I'm not sure where this post should go, but maybe somebody here can explain this to me.

I recently bought a pink calla lily; the label on the pot said "Rubylight Pink Ice". I later went to look it up on the web, and while I saw lots of references to "Rubylite Pink Ice", the few times I saw "Rubylight Pink Ice" were on pages which used the other spelling/name.

Calla Lily "Rubylight Pink Ice" planted in my garden

So what gives? Why the name confusion? Is this a selected clone, or a seed strain, or what? Is "Rubylight" maybe not at all the same as "Rubylite"?

Arrrrrrgh.

Hi Polymerous

As you found elsewhere, our plant database only lists it as Calla Lily (Zantedeschia 'Rubylite Pink Ice'). I hope you add your photo to our database entry! Please!

"That other" website that Dave started many years ago also lists it only as 'Rubylite Pink Ice'. As if "Rubylight" were not a registered name at all.

Calla Lily (Zantedeschia 'Rubylite Pink Ice')

@eclayne is the moderator of the Callas Database, maybe Evan knows.

Alternatively, starting a new thread in the Lilies or Plant Database forum might attract some lily-name gurus.

Sometimes there are very official lists of registered cultivar names. if that's the case for this Cala Lilly, somewhere there is a website with the unique "official and approved" name.

Sometimes the cultivar name is actually just a code number, and "what the vendor calls them" is the most frequently used common name. Our databases usually list that as "also sold as", but I won't swear that is the case in every sub-database.

All I really know is that some of the people involved in the plant databases know a lot about "proper" plant names, and it gets too complicated for me.

However, in the absence of knowledge, there is always speculation. Suppose the vendor that sold your plant did not have a license to re-sell Calla Lily (Zantedeschia 'Rubylite Pink Ice', but wanted to sell them anyway. Might they not have used a similar name that was never copyrighted or trademarked or registered or whatever you call the plant patenting process?

Where did you buy your plant?

Maybe it's harder to sue someone for selling a pink Calla Lily with a name similar to a legally protected name, than it is to sue someone for using the name you registered. Like selling a "Louise Vitton" leather purse.

Would a DNA "paternity test" be sufficient in a court of plant law?

Or, maybe the person making the label was careless.

Hi @Polymerous,
While I no longer have access to the KAVB registry it looks to me like a simple case of misspelling. Even Pacific Callas spell it both ways on their site. Your photos appear to match photos of Calla Lily (Zantedeschia 'Rubylite Pink Ice') so, as Rick says, please propose it for our database. I find no mention of Plant Breeders Rights associated with 'Rubylite Pink Ice'.

Hi, Rick, thanks for your comments. I'll ask Evan.

I would love to add the photo to the database, but I am hesitant to, because of the name confusion.

Frankly, I was wondering along the same lines as you, with respect to the name. Was it a mistake, or was someone trying to avoid paying a propagation fee, or was this even the same plant (but they were trying to take advantage of the reputation of the Rubylite plant and deliberately put a confusing name on it)?

(I once bought a Penstemon which was labeled 'Hollywhite'... or maybe it was 'Holly's White'? That was years ago (though I still have the plant). One is a real registered name, the other is not. What happened there?)

Getting back to the Calla Lily, the plant was purchased at one of the Summerwinds Nurseries, which is a nursery chain here. I'd have to go dig up the pot to see if a source was noted on the label.

Boy, Evan, that was fast!

What do you mean by "propose it" for the database? Should I submit the photo under 'Rubylite', or should I propose adding a plant 'Rubylight Pink Ice', or what? (I'm still new enough to this site that while I can do simple things like uploading photos to established database entries, anything more complicated stymies me.)

Hi Polymerous, please propose it for Calla Lily (Zantedeschia 'Rubylite Pink Ice'), or if you'd like I can import it for you. Rubylite isn't protected and is readily available so it's probably an innocent misspelling. We find many plants get misspelled by sellers.

Again (sorry to be so stupid), but what do you mean by "propose"? I can just upload the picture to 'Rubylite PInk Ice'.

Good to know that it is not protected, so it probably is just a misspelling...

Polymerous,
Upload your picture, then it will be reviewed like all photos being added to the data base, then if everything looks right it will be accepted and added to the data base. You will receive a little message saying that your picture has been approved. Then you can look it up in the data base and find your picture there. It is just a process to try and make sure all the plants added are correct(still some slip though) but they tell me it is easy enough to go back and correct them when an error is found.

Thanks, Seedfork. I know how to upload photos - what that process is - as I have already uploaded many. I just didn't understand what was meant by "propose".

I see they have a new note, picture should be in focus, right exposure, and no feet or hands in the pics in the data base, sheesh! Such stringent requirements!

Which has less calories? Lite or Light? Or does one mean less calories and the other less weight or color related? Yikes the English language can be so confusing.........................................

When there are misspellings among the nurseries, we can also add the Also Sold As name, so I'll add Rubylight Pink Ice, that way it shows up for anyone searching for it with that spelling.

What Evan means by 'propose', when you submit a photo, either directly from the entry or importing from a thread post, you are submitting it for the proposal queue and review, same thing with any data details you submit.
Although now the newest feature is if you have already submitted at least 10 images, it bypasses the proposal function and goes direct to the database. We still review it. The thread "Important note! Major change to the way images are approved" in Plant Database forum

Thanks for that explanation, Sue.