mean, of course, "What's in an Orchid name ?"

I've noticed in the short time that I've been a member of the Orchid Board the confusion that beginners have with orchid names. The information they find on the tags that come with their orchids is a complete puzzle to them. I can sympathize. I remember the confusion I felt at the totally incomprehensible names and abbreviations I found. I was so confused that I threw away the tags that came with the first orchids I owned, not knowing how important they were. Not only did I consider their plastic ugliness a detraction from the flowers, but the information on them was meaningless to me.

Knowing the names of your orchids makes you seem more knowledgeable, but knowing the name can also get you a wealth of information about culture and care. Without a name a plant can't be entered for judging at an orchid show and ordinarily won't be considered for AOS awards - no name, no fame! Without a name no one else can envy you enough to find the orchid you have for themselves. It's in the hope that the following information will help beginners sort out the names of their plants and understand better the importance of these admittedly complicated names that this article is written. Don't throw your tags away; learn to read them.

First Names
You should know that the first part of an orchid name, usually abbreviated, is the "genus" or group to which it belongs. Perhaps it can be thought of in terms of nationality - it tells us the "nation" to which a plant belongs, Dendrobium or Paphiopedilum or Cattleya. This first part of the name along with the second part is Latinized, difficult to pronounce and to remember. This part of an orchid name should always be capitalized, whether written out in full or abbreviated, whether the plant is a species or a hybrid. Also, with species orchids these genus names (the plural of genus = genera) are scientifically established and do not change when hybrids are made as long as the parents are both from the same genus, i.e., Vanda + Vanda = Vanda.
Confusion comes even with these scientific names, however, for they are always changing. The genus Masdevallia is now broken up into approximately twenty different genera with names that I still have not gotten used to and find confusing, since in many case the flowers are superficially similar - they all look like Masdevallias to me.
That is not the worst. Many of these genera continue to be sold and collected under their old names, making it very difficult at times to find the plant for which you are looking, since it may be listed under an old name by someone who is unwilling to adopt the new terminology or under the new name by someone who is up on the latest taxonomic changes. I had a good example of this recently. I put a photo of an orchid species on one of the forums for identification and was told that it was a Trichocentrum, formerly an Oncidium. When I looked for it as a Trichocentrum I discovered that it has been renamed again and is now called Lophiaris.
Another difficulty for the beginner is that the names of these genera are usually abbreviated on plant tags and in the literature. Does the abbreviation "Br." mean Brassavola or Brassia or what? Of great help in answering such question is the list at http://retirees.uwaterloo.ca/~jerry/orchids/names.html (this list also includes the names of many artificial genera).
Even more confusing is the fact that different names on an orchid tag often include an "x." This is not an abbreviation and does not refer to a kind of orchid but is the symbol used between the two parents of a hybrid and means "by" or "crossed with."
When hybrids are made between different genera then these difficulties multiply. What does Otr. refer to, or Yzwr. or Vuyl.? Most seasoned growers would have to do some searching to answer such questions and it is no wonder that the beginner is bewildered.
Sometimes these artificial genera are named sensibly using the names of the different parents. Sophrolaeliocattleya (abbreviated Slc.) = Sophronitis x Laelia x Cattleya. Others are named after persons, in some cases the person who made the cross, in other cases someone famous in the history of orchids: Otr. = Otaara, Yzwr. = Yonezawara and Vuyl. = Vuylstekeara.

Second Names

The second part of an orchid name identifies a species or a particular hybrid. It is something like a family name or surname and identifies many individual plants, no matter how different they may look. With species these "second" names are customarily not capitalized (in older literature this is not always true), while the same names are capitalized in hybrids.
Just as in a family, all the members of the family look a little different even though they have the same family name, so with the all the members of a hybrid cross or a certain species. It is possible to cross two white cattleyas and end up with plants that produce white flowers as well as plants that produce purple flowers. They all have the same second (hybrid) name. Individual plants of a certain species may differ considerably in plant size, color of flowers, and flower quality, may even differ so much that to the eye they do not appear to be the same species. Nevertheless, all the plants that belong to that species have the same "family" name.
Occasionally different forms of a species may be labeled as varieties (abbreviated v. or var.) or may even be listed scientifically as subspecies (abbreviated ssp.), meaning that they are so different that they are almost but not quite a separate species. This makes the name even longer as in Gymnadenia conopsea ssp. densiflora.

