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.