Somebody else can probably explain this better than I can, but there is a history to the terms "bearded" and "cristate" in the AHS. It was not that many years ago that "sculpted" daylilies were sought to be recognized by the AHS as a new category of daylily (just as, many years prior to that the UF form was formally recognized). To get a new category recognized, as the genome is pushed and new developments appear, is a huge undertaking.
Once sculpteds starting turning up enough for them to merit their own classification, certain people (and I believe Char was among them, correct me if I'm wrong, Char) put in ENORMOUS amounts of work to determine what the parameters, characteristics, and nomenclature of the newly recognized forms would be. Sculpted had three subcategories: pleated, relief and cristate. Cristate is defined in the AHS dictionary as extra tissue growing on the surface of the petal.
Some people were calling this characteristic "bearded". There was a big discussion, with many scientific, botanical experts weighing in, and it was determined that "beardedness" (for lack of a better work lol) was different, botanically, from cristate tissue, and that the new subcategory of "sculpted - cristate" recognized cristate tissue, which was different from beardedness.
Based on this history, it makes sense for Char to be strict about correcting this term to avoid the muddying of the waters that occurs from use of the word "bearded". People not knowing this history, if they hear the term "bearded" being used, might easily think the terms were interchangeable and it's good that Char is correcting this.
Feel free, anyone with better knowledge of this, to set me straight if I am wrong, but that's my recollection and explains why the moderator is taking this seriously.
Edit: As both Char and her predecessor Juli have pointed out to me since making this original post, the AHS dictionary specifically addresses "bearded" as follows:
In botany, the term "beard" refers to a group of hairs, as in the bearded iris pictured below. It may also refer to an awn, e.g. the bristle-like projection from a grain such as barley. The terms "beard", "bearded" and "awn" do not apply to daylilies, but are included here for reference.
