[Umbrian]

 Very encouraging post Alevin and showing what can be achieved when somebody makes an effort within their sphere of influence. It would be nice to hear if Sally's efforts had some success. This is a good example of how the MGS can make a difference  - it needs endless patience and perseverance  I am sure but perhaps could achieve more than bureaucratic attempts in the long run.

[John J]

Yes, very well done, Alessandra. I think customer purchasing power is a very influential tool when getting retailers to change their ways.
Here in Cyprus we don't really have any significant plant fairs. I suppose the nearest we get is the Cyprus Cactus & Succulent Society Annual Show that attracts stalls from the main cactus & succulent sellers on the island. I know that the President of the CCSS, Mary Michaelides, is a strong advocate of correct labeling. She has even approached the new Commissioner for the Environment about the subject. 

[David Dickinson]

More thanks from me Alevin and I can vouch for the fact that plant labelling is of a far higher standard in plant fairs in Italy such as those at La Landriana than at the vast majority of the local nurseries I visit. And this applies to some of the suppliers of cacti and succulents too - one of the areas that most nurseries are woefully inadequate in.

Now, let's see how my correctly labelled Pachystegia insignis (unless its name has changed since then!) bought at the La Landriana fair fairs. So far so good but it still has to face full summer heat which I imagine is a fair bit hotter than it would receive in its native New Zealand. Fingers crossed.

[Umbrian]

Here is another problem I have recently come across with plant labels. A pot of bulbs bought as Narcissus  "Spring Sunshine" with a label showing a flower with pale yellow petals and a dark yellow cup have recently started to open and they seem suspiciously like "Tete a Tete " to me, another variety that is offered widely here in the same way. These small pots of bulbs come from the Netherlands so presumably the grower /wholesaler is responsible for the error. Maybe not important to many buyers who just want a bit of instant pleasure but annoying for me as I am trying to build up a collection of different varieties. Yes, I know I should order from a bulb specialist but delivery to our isolated house is always fraught with difficulties and rather deters me.

[John J]

The influx of plants from the Netherlands, complete with labels (see below), means that we have an increase in the number of named varieties on offer. However, we have to balance this against deciding whether or not each of these plants is suitable for the climatic conditions that prevail here and whether or not the conditions they have been propagated and grown under have prepared them for the harsh situation they are liable to find themselves in, despite what it may say on the label.

[John J]

This is a rather different method of plant labeling that I have to admit not to have come across here in Cyprus before. The pot obviously contained hyacinth bulbs and maybe is only suitable for this sort of usage where the plant is intended to remain in the pot, and possibly used later for the same plant.

[Umbrian]

The information printed on the pot,as in your example of Hyacinths John, seems pretty good to me as long as the correct plants/bulbs are indeed put in the right pot. Mass production can bring errors I am sure. Unlike labels these instructions cannot get lost and presumably are printed with weather resistant inks.
The more one considers the whole question of plant labelling the more fraught with problems it gets. When I said that I should perhaps order things from specialist growers /suppliers I was reminded that several years ago a friend ordered some white tulips for a special display and was horrified when they turned out to be pink. This from a reputable bulb supplier and so it would appear that human error can always play its part.

[JTh]

I bought a lot og red tulips once, most of them turned out to have bright yellow flowers, not my favourite! And they were almost indestructible.

[Alice]

Which reminds me, Jorun, of an acquaintance who bought a quantity of tulip bulbs which were supposed to be white but turned out to be blue. When she realized she dug them all up and took them back. Being a strong-willed lady, she got her money back!

[Joanna Savage]

Scientific Names, a different aspect of plant labelling. In my early days I used to tutor undergraduate Ag. Sci. students. Part of the job was helping with the formalities of essay writing and presenting experimental results.

The convention used for writing scientific names came up in Lesson One or soon after. The name is written in italics, (or, in those days of hand written reports, underlined), the genus starts with a capital letter, the species with lower case. 
 
I have not kept up with the literature on the subject so the convention may well have changed. I was surprised when I first posted to the MGS Forum to find my italics changed back to the prevailing type.

I would like to hear from the experts on the Forum what the current convention is. The italic habit is so ingrained in me that I wait for some terrible punishment when I don't use them.

[Alisdair]

Joanna, If one of us accidentally changed your italics to ordinary type, that was a mistake - sorry! Yes indeed, the scientific name should always be in italic type. Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be a way of putting italic type into subject headings though.
I'm afraid all of us sometimes tend to be a bit sloppy when we're writing text, though. I'll try to be more efficient at changing people's ordinary type into italics when I spot it.
Thanks for reminding us about this!

[JTh]

For those of you who wish to know more about conventions on scientific plant names, there is an recently updated and quite extensive article on Wikipedia, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Naming_conventions_(flora).

[Joanna Savage]

Thanks for sorting that for me Alisdair. I certainly didn't want to cast aspersions ( or cast nasturtiums, as is sometimes said) on our excellent Moderators. I assumed that times had changed and that I was being old-fashioned.

And thanks to JTH fo the reference, helpful as ever.

[Fleur Pavlidis]

Some years ago our Editor, Caroline Harbouri, sent me a sheet of instructions about botanic names - which bits are in italics and which aren't used to fox me - and by consulting it frequently I've got it sorted out. The faded piece of paper is still stuck on the wall though, just in case.

[JTh]

I have that information from Caroline Harbouri as a text file, maybe she would allow us to make it available here? It is written in a very simple and instructive way, and it would be very useful.