Naming and culture: Phalaenopsis vs. Doritaenopsis

[squarebear]

I just received my first two orchids on Thursday - both Phals (or so I thought). When I ordered them from the nursery, the website listed the name of one of them as Phalaenopsis Newberry Perfection 'Pink Giant,' but when I received the actual plant, the tag in it read Dtps. Newberry Perfection 'Pink Giant.' Google tells me Dtps. = Doritaenopsis, a cross between a Phal. and a Doritis. Interesting!

So 2 beginner questions, if you all would be so kind:

1. Would it be incorrect to refer to this plant as a Phal.? Or maybe a better question would be, is there a naming scheme here that would be considered "most correct" when listing the plant?

2. Are there any differences in the culture of Phalaenopsis vs. Doritaenopsis?

Thanks!

[camille1585]

There is no difference between Phalaenopsis and Doritaenopsis. They are essentially the same thing. A Dtps is a cross between and Phal and a Doritis. (looks like phals)

The botanists have simplified the matter for us by lumping everything under Phalaenopsis now. For now plants named Doritaenopsis remain named that way, because changing the genus name to phalaenopsis would lead to some duplicate names, as some Dtps and Phals have the same hybrid name.

Dtps or Phal, the culture is exactly the same. It's just a matter of names!

[OrchidSue]

Due to recent changes in taxonomy, Doritis is now known as Phalaenopsis, so the correct name for your plant is Phalaenopsis.

Susan

[quiltergal]

I think the taxonomists are still arm wrestling over calling them all Phals or splitting them up. My understanding of the big Who Haw was that one plant was registered in error as a Dtps a looonnnngggg time ago. It was used a lot in breeding. Now that it's taxonomy is suspect it's virtually impossible to track down every single plant that has that cross in it's parentage somewhere. I think that is why they said scre# it, we're calling them all Phals.

While culture is identical there are some physical charactaristics that are noticably different. Dtps tends to have more space between leaf sets than Phals do. So a Dtps has more of a "cornstalk" look to it and gets taller/rangier than a Phal. Also many Dtps are summer bloomers vs late winter/early spring bloomers like most Phal hybrids.

[squarebear]

Thanks for the replies - should I expect to see a lot of similarly grey areas in orchid identification or is this a special case?

[OrchidSue]

Originally Posted by squarebear

Thanks for the replies - should I expect to see a lot of similarly grey areas in orchid identification or is this a special case?

Oh yes. It never ends. There have been some major changes to the Cattleya, Laelia, and Sophronitis genera. I recently found out that the alba form of Paph. fairrieanum is going to be a separate species.

Susan

[Judi]

Terri, thanks for mentioning that there is a visible difference between a phal and a dtps. I was aware that they are all phals now, but was under the obvious misconception that they look alike. I have numerous phals and a Queen Beer dtps which I love but I was begining to think I was doing something wrong in the way I was caring for it. It does have quite a distance between it's leaf sets, and now that you mention it, more of a cornstalk appearance. Now I feel much better knowing it is probably normal behavior for my dtps

[quiltergal]

Glad I put your mind at ease Judy.