International Nepenthes Grex Registry Launched!

The Homepage

It was announced recently that the International Nepenthes Grex Registry has launched. It's a bit of a confusing matter, except for those coming from Orchids. Most growers - and plenty of readers of this blog - will know about grex names, thinking of them as the latinized names of certain crosses. For instance, Nepenthes x mixta, which is any cross between Nepenthes northiana and Nepenthes maxima. The most famous Nepenthes x mixta is Nepenthes 'Miranda', a cultivar. (In carnivorous plants, a cultivar is not only a clone of a plant, but also any propagation of a plant that results in offspring that have the same characteristics as the cultivar).

Board Members

Traditionally, the carnivorous plant community has shied away from creating new grex names for Nepenthes. Now, however, some growers are reversing course. Instead, it has favored hybrid names. For instance, Nepenthes lowii x truncata. (The female parent is always listed first). In recent years, however, some nurseries have creating increasingly complex hybrids and begun naming their crosses. For instance, Nepenthes St. Hedwig is a cross from Sam Estes between Nepenthes alata  and Nepenthes veitchii x (x tiveyi)). Thus, any Nepenthes alata x (veitchii x x tiveyi) from Sam's nursery is a N. St. Hedwig. Or so it was . . .

A Registered Grex

If I understood the registry correctly, now, technically, Sam (or someone) could register alata x (veitchii x x tiveyi) to be called Nepenthes St. Hedwig. Thus, if you were to cross Nepenthes alata with Nepenthes veitchii x x tiveyi, it would also be called St. Hedwig, even if your plants look nothing like the originals produced by Sam. (This could be for a number of reasons, but it could be that your reproduction is done after Jebb and Cheek finish classifying the Nepenthes alata complex, meaning your cross definitely used Nepenthes alata, whereas Sam could have used Nepenthes ultra or another member of the Nepenthes alata complex).

In some ways, this makes naming conventions less difficult, and in other ways it makes naming conventions more difficult. As it is now, everyone knows that a St. Hedwig is a plant from Sam's nursery and is a cross between Nepenthes alata and Nepenthes veitchii x x tiveyi. While these plants aren't clones (as far as I know), they all look substantially similar (almost achieving cultivar status).

In the future, if these are registered as greges instead of cultivars, any future cross between Nepenthes alata and Nepenthes veitchii x x tiveyi will be called Nepenthes St. Hedwig. (Of course, the designation "St. Hedwig" should be followed by the breeder's name and date). The problem is when the definitions of plants shift. Take, for instance, Nepenthes x Splendiana -

Nepenthes x Splendiana

The grex registry uses photographs to register plants, as well as a list of species. The reason for this is because of plants like Nepenthes x Splendiana, a cross made by Bruce Bednar between, at that time, Nepenthes kampotiana and Nepenthes maxima. Since Bruce made this cross, the definition of what Nepenthes kampotiana has changed. Unfortunately, no photographs are known of the parent kampotiana. The grex registry seeks to solve that issue. Thus, in the future, as definitions of species change the grex can be updated. Unfortunately, this appears to replace one problem with another.

Let's continue using Nepenthes St. Hedwig as an example. Suppose someone recreates Sam's cross, which is properly registered, but uses a "different looking" Nepenthes alata. Let's assume in 5 years, Jebb and Cheek reclassify Sam's Nepenthes alata as a new species and the "different looking" Nepenthes alata as the true species. Now, we have the original, registered, Nepenthes St. Hedwig which is new species x (veitchii x x tiveyi) and the new Nepenthes St. Hedwig, which is alata x (veitchii x tiveyi). Which one is actually Nepenthes St. Hedwig? The one whose picture matches the description, or the one whose description is accurate?

The same issue exists with Nepenthes x Splendiana. Sure, anyone could cross Nepenthes kampotiana and Nepenthes maxima, but if the names change how do we keep up with what is actually what? Breeders already make crosses and widely distribute the crossed seeds. So, in either case cited above, there will be plenty of plants with different species as parents in cultivation being called the same thing. The grex registry doesn't seem to actually solve this problem, unless everyone with a cross keeps all the identifying information and periodically checks the registry to ensure that their plants are still what they've been calling them. And, let's be honest, growers won't do that.

Screenshot of Problem

So, what will the grex registry actually do? It'll effectively allow large-scale breeders to replace the cultivar registration process with an easy registration process for their preferred parents. However, it doesn't seem to solve the problem the registry itself cites in the screenshot above, unless breeders can name their different crosses different things. (Of course, if they do that, there's no real difference between the grex registry and a cultivar registry). So, at the end of the day, there will be a heck of a lot of different looking St. Hedwigs and x Splendiana's out there, and if yours is lacking breeder information, you'll be able to go to the grex registry and (hopefully) find a photo of a plant similar enough to yours that you'll be able to fill in the additional information.

Edit: 12/13/14 5:00 P.M. I've learned from the creators of the registry that it actually hasn't launched, yet. Apparently, a few involved people jumped the gun and we all found out about it a bit earlier than the creators anticipated. Stay tuned for updates! -N