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| Wrong label: that is not a zebrina. And... 'Hill' again? Gimme a break with all that hill-color-make-up plant tags. New plant enthusiasts expect that the nurseries know what they are selling. |
Introduction
Listed for sale from a Dutch trading platform[1] as Tradescantia zebrina 'Velvet Hill' is this plant (shown in the image above). Yet another hill-color-make-up tag. This time not from the same Dutch nursery that circulated all those hill-color-make-up plant tags. The plant we are discussing here listed for sale as Tradescantia zebrina 'Velvet Hill' is simply a Tradescantia sillamontana. Tradescantia sillamontana is a botanical species that was first described by Matuda back in 1955[2, 3]. The common names for Tradescantia sillamontana are: White Velvet, Cobweb Spiderwort, White Gossamer, Hairy Wandering Jew. Thus the proper way to write the full name of the plant with its common names is:
Tradescantia sillamontana (White Velvet, Cobweb Spiderwort, White Gossamer, Hairy Wandering Jew) or just use one from the common names, usually the White Velvet.
A more detailed and scientifically correct way to write the full name, including the botanist that described it, the year and also its synonyms is the following:
Botanical name: Tradescantia sillamontana Matuda (1955)
Common names: White Velvet, Cobweb Spiderwort, White Gossamer, Hairy Wandering Jew
Synonyms: Tradescantia pexata H.E.Moore[3]
Correct botanical information
Regarding that Tradescantia zebrina 'Velvet Hill' plant tag now. From where should I begin... first of all, as I have already stated above, T. sillamontana is a botanical species, not a man-made cultivar, and in botanical species there are no cultivar tags involved. The way the 'Velvet Hill' is written indicates a cultivar. Secondly, this is a T. sillamontana, not a zebrina. FYI 99.8% of the zebrina's have the typical dual, silvery/green stripes, as seen in the wild T. zebrina type and other more common zebrina cultivars. The only zebrina's that completely lack stripes are the rare T. zebrina var. flocculosa and the T. zebrina var. purpusii. Observe their differences in the following pictures.
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| The typical dual silvery/green stripes seen on most Tradescantia zebrina plants. These stripes are reflecting the surrounding light, therefore sometimes they seem greener and other times more silvery. |
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| Tradescantia zebrina var. flocculosa. One of the two zebrina's that lack stripes. |
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| Tradescantia zebrina var. purpusii: the second zebrina variety that lacks the typical zebrina stripes |
What do Plant Certificates actually certify?
Now that there is a basic understanding, let's come again to the image of that Dutch trading platform. If we zoom-in at the lower left part of the image, we can see three logos.
← FYI that number identifies the seller/nursery (this one in this image is a random one from the internet, just for reference)
All three of these logos are plant certificates. The first one is a plant certificate from Florensis[4], a company located in the Netherlands. From their About page we read:
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| "Florensis is an innovative, second-generation family business from Hendrik-Ido-Ambacht (Netherlands), founded in 1941 under the name Hamer Bloemzaden. The company has a proven track record worldwide as breeder and as supplier of starting material for professional growers.With 2,000 dedicated and highly-skilled employees from the Netherlands, Europe and far beyond, Florensis produces over 1 billion young plants from seed, cuttings and tissue culture every year." |
The second plant certificate comes from GGN Certified Farming[5], a company located in Germany. From their About page we read:
And the third plant certificate comes from On the way to PlanetProof[6], a company located in the Netherlands. From their FAQ page we read:
"On the way to PlanetProof is a quality mark for products and
services. On the way to PlanetProof is available for potatoes,
vegetables, fruit, dairy, eggs, flowers, flower bulbs, trees and plants
and processed products."
If we visit again the specific page of FloraXchange we see on the right hand side the specific nursery that sells this plant. It comes from Bunnik Plants[7], a nursery located in the Netherlands.
From their Contact page we read:
"The Bunnik Plants team consists of enthusiastic team players who have a good dose of entrepreneurial spirit and a professional attitude."
Conclusion
FloraXchange is a trading company that connects the buyers with the nurseries, the plant breeders and the like. They don't sell plants themselves, yet they are involved in the horticultural business and they list plants and plant names on their website. Even if they did not begin as "plant-people" they ought to know what they list in their own website. After all, they proudly present three plant-certificates there, and the average plant buyer assumes they know what they are listing is the correct information.
Bunnik Plants though have the greater share of responsibility, since they are a nursery and as it seems (from the FloraXchange website about the specific product) it's the nursery from which that plant tag was circulated. An average buyer that is going to buy from them assumes that they are buying a plant with the correct label. What if that buyer already had the Tradescantia sillamontana? What if 500 buyers already had the Tradescantia sillamontana?... Then all these consumers have paid for the same plant twice. And what if we see a new plant tag in the future - something like Tradescantia fluminensis 'Velvet Queen' - describing the same plant, a Tradescantia sillamontana? Are then these people going to pay a third time for the same plant?... Can you realize where it leads to?
Personally I don't think that was just a case of a single mislabeled plant tag. By checking their plant catalog at ISUU[8] I see more plant tags that are mislabeled, such as the Philodendron White Wave → actually a Philodendron 'Birkin'. I have seen this also as Philodendron White Measure.
References
1. FloraXchange
4. Florensis
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