| yup, you got me in the poor use of "intra" and "inter"! The trouble is that a true interspecific cross (crossing a plant with itself) yields itself. Ok, from what you are sharing, it may be useful (or confounding) to mention cultivars, var, and subspecies here. Not knowing the true original phenotype of Syringa vulgaris (i'd assume it'd be a purple flower), it is doubtful that when the first say, white-flowering variation occured that anyone would have given it a natural-occuring forma epiphet or even a subspecies. Based on human preference for that white-flowered look, we'd just give it a cultivar name, right? No X anywhere in the epiphet. So, if you are taking 2 horticulturally derived selected cultivars of a normally straight species (that has no ecotypes or natural subspecies), you in effect are creating a new cultivar is all...I believe even if you did cross a straight species with a natural forma or subsp. of that species, you are in effect creating a cultivar. Based on that, in literature, you would list the parentage as say S. vulgaris 'Purple Glory' X 'White Snow' and thus yield S. vulgaris 'Gillmass' Surprise'. I don't believe it would be appropriate to add any X in the actual epiphet for this new cultivar as it occured simply as a playful cross (far removed from the original species, forma or subspecies if they had existed). For personal reference, I think you could parenthetically post the parentage of the cultivars. Some hybridizers often will quickly give it a random 'U123' cultivar name showing it as an unnamed #123 cv. that may prove useful one day...it is back in their notes that the parentage of 'U123' would be listed. INteresetingly, because of the great genetic possibilities, you may again cross these same 2 parents and yield another hybrid that looks nothing like the first 'Gillmass' Surprise'. Then it'd be quickly labeled 'U124' and evaluated later. |