (I hope 
I've got that tube designation right!)

To veer almost back on topic, what would be appropriate bulbous 
genera to bear cultivar names relating to our favorite computer 
companies?

Crocus chrysanthus 'Linux'? Lycoris 'Torvalds'? Tulipa 'Microsoft'? 
Amorphophallus 'Apple'? Crocosmia 'Job's Tears'? Convallaria 
'Ballmer's Rants'? Dahlia 'Gates's Wealth'? Narcissus 'Vista'? Acis 
'Chi-rho'? (That's XP.)

[If anybody thinks I've gone off my nut, they're right. I amuse 
myself way, way too easily.]


-- 
Rodger Whitlock
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
"Outside of dogs, books are man's best friend;
   inside dogs, it's too dark to read."
               -----Groucho Marx


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