Clonal names are used to identify one particular plant. Some growers are in the business of finding orchids that they feel are suitable for mericloning. A grower like this may find an unnamed cross that he wants to mericlone. If he isn't the breeder, he may have difficulty registering the plant, so instead, he just gives his plant a clonal name so that, in the future, buyers will know what plant their mericlone came from and what it should look like. Usually if a plant is cloned and it becomes popular, it will eventually be given a name and registered. That won't change the clonal name, which will stay with the new name. I hope this isn't too confusing.
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