blue23rose said: Has a true white daylily been hybridized yet? I've seen some that really look white and don't understand why they are not classified as a true white.
A 'true' white has not been hybridized in daylilies yet, to the best of my knowledge. The 'near' white daylilies have been bred by continuously selecting for less intense colour in the flowers of yellow, pink and lavender cultivars until nearly all of the colour was lost giving 'near-whites'. A 'true' white would be a white that has no pigment in its flowers, and that is usually caused by a simple single gene mutation in most other plant species. In daylilies it would require a single gene mutation in a yellow but two or more mutations in most reds or purples, etc.
To the human eye white with a tinge of blue appears 'whiter than white'. That is one reason why 'bluing' agents were/are used in detergents, etc. So some of the whitest daylilies may have some 'blue' or lavender pigment specifically making them look whiter.
The near-whites change in flower colour depending on where they are grown and when during the year they flower; how hot or cool the weather is; how cloudy or sunny the weather is, and so on because they still are able to make some of the flower pigments. In some gardens they will look 'white' but in other gardens they may be cream, pale yellow, very light pink or very light lavender, etc. A 'true' white would be white in nearly all conditions, gardens, etc. However, even a 'true' white may show some pigment in its flowers if it is grown under very special conditions, usually set-up by researchers.
Maurice
