In message .com, Mike
Lyle writes

Stewart Robert Hinsley wrote:
In message .com, Mike
Lyle writes

I twice had these die on me after a year or so of rapid flourishing.
IIRC, the first was the type (if it has a type) [...]

The cultivated shrubby Lavateras are mostly hybrids, and as such there
isn't a wild type. The taxonomic type, used when Cheek formally
described Lavatera x clementi, is a specimen of Lavatera x clementii
'Rosea', which is the original and commonest variety.
[...]

Many thanks for that, Stewart: I've often wondered what it was, vaguely
thinking it must be olbia.

The name Lavatera olbia 'Rosea' was long used (and can still be found)
for Lavatera x clementii 'Rosea'. Even though 'Barnsley', as I
understand the situation, is a sport of 'Rosea' you'd use to find that
as Lavatera thuringiaca 'Barnsley'.

Nowadays 'Ice Cool' is a thuringiaca variety, and 'Eyecatcher', 'Lilac
Lady' and 'Pink Frills' olbia varieties, and the rest either placed in x
clementii, or not placed beyond the genus. There's been enough
backcrossing that it's hard to tell where the boundaries lie. I've got a
few herbaceous seedlings that I know are Lavatera x clementii, 'cos I
know what the seed parent is (and in confirmation they're pretty much
sterile). I've got other herbaceous seedlings in which the seed parent
was Lavatera thuringiaca, which have reduced fertility, and show other
signs of hybridity, such as shorter pedicels. Are these backcrosses, or
is this natural variation in thuringiaca?
--
Stewart Robert Hinsley
http://www.malvaceae.info