Classifying orchids

[Phal in love]

Hello everyone,

I am a new poster, but have been "spying" on y'all for a while. Just put a little about me over on the intro board.

I have some questions about classifications. My very basic high school biology from a thousand years ago has left me with kingdomphylumclassorderfamilygenusspecies in my memory, but it doesn't mean much to me--and is probably so outdated it isn't correct any longer

Is "Phalaenopsis" a species or.....?

Are orchids classified by their blooms or their leaves/plants or......?

Where does the term "alliance" fall in classifying?

I am trying to understand where the branching into different types occurs and where hybrids are created. This may not exactly be a beginner question, but I would like to get it straight in my head

I have seen named orchids written out, and know there is a protocol to how it is written. Can someone please give me an example of that AND what all the different parts of the name mean?

Is there a website or a book that you could point me towards?

Thanks in advance for anyone that can help! I have learned so much from reading the discussions on this board.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Orchid classification is a bit complicated.

Your recollection of:

Kingdom
Phylum
Class
Order
Family
Genus
Species

...is not outdated. It is still in place. With orchids, classification is a bit more complex. Orchids are one of the largest group of flowering plants in the world.


In the case of orchids, subfamilies, alliances, and tribes fall between family and genus. Subgenus and sections will fall between genus and species. Subspecies will go after species.

Phalaenopsis is the genus name.

Species Phals tend to not show up in the mainstream, so most people don't know what a real species Phal looks like. The large majority of the Phals in places like Trader Joe's or The Home Depot are man-made hybrids.

An example of a species Phal name is:

Phalaenopsis amabilis



In the case of Phalaenopsis javanica it would go like this:

Domain: Eukaryota

Kingdom: Plantae

Phylum/Division: Angiosperm - (the group that contains all flowering plants)

Class: Monocots

Order: Asparagales - (that's right, they're distantly related to Asparagus)

Family: Orchidaceae

Subfamily: Epidendroideae

Tribe: Vandeae

Subtribe: Aeridinae

Alliance: Phalaenopsis

Genus: Phalaenopsis

Subgenus: Polychilos

Section: Amboinenses

Species: javanica

[rangiku]

Hi Ann,

A great book to begin with is William Cullina's Understanding Orchids. For a book specific to Phalaenopsis, Steven Frowine's Moth Orchids: The Complete Guide to Phalaenopsis is very nice with lots of color photos.

Your HS biology is rather good. Gleaned from Cullina's book:

Orchids are a family of plants. That family is split into five subfamilies. Three of the subfamilies are split into tribes and those are divided into subtribes. Alliance is another name for subtribe. Subtribes are divided into genera (plural of genus) which are then divided into species. Species can be further divided into varieties (if the differences are minor) or subspecies.

Phals are an orchid genus.

As for writing them out if the plant is a species the convention is to write it out in italics with the genus capitalized and the species in lowercase, e.g. Phalaenopsis equestris. A naturally occurring variety of a species uses non-italicized var. (or v.) in its name. A white equestris with a yellow lip is written as Phalaenopsis equestris var. aurea.

When a human creates a species variation, known as a cultivar, a capitalized non-italicized non-Latin word or words in single quotes is appended to the end of the species name. For example Phalaenopsis equestris 'Riverbend'.


When humans create a hybrid (a cross with two species is called a primary hybrid; a cross with multiple species is a complex hybrid), the breeder can give it a non-italicized non-Latin name (aka grex) which is capitalized. For example Phalaenopis Tying Shin Cupid. When plants within a hybrid look different, the breeder can denote that by giving them cultivar names, appending a non-italicized non-Latin word or words capitalized in single quotes. For example Phalaenopsis Tying Shin Cupid 'Maria Teresa' or Phalaenopsis Tying Shin Cupid 'Montclair'.

Now that I've thoroughly confused you, take a look at Ray's page on orchid naming here: Orchid Naming

I'm sure those much more knowledgeable than I will chime with more helpful information here.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Forgot to answer some of your other questions!

Yes, orchids are classified by not only flower morphology and plant morphology, but now, with DNA as well.


"Phalaenopsis" breaks down into:

Phalaena + opsis

Phalaena is an old obsolete classification for moths.

Specifically, "Phalaena" may have deeper, more obscure connotations and references, but I'll keep it simple, and just say that "Phalaena" is in reference to moths in this case.

Opsis is where the word "optic" is derived from. So, in this case, "opsis" would refer to "look".

"Phalaenopsis" is literally translated to:

"Moth look" or "Moth looking".

The concept would be translated to:

"Flower that resembles a moth".



Let's take something simple first...

Phalaenopsis javanica


We went over what "Phalaenopsis" breaks down into.

Now let's take a species name such as "javanica" and explain it.

"javanica" breaks down to:

Java + nica

...Which is derived from:

Java + ica

Java is an island in the Indonesian archipelago.

ica is a Latin suffix that is "a referral to" kind of concept.

So it would be:

"Java of", or "of Java".

The specific concept when said in proper modern English grammar would be:

"Belonging from Java." or "In association with Java."

So put the genus name and species name together...

"Flowers that resemble moths from Java."

[bdublyou]

Wow, K.O.O.G and Rangiku, great explanations, although I wasn't the OP, I still enjoyed the responses. Very concise and clear.

[rangiku]

Thank you, Bethany, for your kind words. I am but a mere beginner; King is called King_of_orchid_growing for a reason.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

No, no...

You guys are too kind.

I never really gave this much thought until now.

Thank you though!

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

I'll cover another two other examples...

This one is a species that is named after a person.

Phalaenopsis schilleriana

"schilleriana" breaks down to:

Schiller + iana

Schiller is referring to someone called Consul Schiller - an orchid enthusiast from Germany in the 1800's.

"iana" is a Latin suffix that has the connotation of "a collection of things, or a group of things, in relation to..."

So...

It would roughly translate to:

"A group of things in relation to Consul Schiller." or "A collection of things in association with Consul Schiller."

Bring the genus and species name together, and we get:

"The group of flowers resembling moths, in association with Consul Schiller."

Since we can only assume, why the plant was named the way it was named, we can cut and paste concepts, and we get:

"These are Consul Schiller's flowers that resemble moths."

To further refine the concept and not make it sound so childish or crude...

"Consul Schiller's Moth Orchids" or "Schiller's Moth Orchids".

[RobS]

Untill recently all orchids were classified by their flower structure. Recently molecular technology starts to be used to measure the evolutinary relationships. This give rise to some controversial (but more correct) conclusions.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

This last example will be in reference to the physical description of the plant - specifically the flowers...

Phalaenopsis appendiculata

"appendiculata" breaks down to:

append + icu + lata

"append" is derived from "appendere", which is derived from "pendere". All of these have the connotation of "to hang" or "hanging".

The "append" we see here is in reference to the word "appendage", which needs no further explanation.

What appendage or appendages are we referring to here?

In this case, the lip of the flower has a couple of filamentous appendages near where the column is.

The filamentous appendages are apparent in the flower on the right in the pic in this link:

http://www.phals.net/appendiculata/09ph0103.jpg

"icu" is pretty much like "ica", and we went over that already.

"lata" is a suffix that is derived from "latus". There seems to be a couple definitions of "latus", but one of them fits the best - "extensive".

So put it all together:

"Hanging of extensiveness."

Further refinement:

"Hanging of extensions."

Be more specific:

"In relation to hanging extensions."

Further refinement to something more recognizable in the species name "appendiculata":

"In reference to appendages."

So put the genus and the species name together:

"Flower resembling a moth, in reference to its appendages."

Refinement:

"Moth orchid with appendages."