Third Names

When a plant is especially notable or when it is awarded, whether species or hybrid, it is given a third name, customarily put in single quotes. This name belongs only to that one plant - not to any other plant from the same species or to any other plant from the same hybrid cross. These names are like the names our parents gave us and are usually given by the "parent" or owner of the plant and are recorded when a plant is awarded. These names can be very whimsical, as in Eria erecta 'Eerier and Eerier.'

Awards
Following the third name may be a series of initials indicating what award the plant has received and which orchid body has given the award. These are a bit like the letters a professional puts after his name, MD, LLD or MDiv. The two most common awarding bodies are the American Orchid Society (AOS) and the Royal Horticultural Society in Britain (RHS). These groups give quite a few different awards. The AOS gives three different flower quality awards as well as a number of other awards and the RHS does something similar. These awards will be listed with the award abbreviation first followed by a slash and the initials of the awarding body, so that AM/AOS = Award of Merit granted by the American Orchid Society. A complete list of the awards granted by the AOS can be found at its website: http://www.aos.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=AOS_Awards&Template=/CM/HTMLDisplay.cfm&ContentID=4911.

Examples
I believe a few example of information that might be found on orchid tags will help.
(1) Let's look first, then, at an awarded plant with the name Masd. Gremlin 'Ryan' AM/AOS. Masd. means that this plant is from the naturally occurring genus Masdevallia. Gremlin, since it is capitalized, tells me that this is a hybrid, and some research shows that it is indeed a registered hybrid of Masd. strobelii and Masd. angulata. The name 'Ryan' indicates that this particular plant was given a name when it was awarded, a name that belongs only to this plant, and the award is indicated by the AM/AOS, telling me that this plant received an award of merit from the American Orchid Society, an award that recognizes the exceptional quality of the flowers on this plant.

(2) Next let's look at a group of plants whose tags say: Slc. Little Beamche x C. aurantiaca. These plants produce flowers that are variable in flower size and color, but the tags tell me that they are all from the same hybrid cross, a cross of the complex hybrid Sophrolaeliocattleya Little Beamche with the species Cattleya aurantiaca. That the tags are written this way indicates either that cross was never named, or that when the plants were purchased the cross was not yet named. Some research shows that the cross actually does have a name, and since the addition of Cattleya aurantiaca adds no new genera, it is still Slc., but Slc. Little Ant, and so I can replace all the other information on the tag with that name. However, unless I add a name of my own to each plant or a number, perhaps calling the best of the lot after my favorite aunt 'Queenie,' and the worst after my least favorite aunt, 'Leonie,' there's no way of distinguishing them when they are not in flower.

(3) Finally let's look at a plant with the strange name on the tag, Odm. crinitum 'Squirmin Herman' CHM/AOS. The abbreviation Odm. tells me that this a plant from the genus Odontoglossum and the uncapitalized second name tells me that it is a species. The name in single quotes tells me that this particular plant has been awarded by the AOS and the award information which follows showing me that the plant was awarded a Certificate of Horticultural Merit (CHM), an award which recognizes for the first time a new species as worthy of a place in our greenhouses (a rather biased opinion in view of the fact that EVERY orchid is worth growing).

Remember, then, that nationality + family name + given name + initials = not just a name, but another wonderful orchid plant and flowers.

That's what is in an orchid name. So don't despair and complain that you can't read Greek, and by all means don't throw your tags away. It won't be long and you'll be deciphering the information on those tags like a pro, even while the plant is refusing to flower or is slowly dying. You can say, with a knowing nod as you toss the plant out or give it away, "that's a Paphiopedilum Fantastic Hybrid 'Paid A Lot For It' FCC/AOS."

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