Wilmdale wrote:

What's a Mrs. Perry D. Slocum lotus? Is this a hybrid she or he came up
with?

W. Dale

Why, did you know her? Here is the story:

Probably Perry D. Slocum's most well known lotus hybrid occurred as the
result of a friend's suggestion that he try hybridizing the native
American lotus, Nelumbo lutea with the very double pink Nelumbo 'Rosea
Plena.' Perry made eight crosses: 4 using N. lutea to N. 'Rosea Plena'
and 4 vice versa. From those 8 crosses, only 2 seeds formed. Planting
the 2 seeds the following year produced one weak seedling that was
discarded and the other, an extremely vigorous plant that opened a very
rich double pink, changing to creamy yellow with a pink flush over a
three day blooming period. This changeable lotus was named 'Mrs. Perry
D. Slocum' and is now the most popular and largest selling lotus in
North America.

His previous efforts started in 1946 when Perry received the first U.S.
Plant Patent (No. 666) ever issued for a hardy water lily, Nymphaea
'Pearl of the Pool', a very vibrant, glowing pink with many petals.
Forty years later, in 1986, he received the first U.S. patents for
lotuses -- Nelumbo 'Charles Thomas,' N. 'Maggie Belle Slocum,' and N.
'Angel Wings.' Today, he has patents pending on hardy water lilies N.
'Peaches and Cream' and N. 'Black Princess.'

For more see:
[http://www.victoria-adventure.org/mo..._profile.html]

There are two types of plants: SPECIES which come from the wild and
HYBRIDS that are crosses between 1) different species or 2) a species
and a hybrid or 3) between two hybrids. Species can be cloned by
growing from seed that has been pollinated by the same species. Hybrids
never can be expected to come true from seed and must be propagated
vegetatively, usually from cuttings or division. There are thousands of
hybrids and they are named by the person who registers them. It is
usually the hybridizer. In general hybridizers name their hybrids
anything they want that doesn't sound like a latin species name. Those
are ferbotten. Sometimes they are named to describe the plant. Other
times they are named after friends or loved ones. Other times they are
given amusing names. Some hybrid plants were named after tropical
islands, other were named after birds, others were named after
constelations, etc.

Another class of plants is a selected species called a cultivar. These
are also propagated vegetatively so they will always be true clones.
Usually they are a freak and not like the true species or perhaps a
superior selection of the species.

Actually in the wild, species cross naturally so some plants collected
as species are actually natural hybrids. If two species overlap in the
wild, the area where they overlap is where these natural hybrids occur.
"True" species must be collected in areas where no natural hybrids can
occur.
--
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18,000 gallon (17'x 47'x 2-4') lily pond garden in Zone 6
Cheers, Steve Henning in Reading, PA USA