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A New Daylily Form

© Ellen Roddy

Polytepals?

"Poly-what-alls?" Yes, Polytepals are a special form of Daylily. The official dictionary definition of a tepal is: "one of the divisions of a flower perianth, especially one that is not clearly differentiated into petals and sepals." Most Daylilies have the usual six petals consisting of three front tepals and three back tepals. (See note under the graphics for an explaination.) Polytepals are those flowers with more than six tepals. Actually according to a story by Bill and Joyce Reinke in the Daylily Journal, the term is somewhat of a misnomer. They think it was created in Dr. Grovenstein's column and just stuck to this type of flower.

Looking at Examples

I have become intimately acquainted with the Gala Daylily site as they have such wonderful pictures. I have included a few samples from their site below, but you many want to check the site yourself!

	Photos by Darrel Kitchen and Rodney Adams
	Bandito (Durio, 1981) 22 " scape, 6 " bloom TET
	Chris Salter (Salter, J., 1994) 26 " scape TET

Note: If you look at the pictures, you can tell the top petals from the bottom sepals. Of course, these examples of the polytepal form have more than three! Gosh, I learned something from observation.

At first people thought this form was only a fluke. The AHS formed three robin groups in response to Erling Grovensteins's column in the Daylily Journal. (If you would like to order the volumes they are 43, No. 4 to Vol. 49, No. 4)It seems that all the hybridizers and pollen dabbers from all over the country became quite intriqued with this new form. They searched AHS check lists for genealogies of the existing cultivars that had exibited the trait. During the bloom seasons they spent hours tracking those plants which had extra petals. I'M DIFFERENT (Beckham '81) and TOWHEAD (Hall '55) exhibited the trait almost all the time. Other plants might show this trait about 50-90% of the time. After all this research, the form is now validated. If you want to try hybridizing this new form, we have some tips for you.

Selecting Your Parents

Just as humans pass their traits to their offspring, so do the Daylilies. If you want polytepals, select good parents. ISOLDE (Lamber '81) is a 6" reddish purple Daylily with a 70% poly occurrence. SALLIE BROWN (Reinke '94) is a large amber-salmon blend. It is a high-percentaged polytepal form. To get good children (at least most of the time)you need the following list:

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