John Olsen 08/10/11 "Further to the capitata/Rio Hondo debate I have attached my version. It came as Capitata Peach. The photo shows the colour achievable in full morning sun.
I also have plants labelled Rio Hondo which are just now sending up a flower spike which seems likely to be relatively short.
John
PS if any of you have other pics of capitata send them to me for my assembly of Aussie Capitatas. Picture and provenance where known."
Chris Larson 06/01/11 "The T.capitata Peach/ Rio Hondo problem has been going on for a long time.
The quantities brought in by Collectors Corner, Green and Company & Ari from up Billinudgel way, are massive. These are, now, all imported as T.capitata Peach and are known this way all over the world where Guatemalan imports come in. I know there are different plants which are around under the
"T.capitata Peach" name. I have sold plants as "T.capitata Peach or Rio Hondo" as I know that T.Rio Hondo is the registered name, but the buyer is
more likely to own it (if he or she does) under the name T.capitata Peach.
Dereks article: My information is gathered from imports from around 6 or 8 different sources in Guatemala over the past 18 years. The imports have usually listed this plant as T.capitata Peach - only rarely T.sphaerocephala - though the sphaerocephala name was used spasmodically a long time ago, only T.capitata Peach has been used in the recent past (at least 5 years, possibly 10 or more). Maybe T.sphaerocephala was their first guess, then they concurred on the other name - I don't know. So while the information in the article may have been true at the time from the sources quoted, it does not represent the situation in my experience.
From personal comments (and here I could be wide of the mark) one of the main arguments for using "Rio Hondo" and staying away from the "T.capitata" part, is that Renate had it earmarked for a new species. This (if I'm not mistaken) has been shelved as Renate has found intermediaries & now this is likely not to happen. Please correct me if I am wrong. So we have the BCR & Derek arguing to use T.Rio Hondo & the commercial world (and I mean world) using T.capitata Peach. The dominant source of plants in the public arena generally come from commercials - so guess which name is predominant.
This has been muddied further by a plant Pam Koide sells as T.ionantha Peach. This is in the BCR as T.Peach - so the name T.capitata Peach would be invalid under ICNCP rules anyway.
So John, if the provenance leads back to me - I advise the people to use the name they would like. If I don't use both names, the purchaser may buy the same plant twice.
Cheers, Chris"
Derek Butcher 09/01/11 "Chris L and John.
Just a little more grist to the mill. I hope John can get a photo of his stocky 'Peach' because we may be able to nail it. You see Pam Koide sells capitata 'Peach' from Mexico and capitata caulescent from Guatemala. Therefore there must be a difference but we do not have photos.
T. riohondoensis fell by the wayside and I carried it on as 'Rio Hondo'. Its demise was more because there are great discussions from the Cubans who claim the name capitata as their own and what happens to those found in the mainland of Central America ? That was 5 years ago! 'Manana'
UD"
