Naming the orchids

Since Linnaeus and his binomial system of nomenclature, the habit has been to describe living things by two Latin terms, one being the name of the genus, the other of the species.
But nomenclature is much more than just giving an organism a label: there has to be a large amount of additional information to the chosen name:

• Reference to the common features of all plants of the same genus;
• Recognition of a sufficiently large difference between two specimens to justify the attribution of two different specific names;
• Position of the named plant within its classification, theories as to its origins and its phylogenetic affinities with plants of the same group.

Nomenclature thus reflects, to a large extent, up to date knowledge of the plants in question. This is why published works of botanists often include changes of name, although these are not accepted by orchid lovers, who tend to be creatures of habit.

The rules of nomenclature are extremely precise, being codified by the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature (ICBN). According to the code, plants are given botanical names designed to define their place within the general classification. The following special endings are used to indicate the particular group or taxo concerned:

TAXON            ENDING                    EXAMPLES

Order                 -ales                   Orchidales

Familiy               -aceae                 Orchidaceae

Subfamily           -oideae                Orchidoideae

Tribe                  -eae                    Epidendreae

Subtribe              -inae                   Coelogyninae

The Latin name of the genus is always written with a capital initial letter and the name of the species with a small initial letters. Both are set in italics. The generic and specific nomenclature is usually followed by the name of the author who first described or observed it (set in roman and often abbreviated) (e.g. Coelogyne mooreana Rolfe)

When a specie originally described in one genus is, after subsequent investigation, transferred to another genus, the first author is mentioned in parentheses, e.g. Paphipedilum insigne (Lindley) Pfitz.

The genus and species may be followed by the name of the variety, e.g. Chysis bractescens var. aurea.

The nomenclature of horticultural hybrid orchids is likewise subject to complex rules governed by the International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants. They are described by three names; thus, for example, for the cultivar Sophrolaeliocattleya Jewel Box "Sheherazade", Sophrolaeliocattleya is the name of the genus (a combination of the generic name of both parents), Jewel Box is the grex epithet and
Sheherazade" is the cultivar epithet.