Properly Labeling Carnivorous Plants
Dec 27, 2015 23:54:04 GMT -5
Maiden, roraima, and 3 more like this
Post by H2O on Dec 27, 2015 23:54:04 GMT -5
Hey Everyone!
Seeing as not everyone comes from a horticulture background I thought I would give a quick run down for naming and labeling plants properly, not only on the forum but also on your tags and growlists. First I’ll quickly run through a couple names for those who might not know.
All plant names are broken down from general first to specific last. One of the best examples is a species of Sarracenia.
Sarracenia purpurea ssp. venosa var. burkii f. luteola
This name consists of the genus, species, subspecies, variety and forma.
The genus and species are fairly standard and pretty much everyone understands this. The next just breaks down the the degree of difference between plants of the same species, the same way species breakdown the difference between plants in the same genus.
There are also hybrids and cultivars out there, here are some examples.
Sarracenia ‘Waccamaw’ Sarracenia x mitchelliana Sarracenia minor x leucophylla Sarracenia "Red Coat”
I chose these because I can point out a couple key features that each one has. The first is a registered cultivar, the second is a natural hybrid, the third is a typical hybrid and the last is an informal name.
So now that we know what some of these names mean, I want to explain some key features for writing the name properly.
Sarracenia purpurea ssp. venosa var. burkii f. luteola
The first thing I want to point out is the fact that this name is italicized, that is because all latin parts should be italicized. In this case that applies to the entire name. Next the genus is capitalized, the genus is always capitalized! At the same time the species is lower case, species, subspecies, varieties and forms are never capitalized. Lastly spp. var. and f. should include the period if we want to get nitpicky.
Sarracenia ‘Waccamaw’
This cultivar shows a few things, importantly it has single quotations, single quotations should only be used for registered cultivars. Note that it is not italicized and is capitalized.
Sarracenia "Red Coat”
This is written very similar to a registered cultivar but has double quotations indicating is it not registered and is an informal name.
Sarracenia minor x leucophylla
This example is written just like a normal latin name even though it is a hybrid. One thing I wanted to show is that the female is written first this really helps people understand what the hybrid might turn out as.
Sarracenia x mitchelliana
This is a natural hybrid and is written exactly like a species but a times symbol or ex is used to indicate its hybrid ancestry. Barry Rice has a great explanation of this.
Hopefully this helps people that might have been confused by labeling of some plants. Some of these points are easy to apply and should never be ignored, like capitalization and single vs double quotations. While others are a nice addition that can be applied for proper use, like italicizing.
If anyone sees anything that needs to be corrected or any additional examples or details please let me know.
Seeing as not everyone comes from a horticulture background I thought I would give a quick run down for naming and labeling plants properly, not only on the forum but also on your tags and growlists. First I’ll quickly run through a couple names for those who might not know.
All plant names are broken down from general first to specific last. One of the best examples is a species of Sarracenia.
Sarracenia purpurea ssp. venosa var. burkii f. luteola
This name consists of the genus, species, subspecies, variety and forma.
The genus and species are fairly standard and pretty much everyone understands this. The next just breaks down the the degree of difference between plants of the same species, the same way species breakdown the difference between plants in the same genus.
There are also hybrids and cultivars out there, here are some examples.
Sarracenia ‘Waccamaw’ Sarracenia x mitchelliana Sarracenia minor x leucophylla Sarracenia "Red Coat”
I chose these because I can point out a couple key features that each one has. The first is a registered cultivar, the second is a natural hybrid, the third is a typical hybrid and the last is an informal name.
So now that we know what some of these names mean, I want to explain some key features for writing the name properly.
Sarracenia purpurea ssp. venosa var. burkii f. luteola
The first thing I want to point out is the fact that this name is italicized, that is because all latin parts should be italicized. In this case that applies to the entire name. Next the genus is capitalized, the genus is always capitalized! At the same time the species is lower case, species, subspecies, varieties and forms are never capitalized. Lastly spp. var. and f. should include the period if we want to get nitpicky.
Sarracenia ‘Waccamaw’
This cultivar shows a few things, importantly it has single quotations, single quotations should only be used for registered cultivars. Note that it is not italicized and is capitalized.
Sarracenia "Red Coat”
This is written very similar to a registered cultivar but has double quotations indicating is it not registered and is an informal name.
Sarracenia minor x leucophylla
This example is written just like a normal latin name even though it is a hybrid. One thing I wanted to show is that the female is written first this really helps people understand what the hybrid might turn out as.
Sarracenia x mitchelliana
This is a natural hybrid and is written exactly like a species but a times symbol or ex is used to indicate its hybrid ancestry. Barry Rice has a great explanation of this.
Hopefully this helps people that might have been confused by labeling of some plants. Some of these points are easy to apply and should never be ignored, like capitalization and single vs double quotations. While others are a nice addition that can be applied for proper use, like italicizing.
If anyone sees anything that needs to be corrected or any additional examples or details please let me know.