Paula Biles Interview (Part 1)

PART 1 

        I am happy to introduce Water-Garden-Blog’s first guest expert Paula Biles. Paula’s love for water gardening and lotus go back many years. She has been a great writer on a number of subjects and on many projects from magazines to journals and even a local Florida water garden club. Many water lily (Nymphaea) and lotus (Nelumbo) hobbiest are familiar with Paula’s work.  Paula co-authored an award winning book for IWGS with Kelly Billing, of Maryland Aquatics  (also an amazing expert) which is a facinating read called, “The Lotus: Know it and Grow it”, which we have written about in a previous post. This Book won the 2009 Bronze Medal winner in the Living Now Book Awards for gardening books

       Originally created and released to the IWGS,  The book has exploded this spring across the country. I have not seen many water garden publications that have missed writing articles and reviews about the book. An easy read and not hard at all on the budget this book is a must for water garden lovers. This book goes beyond just growing lotus, it is packed with a great history of the lotus and a look at the global uses of this plant throughout so many different cultures. When someone comments on what an interesting plant you have in your water garden or perhaps container in your backyard you will be full of great knowledge that not only goes back millennia but across a number of continents and cultures. See www.AboutTheLotus.com for more K&P projects and information.

(India) Bahai House of Worship, designed after a lotus bud

 Zac:

     The lotus (nelumbo) are regarded around the world for their beauty. Named species I would think can be actively crossed and similar new varieties could seed and be sold as the incorrect species. Other than the Truly named organization efforts is the IWGS or any other organization perhaps keeping a controlled selection of seeds or methods of controlling some named species?

     I had honestly never considered the effects of cross pollinating until last year I visited Brad McLane at Florida Aquatic Nurseries and on his tour he told me how he had begun collecting water lilies in the early 1980s from botanical gardens who had kept the same plants from as far back as William Tricker. Also every three days he cuts the flowers off all the plants at this facility so they do not seed any cross species. Doing this for 30 years is some task but I understand how important this tactic is and wondered if the lotus had any protection similar to this that you might be aware of? 

   There are literally hundreds or thousands of cultivars of Nelumbo, many found and created outside the United States.  The IWGS of course is an international organization. Is the current setup for naming and propagating Nelumbo and Nymphaea efficient? Should something be developed for plants similar to perhaps the American Kennel Club that can account that species are properly grown and cultivated? For the first 10-15 years on the Internet I think we can blame the differences in lighting and stages of development in digital imaging for how one person displays and describes a species.  Someone in the same state can upload another picture and it look somewhat different and be described differently. I suppose I am just worried it’s a free for all on cultivars out there. Do you see this as a problem as it pertains to my first few questions and what solutions if any is the water garden community working on?

Paula:

     There are actually only 2 species of lotus — Nelumbo nucifera and N. lutea. All the hybrids (probably between 1000 and 2000) are derived from them. 

As with almost all plants, sexual propagation of lotus and lilies by seeds will produce offspring that are NOT the same as the parents, even if they may look alike or similar. Once a new hybrid is created, the ONLY way to keep it ‘pure’ and correctly named is to vegetatively propagate it with root/tuber division or by cloning. (For a slightly analogous situation, think about two parents who have kids. Even a set of twins has different DNA and each is unique. If the parents have more children, there’s no telling who they will look like … or what their kids will look like.) (For more on this read a basic article on Mendelian genetics.)

Getting predictable and accurately naming aquatic plants is not a unique problem. (Waterlilies have more of a problem than lotus, since many Nymphaea readily pollinate and quickly grow from seed. With Nelumbo that is muchless likely to happen.) As with other plant groups, this problem has multiple components. Many plant groups have it far far worse than we do – e.g. orchids or daylilies. They have many thousands of hybrids to keep track of and “monitor” for accuracy.

1)      First it’s a matter of correctly naming each cultivar with an accurate description. Ideally only worthwhile new hybrids would be considered for keeping — ones that are new, unique, and different than existing hybrids.

2)      The new variety should be able to be propagated.

3)      The new plant needs to be accurately documented and the name registered so that it doesn’t repeat one already in use.

4)      In the years it takes to build up enough stock for sale, the plants must be accurately labeled.

5)      If a grower sells an incorrectly labeled plant, the retailer has to be educated enough to realize it and correct the name.

6)      The seller has to be ethical and knowledgeable to sell correctly named plants.

Today, as well as in the past, buying correctly named (and consistently sized) plants has been a problem. For years the ANLA has been working on standards that address accurate container labeling – sizing, naming, etc. Unless the end seller is knowledgeable and ethical, then no program will be sufficient. And the reverse is also true, if the seller is knowledgeable and ethical, a program is not needed.

This was true 50 years ago and it’s true now. My uninformed opinion is that this is less of a problem now than it was before there were lots of books, magazines, and the internet, all filled with reputable plant information. I also believe that getting accurately named plants is much less important to the buyer than aquatic aficionados would like to believe. The average buyer wants a plant of a certain color and doesn’t care about the name (scientific or otherwise).  However I also believe that all efforts to provide accurately labeled plants are good, especially when combined with education for the end buyer.

The plant taxonomy problem has been addressed on an international scale for quite some time by the International Society for Horticultural Science (ISHS). They established a system for recording names of different plant groups. (http://www.ishs.org/taxonomy/) The IWGS currently is responsible for both Nymphaea and Nelumbo. You can go to our website and see the Nymphaea database, which is a work in progress. The Nelumbo registration list is being developed at the Auburn University Lotus Project and you can see it at their website.

In the old days (and still used in this digital age) plant hunters and hybridizers would create a herbarium to document each of their plants. This served as a way to accurately identify a plant and use for comparison if necessary. Believe it or not, sometimes more details can be retained on a dried specimen than can be captured by digital cameras. I’ve seen some of the herbaria that George Pringmade from his hybrids. They’re amazing and very illustrative of the true hybrid. Many institutions are now making their herbaria available online.

Your question about dogs is related by different, since dogs can only be “propagated” sexually. Things will get very interesting if cloning becomes readily available.

To be Continued…

Paula Biles often lectures and speaks about water gardens and aquatics to local and national groups. She founded a local pond club, edited PondKeeper magazine, and was the Executive Director of the International Waterlily & Water Gardening Society. Paula lives in Florida, belongs to the Garden Writers Association, and has been a regular columnist for numerous hobbyist and trade magazines. Her articles and photographs have appeared countless times in water garden magazines, newspapers, books, and online.