Registration
Anyone who is planning to name a new variety of rhododendron or azalea is urged to submit the name for registration. Names may be sent to J. Harold Clarke, Long Beach, Washington, who serves as Registrar for the A.R.S. These names will be checked over and if apparently satisfactory will be sent on to Dr. Harold Fletcher, the International Registrar at Edinburgh. The purpose of the registration is to prevent duplication of names and the use of names which would be misleading or for some other reason do not conform to the International Code. The second reason for registration is to get the descriptions on record, give a little publicity to the new things, and give members an opportunity to know what is coming along in the way of new plant material. Breeders who are considering naming varieties are urged to get registration blank from Dr. Clarke.
Registration may be accomplished by sending the description and name directly to Dr. Fletcher. However, we would like to have names submitted through the A.R.S. Registrar as we would like to print the names and descriptions in the A.R.S. Bulletin. Some members have been sending the names directly to Dr. Fletcher and we hear about it by seeing the names as they appear in the R. H. S. Yearbook. It might be of more value to breeders to have the names and descriptions appear in the A.R.S. Bulletin, especially in view of the fact that they will be sent on to Dr. Fletcher and appear in the R. H. S. Yearbook, probably just as soon as they would if sent directly to Edinburgh.
It is urged that names be submitted for new varieties before they are actually distributed or advertised. A fairly large percentage of the names submitted have proved to be duplicates of names already in use for other varieties and so not eligible for registration. This creates a little problem, especially where the name has already been listed in a catalog or sold locally.
This problem of plant names is a common one in all plant Societies where there is a large number of varieties. We have had confusion in rhododendrons and azaleas in the past where the same name has been used for as many as half a dozen different plants. That can be avoided by registering the name before the plants are advertised or described in print. This does not mean that a list of names should be sent in and cleared before they are actually attached to a clone. This is not approved as there would be danger of tying up a lot of good names and then never getting around to applying them to a particular plant. Usually a breeder will have at least a few months between the time he finally decides to give a name to a variety and the listing of it in a catalog or descriptive article. This interval is the proper time to register the name so there will be time for correspondence if a name has to be turned down and a new one submitted.