What is an alliance?

[tropterrarium]

Originally Posted by Tindomul

alliance cannot equal order. All orchids are in one family Orchidaceae. Alliance has to be lower in rank than family, not higher. The order they are in is Asparagales which includes other plant families.

Well understood. The alliance = order by ICBN is just an indication that alliance as used within orchids is not an ICBN term, so rather a horticultural/aficionado term.

I am also aware that sometimes you need to look beyond the literal word, and look for the meaning. E.g., in ICZN (with which I am much more familiar) the listing an example species in a genus does not constitute a designation of a type species. In some 1850's works (well before any codes) some used the word Example to signify what we call today a type species. So we accept those 19th century type species designation, despite the fact, that they used the word "Example". I don't think this type of argument can be made for alliance in botany, though.