Maple cultivars and their seeds???

[Luke308]

Hi guys I recently bought a heap of different maple seeds, some of which are cultivar varieties. I was wondering would it be incorrect to label them as their parents cultivar being that the seed will most likely differ from their parent, and each other? If so, what should I call them, or should I wait til they sprout and see what characteristics they have? If that is the case, can I name them myself, or do I just call them variegated?


These are the seed I'm referring too....

Acer palmatum
Acer palmatum purpureum
Acer palmatum "disectum"
Acer palmatum "hogyoko"
Acer palmatum "iroha momiji"
Acer shirasawanum "autumn moon"
Acer palmatum "momoiro koyasan"
Acer campestre
Acer heldreichii
Acer Palmatum "orange fire" (named by the guy who picked the seeds)

Thanks

[SteveW]

The named varieties are cuttings from the original plant; seedlings from these are just seedling s(one parent being the named variety, the other pollen from any local japanese maple).

Best to just call them their botanical name and leave out the variety name.

Enjoy them. You may find a lot of the palmatum variety seedlings die in the spring for the first few years (weak roots and / or damping off). The ones that survive will make fine bonsai.

[fiveoffive]

now the question can you make them from seed to tree. i had about a 50% rate on Fresh seeds and ones from the internet 0%

[shibui]

Steve W is absolutely correct. The name belongs to a single individual plant with a specific genetic combination and can only apply to clones of that plant - cuttings, layers, grafts, etc.
Every seedling is a new combination of genes and cannot be given the same name as the parent or any other existing variety but you are perfectly within your rights to name each and every seedling you grow with a new and separate name. If any of your seedlings show 'special' characteristics or are better than the ones already in cultivation it might become another famous and sought after variety! All the currently named varieties started off this way - as seedlings.

As Craig suggests just the species name is safest eg 'Acer palmatum' but you can probably label your new trees (assuming some grow!) as eg 'Acer palmatum 'hogyoko' seedling' until you work out whether its worth giving them names of their own. The problem with this is the next owner will often leave the 'seedling' part off and propagate the plant with the original parent name then we get 2 different lines in the trade with the same name and it gets quite messy and confusing.

The term 'variegated' refers to leaves having different colours eg green and white or green and gold.

[SteveW]

can you make them from seed to tree

Yes, the seedlings do grow into excellent bonsai.