Minal -

Wrangler's Ragtime Cowboy
(6231) 05/20/1986 (W. Smith) Double red-violet star/green edge.Variegated dark green and pink,glossy,hairy,ruffled.Large.

The pic you included - is from ebay, correct? - so if you purchased the plant from this seller - you got a beautiful gorgeous violet - but it is NOT it.

Is it a sport or just mislabeled plant? I searched pics - and nothing I saw looks like a description. I am thinking that since 1986 the true Wrangler's Ragtime Cowboy mutated to something else - may be it was not very stable to start with. I am not sure that the true one exists. I found some on Russian sites - that seems ruffled variegated, green edged - but pink. Since I was not able to find the confirmed correct pic - and I do not believe that the hybridizer mistook pink for red-violet, i am thinking that probably the correct one is lost.

I.

Hi Irina,
Thanks for the detailed answer, I am beginning to understand more about violets every day. The will still be keeping the wranglers I have as it has beautiful pink flowers. Can I register this as a sport or mutation with AVSA, or is that not a possibility in this case?

Minal.

oh and yes I did buy the leaves from Ebay a few years ago (I think)or I may have bought them from the ladies at the african violet club, who hosted a sale at our local mall.

Minal -

nope, you cannot register it. To register the plant you should have either the hybrid with known parents - papa and mama - or if it is a sport - you need to know exactly what it was before when it sported. And you do not really. Somebody could just mislabel it somewhere in the last 30 years.

Another thing is - before registering something - you need to be sure that what you have in you hands is something new and worthy and doesn't have already registered look-a-likes. And I am sure that standard semi-double pink with raspberry edge with variegated leaves is already registered in several variations. Out of 15000 some registered..

I love Wranglers hybrids too. I am thinking that some oldtimer in TX can still grow this Cowboy.

Irina

Your plant looks similar to, but lighter in color than Wrangler's Ragtime Cowboy. I see some darker spots on the flowers, and those spots more accurately reflect the color the bloom is supposed to be. My understanding is that you are not precluded from registering the sport with some work. It must be grown through 3 successive generations to establish that it is stable, and ideally the plant should contribute something to the variety of violets (though this last point is difficult to assess in many cases.) I'm providing a link to an article on the AVSA website about how to go about registering plants.

Here is a link that might be useful: How to name/register violets

Mark -

IMHO you cannot just go and register any mislabeled plant.

If in your collection the true blooming "Cowboy" mutated - or you put a leaf down - and one of the babies turned to be this sport, you can do it. But not if you purchased something that looks kinda like something out of 15000 registered, but not exactly it.

And if you look at the registered sport page - most of them are Chimeras - which are rare and worth preserving. Otherwise it should be an extraordinary great plant. And yes - you are correct - it should be grown for 3 generations and it should be stable. But I still insist that to start with - the mutation should happen in your collection, not who knows where and when.

irina, the bore

Thank you both for your comments. Yes, I guess since I didnt have the original to begin with, then it would be difficult to say that it was an actual sport of Wranglers.

But I could try to see if were stable for 3 generations, just to see if the flowers are stable, I guess it would be a nice mini project. With regards to registering it, I guess the only thing it would contribute is the beautiful variegation on the leaves. Just out of curiosity I will surely look into the AV registration link.

Minal -

this is a very pretty plant - and I am sure it is stable. Enjoy growing it. A lot of worthy plants are named but not registered and they are still grown and loved. The only limitation is if you want to compete with this plant on AVSA sponsored show - you cannot make it a part of o collection - there is a provision that all plants in the collection should be registered. Otherwise you can call it a sport of WRC - and win up to the best in show under this name.

Registration is just an itty-bitty final step in a long work of a hybridizer. He dreamed about his plant, selected the parents,pollinated, waited for many months for the seedpod to mature, worked with oodles of seedlings, backcrossed the selected seedling to the parent to uncover recessive traits, again grew oodles of seedlings, selected several, chucked the rest, grew them for 3 generations - and made a final cut. Probably it is one or 2 - or even none that made the final cut of this cross. You see what I mean...it is work of several years - and a very strict selection process. Then he files an application to be registered and gets his number.

The second option - you just get lucky. You propagate a fantasy or bicolor plant - - and once in every 10000 babies you make - one of your starters grows to be a chimera. So - you are dancing around this baby - propagate it and register it as a sport. Usually chimeras come from people who do violets as business - statistics works for them - they grow these 10000 babies anyway.

Good Luck - and start pollinating!

Irina