A COMPUTERISED DATA BASE FOR THE IDENTIFICATION AND CLASSIFICATION OF CULTIVARS OF FUCHSIA X HYBRIDA VOSS

The aim of this project is to produce a comprehensive body of information on variation in the cultivated Fuchsia. This information will be used to provide a satisfactory classification and identification system for as many cultivars as can be obtained and examined. Information on those cultivars not obtainable will have to be gathered and collated from sources in the literature, forming a body of second-hand data. As the Fuchsia is clonally propagated it is possible to obtain accidentally mis-named or un-named clones. At the present it is impossible to identify these easily from the literature. Previous attempts to undertake this work of classification have been few and far between. The only two known to the writer are by Porcher (1874) and Hieke (1970). The latter author using the original R.H.S. Horticultural colour chart for colour descriptions of 268 cultivars.

Although the characters used in the present experiment are to a large extent related to the flower, plant habit and leaf characters are also important characteristics which have to be considered and included to produce a satisfactory description (Table 1). It is hoped that chromosome counts of as many cultivars as possible will be made to extend our knowledge of polyploidy in the group.

The variation in flower size, angle of sepals and colour both within plants and between sites can be quite noticeable, and wherever possible observations will be made over two seasons for confirmation, particularly of colour. The shapes of blooms, sepals, petals and leaves, so far observed, are shown in figures 1, 2, 3 and 4. All shapes are described using the Systematics Association descriptive terminology (1962).

The microcomputer used at present is an I.B.M. PC. This machine will be used for the duration of the project. The program being used is d Base II. In a preliminary survey of 1002 cultivars, using second-hand information available in litt. (almost entirely confined to flower colour), the groupings shown in Table 2 have emerged. The main colours found in the genus Fuchsia including the cultivars, are red and pink, purple-red, and violet and purple. Only rarely are bright orange-red colours seen. The colour groups must be considered as tentative at the moment until a wider practical knowledge of colours is gained, and the colours more precisely defined, using the R.H.S. colour chart (1966).