| Orchid
labels are extremely important. The labels give you
a wealth of information in a very abbreviated form.
Understanding this information will guide you in purchasing
orchids because you will know from the label what type
of orchid you are purchasing. Understanding the type
of orchid will guide you in knowing its proper care,
its potential color, its parentage, etc.
Orchids compose the
largest group of flowering plants and the second largest
group of plants in general. The only plant group larger
than orchids is Grasses. In this article I will only
discuss some of the common orchid names. Let's look
at an example of an orchid label:
C. Horace 'Maxima',
AM/AOS
The first abbreviation
is the genus name. (The plural of genus is genera.)
In the label above, the "C." stands for Cattleya.
Some of the abbreviations commonly used for natural
genera are:
C.= Cattleya
Den.= Dendrobium
V.= Vanda
Asctm.= Ascocentrum
Phal.= Phalaenopsis
Epi.= Epidendrum
Enc.= Encyclia
Onc.= Oncidium
B.= Brassavola
Brs.= Brassia
Bro.= Broughtonia
Dor.= Doritis
Paph.= Paphiopedilum
Schom.= Schomburgkia
S.= Sophronitis
L.= Laelia
Diacm.= Diacrium
All of the above are abbreviations for the names of
natural genera. Man in his infinite wisdom has combined
some of these natural genera to make even more genera.
There are many of these but below are some commonly
used man-made genera:
Bc.
Brassocattleya (brassavola x cattleya)
Blc.
Brassolaeliocattleya (brassavola x laelia x cattleya)
Lc.
Laeliocattleya (laelia x cattleya)
Sc.
Sophrocattleya (sophronitis x cattleya)
Slc.
Sophrolaeliocattleya (sophronitis x laelia x cattleya)
Epc.
Epicattleya (epidendrum x cattleya) or (encyclia x cattleya)
Ctna.
Cattleytonia (cattleya x broughtonia)
Pot.
Potinara (Brassavola x laelia x cattleya x sophronitis)
Dtps.
Doritaenopsis (doritis x phalaenopsis)
Ascda.
Ascocenda (vanda x ascocentrum)
Iwan.
Iwanagara (brassavola x cattleya x diacrium x laelia)
The second word in our sample orchid label is "Horace."
This is the grex or name of the particular cattleya.
"Horace" is capitalized which indicates that
it is a hybrid of two cattleyas. If this second word
or grex is written in lower case, the label indicates
that the orchid is a natural species. For example, C.
aclandiae or Cattleya aclandiae is a natural species
made by Mother Nature. Another example is L. purpurata
or Laelia purpurata, a South American species.
The name of the cultivar
is enclosed in quotation marks: "Maxima" Cultivars
are plants selected for their desirable features and
propagated in ways that perpetuate those features. These
cultivars may be propagated by division, offshoots or
keikis, or mericloning. When you examine a plant with
a cultivar or clonal name, the plant should grow and
bloom exactly like its "parent."
The last part of the
orchid label on C. Horace 'Maxima', AM/AOS is its award
from the American Orchid Society. AM/AOS indicates that
it received an Award of Merit from a panel of American
Orchid Society judges. This is quite an honor and indicates
that its bloom is of high quality. Following are some
possible awards from the AOS:
HCC
Highly Commended Certificate, 75- 79 points
AM
Award of Merit, 80 - 89 points
FCC
First Class Certificate, 90 - 100 points
CCM
Certificate of Cultural Merit, an award for the grower.
Many times you see an orchid label with two or more
names. This indicates an orchid hybrid that has not
yet been named. For example: Pot. Caesar's Head '#1'
x Lc. Mary Ellen Carter 'Dixie Hummingbird', HCC/AOS.
The pod parent is Potinara
Caesar's Head '#1' and it has been crossed with Laeliocattleya
Mary Ellen Carter 'Dixie Hummingbird', HCC/AOS. After
several years when the hybrid blooms, the hybridizer
may name the hybrid or may give permission for another
orchid grower to name his hybrid. All names are registered
with the Royal Horticultural Society in England.
This hybrid was named
Pot. Susan Fender or Potinara Susan Fender. We received
an award of merit from the American Orchid Society on
one of our Pot. Susan Fenders. To the awarded plant
we gave the cultivar name of 'Cinnamon Stick' to distinguish
it from other plants of the same hybrid. So with its
award the label for this orchid will read: Pot. Susan
Fender 'Cinnamon Stick', AM/AOS. This awarded cultivar
was then mericloned. So all orchids with this label
should look exactly the same.
Finally, if the hybrid
is not a common one, we like to indicate on our labels
the parents. So we may print the full name of the orchid
with its awards and after this in parentheses the parents.
For example: Pot. Susan Fender 'Cinnamon Stick', AM/AOS
(Pot. Caesar's Head '#1' x Lc. Mary Ellen Carter 'Dixie
Hummingbird', HCC/AOS)
Orchid labeling is a
very organized process and really very easy to understand
with just a little practice. With so many natural genera
combined with so many man-made hybrids, you can easily
understand why the label is extremely important. Learn
to read the label and be sure to keep the label with
the plant. Your orchid may be beautiful but without
a label to identify its parentage, it is not nearly
as valuable
|
