Taxonomy. Straight questions to a complex issue.

[bandeeorchids]

Taxonomy. Straight questions to a complex issue.

In one of the previous Threads a lot of members were questioning and also trying to explain the latest genus name changes from Laelia to Sophronitis and lately to Cattleya.

I am seriously struggling to understand the splitting within the orchid family within the genuses and species.

In the animal kingdom a different species is an animal which is not able to reproduce with an other species from the same genus or in some cases they can but have sterile offspring.

Why in the Orchidaceae family is this not the case? We have hundreds of intergeneric hybrids which are obviously not sterile.

Shouldn't be whatever can produce offspring be the same species or at least the same genus?

Does taxonomy has created the same mess within the trees family or within the grass family?