About Orchid Names
Everyone and almost everything has a name. People’s names (in most of the Western world) are like this: Mike Miller. Orchid names go the other way: Miller Mike. The inventor for the two-name system for all naturally occurring animals (including man as Homo sapiens) and plants, was the Swedish botanist Carl von Linné (1701 – 1778).
When you grow plants, they often come with a scientific name plus their popular English name – e.g.: Viola tricolor – Pansy. Most Orchids only have Latin or Greek names – here we are talking about the plants growing wild. Cattleya labiata is one that comes to mind. In a rather small book “The Handbook on Nomenclature” it is explained in great detail how to write these names. Not only must you write this first name: Cattleya, beginning with a capital C, you must also write the second word: labiata beginning with a small l, like Miller mike. The first word tells you the genus (plural = genera), which is the Cattleya group and the second word tells you what species it is (it is called the ‘specific epithet’): labiata. There are a number of Cattleya species – can you think of a few? Besides the correct spelling of these names, we must also remember that all scientific names are to be written either in italics or they have to be underlined. When people cross together two or more different natural species (both singular and plural = ‘species’), the result of it will be called a “hybrid”. Names of hybrid genera can be divided into two groups:
- Hybrids involving one genus, called ‘intrageneric’ hybrid: Paphiopedilum callosum x Paphiopedilum lawrenceanum makes Paphiopedilum Maudiae; this involves two different species of the same genus and the plant’s name will still be the same = Paphiopedilum, but only in the singular, when it applies to a single plant.
- Hybrids involving two or more different genera, called ‘intergeneric’ hybrids; there can be names of all kinds of combinations of their ancestral names, like Brassolaelia, Angulocaste and once four different species are involved (multigeneric hybrids) the names will end with –ara, like Potinara, Wilsonara; these are often names of breeders or famous persons.
- There can be another kind of hybrid: these are crosses that occur in nature. For instance Cattleya x guatemalensis is a naturally crossed hybrid between Cattleya aurantiaca and Cattleya skinneri. Both these species plus a few others have been moved into a newly created genus called “Guarianthe”; so that natural hybrid will now have to be called Guarianthe x guatemalensis.
The second epithet of a hybrid will also be written with a capital letter at the start and it may also be the name of a famous person: Paphiopedilum Norito Hasegawa or Epic. (Epicattleya) Fireball or Blc. (Brassolaeliocattleya) Victoria. This clonal name may consist of one, two or three words. By the way, there is also a Cattleya Victoria and a Laeliocattleya Victoria. Hybrid names are not to be italicized or underlined.
Please remember that the man-made hybrid genera must have the first letters of both names capitalized. The natural hybrid would be italicized or underlined, having an x added in front of either the genus or the species’ name to designate this natural hybrid status.
Do you realize that all orchid hybrids are registered in large volumes of expensive books called “Sanders’ List of Orchid Hybrids”? It was started by the firm Sanders & Sons before the turn of the last century. Now the Royal Horticultural Society keeps it up and adds all the new registrations continuously; of course it is computerized. Yes- every orchid has its pedigree recorded. Now we shall look at some additional names on those orchid labels.
When an experienced orchidist or orchid breeder sees an exceptionally good flower, she/he may want to designate it as special and give it a special name – a ‘clonal name’ like Lc. Drumbeat ‘Triumph’. These clonal epithets are written with a starting capital letter and set in single quotation marks. When growers divide any plant, they ought to give the divided pieces a clonal name to indicate that all these pieces come from one single plant, like when my Paph. tigrinum was divided, I gave it the clonal name ‘Kittens’. When a plant receives an AOS (or other judging authority) award, the plant MUST be given a clonal name unless it already has one. Thus it now is Paph. tigrinum ‘Kittens’ HCC/AOS. Some large orchid firms use some of their exceptional plants and clone them; each single plant from this cloning must carry the same clonal epithet, like Dendrobium Hawaiian Gem ‘Carmela’.
Sometimes, after all the different names on orchid labels, you will see capital letters. These usually indicate awards that these plants have received from orchid judges. There are a number of different judging bodies around the world; see Handbook on Orchid Nomenclature, pp137, like DOG, RHS, AOS and more. When an orchid receives an award, this award (in abbreviated form) should follow the name: Epic. Fireball ‘Enewetok’ AM/AOS or Phalaenopsis Little Virtue ‘Frier’s Little Angels’ AM/AOS. Some orchids receive awards from several judging organizations; then the awards are listed as: Paph. Maudiae ‘Magnificum’ AM/RHS-JC/AOS.
So, now you may understand a little better how these names are written and why.
IMPORTANT! If you are exhibiting orchids in a show or at a judging, you absolutely must have all this information with the plant. If you are not sure, please do your research or ask someone who can help you to get things right. Please!
Ingrid Schmidt-Ostrander - Canadian Orchid Congress