Naturally I and quite a few others would like to hear coniferjoys opinion on this matter.Short of that I'm confident
of Bob Finchams and Don Howses pronouncements,though
I have seen them respectfully disagree.I own neither so haven't faced signage issues.D.

It's 'Tubifolia' for me.

Logical thinking says that 'Tubifolia' means a leaf with a tube shape.
'Tubiformis' means that the shape of the plant is a tube form...

Per the North American registrar for Ginkgos, Richard Larson of the Dawes Arboretum:

"We list this cultivar as 'Tubeleaf' and cite Arthur Lee Jacobson, North American Trees, 1996. Ten Speed Press, Berkeley, CA. The author correctly reasoned that 'Tubiformis' or 'Tubifolia' are Latinized names as cultivar epithets and therefore are illegitimate after 1959
according to The International Code of Botanical Nomenclature (ICBN).

Jacobson is a tireless researcher and produced one of the best references on trees marketed in North America for its time."

I'm changing mine to 'Tubeleaf'!

Sara

Not so fast, Sara!
First you've to find out when this cultivar was selected.
When this was before 1959, you've to stay with 'Tubifolia'...

Anyone know when it was selected? How do we find that out? I'll ask Rich.

Sara

I hope our friend Richie can help us out.
Send him my regards, thanks!
He's a funny guy, we joked around a lot last winter :0)

I just sent him another email and will pass along your regards when I hear back from him! He is a great source of info.

Sara

Rich Larson's response about the timing of the introduction of this cultivar:

"I am not sure about the timing of its origin but I suspect after 1959. Cultivars known have been introduced before this date i.e in publication, can have Latinized epithets even if they are registered after that date. It is a good policy to simply avoid these names altogether."

Fiat lux!

Sara

This post was edited by formandfoliage on Tue, May 21, 13 at 19:17

So, are we back to 'Tubeleaf' as the official cultivar name?

Impressive definitive source! Well done!

This post was edited by ritmatt on Tue, May 21, 13 at 18:34

By the way, props for coniferjoy on pointing out the difference between -folia and -formis. I learned something new!

I am going with 'Tubeleaf' but I suspect that we have not heard the last from Edwin!

Sara

I think we have to stay with 'Tubifolia'.
This is because most of the cultivars of this species were found after 1959 and got a Latin cultivar name, like 'Globus', 'Pendula' and 'Pragensis'.
As time passes, people were used to these names and it is not very smart to rename them into a modern version because this will causes new confusions in plant naming.

By using 'Tubeleaf' it won't take long before the following quiestion will be asked here at this forum:
Hi, I bought a Ginkgo biloba 'Tubeleaf', but I can't find any info about it at the internet.
Is this the same one as 'Tubifolia'?
We must try to avoid this kind of situations, because there are plenty simular one's already...

Edwin in some cases synonyms are used, e.g. Ginkgo biloba 'Tubifolia' syn. 'Tubeleaf'. Are there rules for when it is proper to use synonyms?

No one would believe that we could belabor a simple question like this!

Sara

I think we can call it 'Tubeleaf' or 'Tubifolia' or 'Bob' in our own gardens, but if you want to find someone that sells it on the Internet or at your corner nursery, you'll find the most efficient query to be for 'Tubiformis'. :)

Ritmatt is right, in your own garden it doesn't matter what you call it, in the trade you've to go with 'Tubifolia'.

Synonyms or aka's are always other names then the finder originaly gave to his find, they will causes confusions and somethimes they're gonna to live their own lifes.
We won't that to happen, don't we?
Please, stay with 'Tubifolia' for this one.

Thanks Edwin. Saves me making a new name plate.

I can't wait until some poor person punches the words 'ginkgo tubiformis tubifolia' into the Google search bar and hits this thread and packs it in and decides to collect stamps instead!

Ginkgo biloba 'Tubeleaf’ syn. ‘Tubifolia' and 'Tubiformis' . This plant is available under all three names within the nursery trade. However, because the Latin names ‘Tubifolia' and 'Tubiformis' do not appear before 1959 they technically are incorrect and should not be used, but used they are! This is an interesting male form originating from France.