Anguloa Ruckeri Var. Sanguinea (Is the name still valid?)

[Cach26]

Hello everyone, Happy Growing!

This plant belonged to an old collector, who did not know exactly its name, since when they discovered the Anguloa Ruckeri (Intense Yellow with Vinotinto inside), they soon found this variety in the mountains. This new variety is mustard yellow in color and a mottled wine red inside, with a Blood Red lip.

And they assumed it was a hybrid of Ruckeri x Clowesii, or Hohenlohii

However, after doing a lot of research, I found that painting that I attached.

I don't know if I can name this plant that way.

"Ruckeri var. Sanguinea"

What do you think?

[Cach26]

Sorry, I posted the thread in the wrong Forum, can an Admin Help me move it to ID

[Roberta]

Done.

The natural hybrid is correctly written Anguloa x ruckeri (note that the species name is lower case, the "x" notes that it is a natural hybrid). You can write the name Anguloa x ruckeri var. sanguinea . (Again note lower case) Names that start with an uppercase letter indicate that they are hybrids (human-made not natural)

Natural hybrids are treated like species... they occur in nature. Mother Nature doesn't respect taxonomic divisions .... we likely will see more of these as the climate changes and species that used to be in separate areas start to overlap in their ranges. At some point the natural hybrid may evolve into a new species, one of the ways that species evolve. Where the line gets drawn is the province of botanists with a lot more expertise than I have. And modern scientists have additional tools - such as DNA analysis - that the early orchidists didn't have. That what drives the various taxonomic changes - in the last centuries, the genus (and species) assignments were based on morphology. DNA analysis may give a different picture of what is related to what. (That is what taxonomy, more accurately called "systematics" is all about.The science is not just about "naming" but more importantly, understanding the relationships between organisms)