Sorry that this took me a while . . . Conceding to Carolyn's expertise, and since the facts seem to follow, this is what I have concluded:
In the past few years, a couple of seed merchants have incorrectly been claiming that 'Hillbilly' is also known as "Flame." This has confounded the already confusing history of "Flame" aka "Old Flame" aka "Olympic Flame."
According to Dr. Carolyn Male, this is false. Although there is a tomato variety called 'Flame', it is a relatively newly released (circa 1984) bi-color. Originally introduced as "Olympic Flame," it was quickly renamed "Old Flame" due to trademark claims, and over the years, the name has become commonly shortened to simply "Flame."
Thank you for bringing this to my attention,
@Danita.
Mike
