In article ,
June Hughes writes:
|
| | It certainly sounds possibly that it may be some sort of japonica to me
| | - mine produces red fruit (which are poisonous) but to have them at this
| | time of year is a bit of a mystery. Ii have not researched japonicas
| | but mine flowers in spring and the fruit is a result. It's all over by
| | May. It is strange that I have nothing in either the RHS books or
| | cookery books.
|
| Eh? "japonica" is a species name. It is normally used for Chaenomeles
| japonica (or C. speciosa or C. x superba), the Japanese quince, and
| the fruit are normal at this time of year and most definitely NOT at
| all poisonous.
|
| I didn't say japonicas were all poisonous. I said it may be some sort
| of japonica and that the fruit from mine is poisonous. Please try and
| read what is said and please do not shout.

You were and are very confused - I will try once more to try to
reduce your confusion.

"Some sort of japonica", in normal usage, can mean only one of the
Chaenomeles. Japonica as the name of a group of plants means that
and nothing else.

While I can grasp the concept of someone categorising all plants
with "japonica" as a specific epithet in a group, it makes no sense
in gardening terms. You would be classifying Paeonia japonica
together with Chaenomeles japonica, for a start.

I don't know what you mean by "some sort of japonica", if you don't
mean Chaenomeles and include something with poisonous fruit, and I
doubt that many other people will, either.

And I recommend reading "Tristram Shandy", for an education into
traditional English typographic conventions.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.