Confused about Species versus Hybrids?
 

Relatively new to orchids so I'm somewhat confused about species vs hybrids. I see posts and pictures in the hybrids section that I thought were species, but am not sure. What is the best way to tell if a posting is a hybrid or species? This is probably a complex question, but thought I would ask for some feedback. Thanks:_(

Example:
Species: Canis familiaris (dog)
Species: Canis lupus (gray wolf)

If one were to breed with the other, any resulting progeny are hybrids.

Hybrids can and do occur in nature in some instances.

Species names are Latin and not capitalized - ex. Dendrobium (the genus) kingianum (species name).
Registered hybrids will have a capitilized name and not Latin, except in the case of naturally occurring hybrids which are recognized by a lower case x in front of the non-capitilized name.

http://www.orchidboard.com/community...ossary&term=63

http://www.orchidboard.com/community...ossary&term=29

There is an Orchid glossary on the menu to the left on the home page :)

Of course you do get people putting posts in the wrong forum and capitalizing (or not) the wrong names...

Species are plants that occur in nature. They are genetically similar and often populate a specific and sometimes isolated natural habitat. The name of species should be written with the name of the Genus capitalized and the name of the species in lower case letters like Phalaenopsis violacea. When two species are bred together the result is called a primary hybrid. When one or both of the parents are hybrids, then the result is also a hybrid. The names of hybrids should be capitalized like Phalaenopsis Dragon's Gold. When an orchid is given an award, it's given a clonal name so it can be differentiated from other individual plants, like Phalaenopsis Dragon's Gold '24 karat'. The clonal name will be in quotes. A grower can take tissue from that individual plant and make clones of that plant. The clones will retain the mother plants clonal name and they'll all be called Phalaenopsis Dragon's Gold '24 Karat'. Growers can use species collected in the wild and breed them in a nursery and they'll still be species, even after many generations of breeding in a nursery, as long as it's always been bred with the same species.

The terms "species" and "hybrid" are man-made classifications. The plants themselves really don't care one way or another.

As others have said a hybrid is a cross between either two species or a hybrid and a species or between two other hyrids.

Theoretically species names don't have an uppercase first letter and should also be italicised. Most people don't italicise them, some people who don't know the convention will put a capital on a species or no capital on a hybrid. As Sonya said a species name will also sound latin, it isn't always latin but it will have been made to sound like it is. A hybrid name is never latinised.

There ARE hybrids in nature, sometimes when two similar orchids grow close together in nature hybrids will have been found. Confusingly they will have a different name to crossing the same parents in cultivation. There is a good reason for that but unless you are interested I won't go into it here. I have a feeling natural hybrids are also given a latinised name and have a lower case first letter but I'm not certain on that.

If you are unsure and want to know for a particular plant then try using the 'Grex name search' on this page.
The International Orchid Register / RHS Gardening

It will tell you the parents if it is a registered hybrid. Most species aren't in this register. I used to know another which listed species but can't locate it now. Of course if you can't find it that might mean it's an unregistered hybrid or trade name, however the search does help.

Thanks for the wonderful responses. I learned a lot.

Disagree: Any cross between lobbii and parishii is correctly known by the RHS registered grex Lovely Kid. So you can call it lobbii x parishii or Lovely Kid, but can't properly give it a different grex (though of course some sellers may use a 'trading name' which is anything they like...)

What you can do is give your plant an individual cultivar or clone name, which is shown in inverted commas. E.g. Phalaenopsis Lovely Kid 'Gerbil' would identify your plant that you wanted to call Gerbil for some reason...

If you divided or cloned 'Gerbil' then the offspring would also be 'Gerbil's.

No problem *G*

I will also add two more points:

There are naturally-occurring hybrids found in the wild, as well, where the populations of two compatible species overlap. They are correctly designated by adding a "X" to the name, e.g., Paphiopedilum X wellesleyanum (Paph. concolor x godefroyae). If that cross is man-made, then the "X: is dropped and the grex name should be capitalized - Paphiopedilum Wellesleyanum.

Maybe I missed it elsewhere, but a species crossed with another of the same species, is still that species, not a hybrid.

And just to expand on that point if you have two parents of the same species but with different clonal names then the tag would read Phal. violacea 'Green' x 'Ponkan'.

It's not the one I meant, but it's a very good one because of the pictures as well :)

The one I was thinking of was a 'Kew Gardens' one and I think was an official register of species for the RHS. Can't track it down again since they re-did their website.

---------- Post added at 11:17 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:09 AM ----------

My understanding is that a man made cross will get a different name as well as dropping the x, at least it does in some cases, maybe not all :hmm

There is a big difference between a natural hybrid and a man made one. In a man made one you know that the hybrid is a cross of the two parents. In a natural hybrid a plant may by a cross of the natural hybrid with one of the parents (back cross).

When back crosses are man made they get a new hybrid name, but when it happens in nature no-one knows how often it has happened as no-one has been in control of what has crossed with what. All that is known is that two populations of two species live close enough together and that many plants found in the area display characteristics of both. Some might be very like one parent, some very like the other parent, some might be somewhere in between.

That's the reason back crosses in nature keep the same hybrid name as just the two species crossed together, no one knows how the genes of the two parents have been mixed and remixed in them.

Man made hybrids used to be able to be registered with the same name as the natural hybrid but it is only appropriate to use the capitalised natural hybrid name for the man made cross if that name has been registered for the man made cross. According to the ICNCP (8th ed Art 23), as of 2010, man made hybrids can no longer be registered with the same name as the natural cross, presumably because of the issues with backcrosses etc that you mentioned.

Thanks Andrew, good information.