what's in a name ?

[gngrhill]

To quote Shakespeare, what's in a name ? I know there are a lot of orchids in the cattleya alliance, but I'm just wondering what some of the abbreviations mean. Like : Pot, Slc, Lc, etc. and is there any differences in care ?

[Paul]

This thread contains links to help answer your Q: Orchid Intergeneric Abbreviations!

[gngrhill]

I visited this link, and found in it two other links. The first rays link is gone and the orchidsaustralia link is great. I did a lot of research in this one, but couldn't find a way to save the link to my favorites. Would love to have it for future use

[Nexogen]

you can save it directly in *.pdf

[Ray]

Originally Posted by gngrhill

I know there are a lot of orchids in the cattleya alliance, but I'm just wondering what some of the abbreviations mean. Like : Pot, Slc, Lc, etc. and is there any differences in care ?

Addressing that last question, there are a lot of general cultural aspects they all have in common, and if you "hit" those, you will likely do an adequate job of growing them.

However, the species in the background of a plant can play a fairly significant role in "what the plant needs", and meeting those needs can mean the difference between "adequate", and "poor" or "spectacular".

Also keep in mind that not all plants of the same hybrid genus are the same. Consider a fictitious hybrid of a hot growing cattleya, "C", crossed with a cold-growing sophronitis, "S":

C x S = Sophrocattleya (Sc.)

C x {C x [C x (C x Sc)]} and S x {S x [S x (S x Sc)]} are both still Sc's, but the former will be more likely a warm-grower, while the latter a cool-grower.

And then we get into the "help" of taxonomists, who now consider those both to be cattleyas, so the genus name tells you absolutely nothing!.

[PaphMadMan]

Similar to Ray's advice, if you want to know how to care for your plant then knowing the species in the background of a hybrid is much more important than what letters precede the name, especially since the letters have changed over the years and not every B, L, C or S or combination needs the same care as others with the same letter(s).

If a hybrid has a species as a parent, then finding out the needs of the species and being guided by it is appropriate. If the parents of a hybrid are hybrids themselves, then in most cases general care for Cattleya types is best. Not only do the special needs of particular species tend to get swamped out in a complex hybrid, but after several generations of selective breeding the difficult aspects tend to get selected out as well.

[gngrhill]

Thank you Ray and Paphmadman for your help. In other words the tag in the pot means absolutely nothing unless the parents are also listed. So, you just do your best and figure out if it thrives or not and then you can change something until you hit the sweet spot.

[Ray]

Originally Posted by gngrhill

Thank you Ray and Paphmadman for your help. In other words the tag in the pot means absolutely nothing unless the parents are also listed. So, you just do your best and figure out if it thrives or not and then you can change something until you hit the sweet spot.

Not useless at all..just often incomplete.


Ray Barkalow
firstrays.com

[NatalieS]

You may already be aware of this, but if the hybrid name happens to be properly registered, you can look up the full parentage in the RHS orchid register here:

The International Orchid Register / RHS Gardening

You may get lost in there for a while though - I know I do!

[PaphMadMan]

Originally Posted by gngrhill

Thank you Ray and Paphmadman for your help. In other words the tag in the pot means absolutely nothing unless the parents are also listed. So, you just do your best and figure out if it thrives or not and then you can change something until you hit the sweet spot.

It isn't that the words mean nothing, just that the information they supply is incomplete at best. If you see Pot. or Blc. or Slc. you do know that it is a complex hybrid - at least one parent of the cross is a hybrid. And for any complex hybrid giving it general conditions along with the rest of your plants is a good first step, then observe and adjust. For most of us, we can't give special conditions to each plant anyway, and even if we know something might need special conditions we can't easily supply it doesn't necessarily stop us from buying it.

Natalie gave the link to the International Orchid Register. I encourage you to check it out and get used to using it. For any registered hybrid it is the first step to learning more about the ancestry of your plants and learning to apply that knowledge. In most cases it will simply confirm that it is a complex hybrid, and you will need to keep looking back through the generations to get to species. You will also find that most designations like Pot., Slc. and Blc. have changed. This will probably get me hate-mail, but in most cases the new names are more useful than those old ones if you are looking for clues on how to grow something.

An alternative to the Orchid Register, just ask here in the forum if anyone can tell you parents of a cross or species in the background. Some of us true addicts pay for a database that lets us look it up much more quickly and easily and completely than the Orchid Register, and are happy to provide the information.