I agree, it's a mess.
There are many factors contributing to the confusion. AHS has the responsibility to keep definitions clear and muddying the waters is a disservice to not only members but the general public.
Form should be a basic that is clear and understandable. All single flowers do not fit into one of the special Form classifications. Seriously, if someone doesn't know what Form they are registering why should I spend $$$ for your new intro? Makes me wonder what other basic characteristics you don't understand... plant habit, branching, bloom size.... If you are buying or hybridizing for a specific characteristic it's important to know at least the basics. For instance, imagine someone looking for Sculpted cristates, and purchasing from an image on the hybridizers website one of those newly registered plants registered as Sculpted cristate and when it blooms realizing it's not a Sculpted cristate. It's simply a double flower. Or worse, not realizing it's simply a double flower. This misunderstanding of Form moves down the line leading to more incorrect registrations, it confuses and makes registration and written descriptions..... meaningless.
Here's a link to the "old" guide for identifying UF's. It's a part of the registration guidelines which for some absurd reason is not linked to the registration link for hybridizers to read BEFORE they register on the "new" website. Instead it is buried in the registration link way at the bottom of the home page.
https://daylilies.org/wp-conte...
Scroll down to page 10 where it shows UF's. As the Form has evolved since these drawn descriptions, UFs can and often do, show multiple subform characteristics. Once you understand the basics of each subform characteristic you can pick them out on a cultivar displaying several.The way I learned them years ago is from hybridizers and the guidelines....
A cascade from a side view should have the upper tepal tips fall to at least the groove between segments at the top of the perianth tube, segments hanging straight downward, think waterfall, or curled inward at the tips.
Quilling is a rolling of the tepals towards the back into a tube shape. Botanical term - revolute. Opposite involute, think all the pattern daylilies that curl upward from the throat, quilling curls the opposite way. Different from Sculpted pleated which is a distinctive multiple folding of the petals.
Spatulate, the segments are shaped like a spoon, narrow in the throat and getting wider midway up the segment. I've always thought of Golliwog as the classic spatulate.
