of the PCL of Waterlily Names
Introduction
By Kit Knotts
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When I undertook the job of co-Registration Officer (co- with my friend Rich Sacher) for IWGS in 1999, I had no idea what it would involve. Our goal was to establish a Registry for Waterlilies. At first glance it looked like I needed to round up existing waterlily names, design a registration form, set up a registry database, zip, zip, done. Little did I know that just the work on the PCL (Provisional Check List of Nymphaea Epithets) would grow to astounding proportions. This list was required and had to be approved before |
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Such a project required a worldwide effort and would have been almost impossible without the internet and email. Over the year that I worked on the PCL, information came from surprising and interesting places. In extensive correspondence with some contributors, I became really interested in learning something about the people themselves. If I were completely truthful, I've probably used writing this article as an excuse to satisfy my own curiosity!
As we all do, I began to picture the people at the other end
of cyberspace. In my mind, John Wiersema was relatively ancient,
leonine, probably crotchety, writing to me from a tiny Washington
office stacked to the roof with dusty books on the computer equivalent
of an old Royal typewriter. Was I ever wrong!
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From the countryside in Australia, Charlie Northcroft's stories
evoke a sense of almost other-worldly charm. Chris Farmer conveys
the picture of a dedicated, determined Brit in oh-so-laid-back
France, loving every minute of his life. Suwanna and Rainer Gaide
from Thailand seem the perfect meld of cultures. I am extremely
grateful to these people from their enormous contributions to
the PCL but I am equally grateful for the life they breathed
into it.
This account would not be complete without mentioning the utterly
miraculous and charmingly manipulative Betsy Sakata. She seduced
Rich and me into undertaking this project, cajoled John into
being on the committee, orchestrated the resurrection of the
IWGS email discussion list that connected me with Suwanna, Rainer
and Charlie, and lured Chris into the web. When glittering gems
of information suddenly appeared on my email screen, I could
only say "It's Betsy's magic again!"
Part of the fascination of these and all contributors to the PCL is the diversity of their lives, past, present and future. It took so many of us to accomplish this seemingly impossible goal, from hobbyists to scientists, from Europe to Asia, each unique and invaluable. We did it!
Though I resigned as Registrar on completion and approval
of the PCL, I continue to keep the list of Waterlily
Names current for this web site. The following articles are
reprinted from Pond & Garden May-June 2000, Volume 2, Issue
1.
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