The naming of orchids is governed by:

  • The International Code of Botanical Nomenclature (I.C.B.N.), which is regulated by the Nomenclature Section of an International Botanical Congress, and

  • The International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants (I.C.N.C.P.), which is regulated by the International Commission for the Nomenclature of Cultivated Plants.

The current edition of the I.C.B.N. is the Tokyo edition, revised in accordance with decisions of the XV International Botanical Congress held in Yokohama 1993 and published in 1994.

Greuter, W., Barrie, F., Burdet, H.M., Chaloner, W.G., Demoulin,V., Hawksworth, D.L., Jorgensen, P.M., Nicolson, D.H., Silva, P.C., Trehane, P. &; McNeill, J. (Eds) 1994,
International Code of Botanical Nomenclature (Tokyo Code).

The current edition of the I.C.N.C.P. is:

Trehane, P., Brickell, C.D., Baum, B.R., Hetterscheid, W.L.A., Leslie, A.C., McNeill, J., Spongberg, S.A. & Vrugtman, F. 1995, International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants.

The Naming of Wild Orchids

All described orchid species are given a binomial (two-word) latinized name, consisting of the generic name and the specific epithet.  The generic name is always written with a capital initial letter, while the specific epithet is always written with a lower-case initial letter.  The generic name is the name of the genus to which the plant belongs.

Example: Cattleya aurantiaca

 

 The specific name of the plant shown on the left is Cattleya aurantiaca.  

It belongs to the genus Cattleya.

 
Example: Brassavola nodosa

B. nodosa.jpg (17730 bytes)

 The specific name of the plant shown on the left is Brassavola nodosa.

It belongs to the genus Brassavola.

The Naming of Cultivated Orchids

The majority of cultivated orchids are artificial hybrids, and they are given a cultivar name which usually consists of 3 names:

generic name: ordinary generic names are used when a hybrid was created by crossing two species (or hybrids) of the same genus.  In the case of an intergeneric hybrid, involving two or more different genera, a new hybrid generic name is created by taking a part or all of each parent's generic name.  For example, a hybrid between a Sophronitis and a Cattleya is called a Sophrocattleya.   Similarly, a hybrid between a Sophronitis, a Laelia, and a Cattleya is called a Sophrolaeliocattleya.  When three or more genera are involved, a new hybrid generic name may be created by adding the suffix -ara to a root which is often the surname of the hybridizer.  For example, Vuylstekeara is named after M. Vuylsteke and is a hybrid involving the genera Cochlioda, Miltonia, and Odontoglossum.

grex epithet: a grex epithet is a name in a modern language (i.e. not Latin), consisting of one to three words, and is never italicized. A generic name plus a grex epithet forms a grex name, and a grex name is applied to all the progeny directly raised from two parent plants which bear the same pair of specific or collective or grex names, regardless of parental cultivars.

cultivar epithet: a cultivar epithet is used to identify a particular clone. It is a name in a modern language (i.e. not Latin), consisting of one to three words, each of which is capitalized, A cultivar epithet is enclosed in a pair of single-quotation marks and is never italicized.

Example: Brasolaeliocattleya George King 'Serendipity' AM/AOS

Blc_King_George_small.jpg (2184 bytes)

 The cultivar name of the plant shown on the left is Brasolaeliocattleya George King 'Serendipity'.   The letters AM/AOS attached to the end of the name indicates that this cultivar was awarded an Award of Merit by the American Orchid Society
 

 

 It is a hybrid produced from Cattleya Bob Betts and Brassolaeliocattleya Buttercup. For convenience Cattleya can be abbreviated as C., and Brassolaeliocattleya as Blc.

All plants produced by crossing any C. Bob Betts with any Blc. Buttercup are called Blc. George King.  However, the cultivar name Blc. George King 'Serendipity' does not apply to all of them.  The cultivar name Blc. George King 'Serendipity' applies to only those clones that were propagated by vegetative (or asexual) means from a single seedling initially given the cultivar name Blc. George King 'Serendipity'.   Thus all plants bearing the name Blc. George King 'Serendipity' share identical genes.

Orchids can be vegetatively propagated - by dividing a "clump" of pseudobulbs, by growing baby plants from the nodes on a flower spike, and by cloning special cells in a growing tip.

 
Example: Vuylstekeara Cambira 'Plush'

The cultivar name of the plant shown on the left is Vuylstekeara Cambira 'Plush'.  It belongs to the hybrid genus Vuylstekeara. As already discussed above, it is a hybrid involving the genera Cochlioda, Miltonia, and Odontoglossum.

Reference:

     H. Bechtel, P. Cribb and E. Launert, The Manual of Cultivated Orchid Species, The MIT Press, 1981.