Naming of Hybrids ( weird/wonderful ? )

[Tindomul]

The strangest orchid non scientific name I have seen is not a hybrid, but an actual genus!!! Aa, named by Heinrich Gustav Reichenbach (1824-1889). No, its not german. According to legend he did it to promote himself.
In botany books containing lists of plants, whenever your write a genus or species, the abbreviated name of the person who named it is written right after. In this case it would be Aa (Reichb.f). Therefore, in any list of plants containing orchids, his name would always appear as the first on the list. Infact, the Mabberly's Plant -Book; A portable dictionary of plants, their classification and uses by D. J. Mabberley, which contains every known plant genus in the world, Aa is the first one the list. Also, because of plant naming rules, you can't name a new genus A. The only way to correct this is if the original type species for the genus Aa is actually found to belong to a different genus due to an error on the part of Reichenbach. That would be a true blow to his ego, even 120 year after his death.

[WhiteRabbit]

Sneaky devil

[vjo]

How about Paph 'cereal killer'! No mention if it is oatmeal, cheerios or what!..lol...Jean

[Fairorchids]

In naming of hybrids, the RHS has some say. Applicant must submit two names, and the RHS is not obligated to select the first choice.

There is a practical limit of 30 letters/spaces, which led to Paph Greenteaicecreamandraspberries some years ago.

And the habit of using both parents names (Paph Western Thunder x Burpham = Thunderous Burp) can lead to interesting new names. I have a friend, who dreams of pushing these limits, but I can't quote him in a family forum.

[Paul]

Originally Posted by Ray

Bill Thoms made an epicatt hybrid that was SO ugly, it was registered as Never Remake This.
Ray Barkalow

Now you got me curious. I really want to see a picture of this one.

Sometimes the names are just done for the humor impact.

I am surprised ,at times, what names are not allowed. For example, anyone with a good deal of familiarity with phals has likely come across one of the "billions" (exaggeration, I know, but sometimes it sure seems that way) that have "Brother" in the name. (The reason for that -- for those not-in-the-know -- is because of an Asian nursery which works a lot with hybridizing phals has "Brother" in their company name.) Well someone had an awarded Brother hybrid and they wanted to name it Phal Brother 'Oh Brother'. The committee responsible for registering names refused to accept it.

[OCRC_Dir_China]

Just to correct an earlier post by another member, the correct pinyin for (Dendrobium) this refers to the genus石斛兰属，this refers to just the word Dendrobium石斛兰.
Chinese pinyin a system for transliterating written Chinese characters into the Roman alphabet, introduced in 1959 and adopted by the People's Republic of China in 1979. Think of each character is a picture, and you must know what each picture means, to understand it. My wife does her best to try and teach me how to read Chinese. She say’s look at this one it looks like fire, look at this one it looks look a house, this one looks like a women standing…….. I have never been interested in abstract art and this is what each Chinese character is to me. And the Chinese language has four tone’s rising and falling so it’s kind of like a singing language and with my artillery ears that’s a problem.
Now for Chinese naming plants, China has a natural wealth of orchids, many are given the Village, City, Province names, some get a poems name example (Eighteen fairies) ( Sweet fragrant morning glory heavenly flower). Chinese students are taught to use the biggest longest words they can find, and can be long winded in talking or giving a speech drives me crazy. And we poor round eyes don’t know how to pronounce many of the Chinese words when we read them, like (Changchun) Chinese pronounce it (Chong-Chung). The taxonomic and naming of plants keeps changing and it is suspected to continue.

[lepetitmartien]

Originally Posted by orchidsarefun

Phal Ugly Person

The true name is Phalaenopsis Yaphon Ugly Person.
You should ask Yaphon.

Phal Miva Fanny Believe Always

Miva stands for Michel Vacherot, there's a Miva Fanny Varenne, it must be some fun over that same Fanny, I'll ask if I meet the people of Vacherot. But for now they are busy as just out of a flood 10 days ago. lots of dirt to get away and clean, but fortunately the water did not go up to the tables this time (third flood in a few years

Paph Alien Surfer Dude

Hey! Must be a friend ET! Love this one!

For the name it's a cross between Hsinying Alien and Hampshire Surfs Up, you got the explanation.

[Fairorchids]

Yes, some names have an explanation. There was a grower in Denmark years ago, who used a contraction of his middle & last names (Holm Nielsen) in every hybrid he made, so there is a Laila Honi (for his wife), Arne Honi (himself), etc.

I much prefer the 'combination' names, such as the Paph Alien Surfer Dude above. I recently purchased a seedling of Catt Lulu x Catt aclandiae, which was named Catt Lulu Land.

[GeorgiaVL]

Reading this thread is better than going to a comedy club! Love the humor of the members in this board

[gravotrope]

There are a lot of different hybrids with FANGtastic in them.