A large part of the problem is that no one has offered a definition as to what constitutes a “moptop” and without that you really have no defined parameters to guide a discussion.
In as much as I take claim to being the first to apply the term “moptop” to waterlilies and even then specifically to my waterlilies, by default the basic definition is mine to make. By way of background, there was a gentleman, that although he had never grown a single one of my half ampla hybrids…or even seen one grown for that matter….took to making disparaging comments about what he perceived to be their awkward looks, fickle habits and poor documentation. Pointing out that he had never grown or seen a single one seemed to anger him and he in one post referred to them as “mopheads”. I had been looking for a catchy descriptive term and as he was English, I took to calling them “moptops” thinking the reference to the Beatles might amuse him.
So the definitive ‘moptop’ is a half ampla hybrid with ampla being the pollen donor….pure and simple. I noticed that some half colorata had a similar look, ie ‘Midnight’ and crediting Mr. Pring with being the grandfather of the Moptops the definition expanded a bit to include waterlilies in which the stamen have been transformed into non-functional petaloid stamen with the pollen sac gone and the filament and anther transformed into smaller petals. So ‘Miami Rose’, ‘Star of Siam’, ‘Blue Aster’, ‘Charlie’s Pride’, ‘Star of Zanzibar’. Etc…..nice but not moptops. King of Siam would qualify.
So if you want to discuss the performance of moptops, you now have the boundaries. And at least most of my contributions have been trialed extensively before release in private and public gardens in this country and others. They are indeed to be found in Asia at least in South Korea, Japan and Malaysia….to be honest, I have actively tried to prevent their introduction into Thailand, as they are the hot bed of counterfeit lilies. Look at the mess they made of those of the native son Dr. Wasuwat, why should mine fare better? They have also been trialed in the iwgs waterlily competition…all in all I feel there cultivation is well documented, perhaps you view of the waterlily world is a little too parochial. They have been proven to perform well on a least four continents and in temperate and tropical climes. I will say the half ampla handle heat much better than the half colorata but burning in either group is essentially non-existent in the 80-90 F temperature range….an exception possibly being the Thai introduction ‘King of Siam’.
Are the moptops the end all and be all of lilies…..I never have claimed they are, in fact, my nomination for best all around lily would probably be ‘Director George T. Moore’, but how someone that has admittedly never seen or grown a single moptop specimen, proffers “constructive criticism” is beyond me. To me, constructive criticism can only be offered by those with experience in dealing with the subject item.
On other notes, the waterlily competition has been around in some form or other for twenty two or three years…at least. How much longer will it last? Not much to look at the declining entries. The iwgs and its affiliates are moribund and unless Water Gardeners International decides to salvage some of the iwgs activities, I don’t give it much longer.
And by botanical definition, every waterlily flower is indeed ‘perfect’. <g>
