Identification verifications are available through the SITF for all CBR , CHM, or quality awards to a species that have never been recorded by the AOS judging system. Verifications are also given for provisional awards of species. The hope is that eventually all species awards will be passed through the SITF. The judging center, exhibitor, or whoever desires, can send submissions directly to the SITF.
The SITF provides the following guidelines. Often we can make do with less, but if we need additional information after you’ve made the initial submission, the flowers may have faded and it may be too late.
1) Carefully measure and record on the SITF form( see under labels Forms)- or send along a jpg copy of the award sheet - please don't send PDF's ,Word files, etc.
2) Record the country of origin or anything known about how the exhibitor got the specimen (which vendor).
3) If the plant has been previously identified by an authority, or if the judging team or the exhibitor used a reference in making their determination, please include this information. Include any information that you think might help us.
Take pictures of the whole plant; flower, front and side; the lip and its features; and the column, including the underside and side. More pictures are better than fewer. Including a ruler in the photographs is helpful. These photographs do not need to be taken the day of the award, or taken by the award photographer. We recommend that you try your best to document the flower without destroying it, though often it is the details of the lip and column that define one species from another. Determine if the exhibitor could take more photos if it were required, and if this is possible have the more detailed photos taken at a later date. SITF tries to do most verifications with photographs but occasionally we need pickled material. The smaller the flower, the more likely we are to require a pickled specimen. If additional flowers and a pickling solution are handy, the exhibitor should consider preserving flowers.
5) Send all information as JPGs to awardid@aos.org. Please down size the photos to about 640 x 480 or similar, but keep the original large file if we need it. Please place the species name, award number and the judging center name --- Paph. spicerianum, award xxxxxxxxx, Toronto center somewhere in the email.
