Black Sea Man leaf type

[mensplace]

Originally Posted by nctomatoman

I will adamantly take a strong stand on this.

Leaf shape defines a variety. Ponderosa is regular leaf. Cherokee Purple is regular leaf. Brandywine is potato leaf. There are no other "versions". It DEFINES the variety as much as fruit shape or color.

When different leaf shapes show up in a variety, it is a strong signal that something is different. You are no longer discussing that variety.

Gardeners who just grow to eat the fruit and are not saving and sharing seeds of course don't really need to be concerned about it.

But if we are trying to maintain lines, then yes, we have to be concerned about it. Because a leaf shape mutation shift in a tomato is very, very rare. And if the leaf shifts, and that shift is stabilized, it should get a different name, because it is now a different variety.

Otherwise, all of our large pink tomatoes could be considered Ponderosa or Potato leaf Ponderosa. What if the origin of Brandywine was a selection and stabilization of a potato leaf plant from Ponderosa seed?

I don't think that I am making my point very well, because the essence of the relevance of this doesn't seem to come through. It is all about maintaining accurately our plant heritage.

Your last sentence certainly summed this up very well. It was important to me primarily because I DID find so many varieties with both leaf forms. SO, prior to final selection and putting out plants, I need to go through each variety and research what SHOULD be the correct leaf form and select only those that are true to type for placement in my garden as I do want to grow fruit and save seed that SHOULD be as true to type as possible. The concern would seem to be that if these have been crossed, then it will take a few generations to produce only those that are true to type...or maybe that recessive trait will always continue to generate future plants of both.