Yes, virus tolerance--I have a bad habit of using the term interchangeably frequently. Thanks!
I'm quite sure we'll even be able to tell with a great deal of certainty what generation Harlequin Mike has once we see pictures of the flower head for length and height and tightness and compare pedicel length, etc. Mike's Harlequin's and the way he got them inspires me! It's almost the same as me getting that big box of lilies from a garden of an estate sale that was brought to me!
Another interesting aspect is that when I say that there's a lot of information lacking or not well documented, etc. it doesn't necessarily mean that information was poorly kept or infer sloppy work by the growers like Oregon Bulb. One has to look at it with a viewpoint that records are lost or they did not survive over time, much the same way as cultivars are lost over time due to events of time. And, sometimes records don't get updated either, when maybe the should be. A good example of that is the Lily Registry definition with Harlequin. Another is the Lily Registry definition of Mid-Century where the parent definition was recorded as L. tigrinum X L. hollandicum. That's not the end of it, nor is it necessarily correct, neither. More work. was done to get to the final version of Mid-Century. First, according to de Graaff's flow chart, it was L. hollandicum X L. tigrinum ( L. hollandicum being the first European lily brought into the gene pool). L. hollandicum was renamed 'umbtig' because there was an American species by that name. The next step was 'umbtig' X Alice Wilson, then Alice Wilson X 'unbtig' became the final version of Mid-Century. Alice Wilson was a named variety grown in Europe resulting from (L. dauricum X L. concolor) X L. X maculatum early on and that was reintroduced into the bloodline of the final version. I have omitted some steps for simplicity, here.
So, even when we look to the Lily Registry we have to do so with an open mind as well with the understanding there is likely a whole lot more to the story than can be described in just a few words. That goes for any reference books, articles and any document as well. It all makes a person wonder just exactly how many varieties of these older cultivars made it to market during any fifteen to twenty year period. Probably quite a few!
Now, fast forward. How many unnamed varieties produced during any cultivar project might there be in the marketplace today? Could this be just one reason for a thread like 'deceiving colors? Like you said, Rick, these posts prompt one to 'think'. That they do!
