I thought that using the quote marks and capitalised word was already the situation with naming varieties (and cultivars) that weren't recognised by taxonomists. Surprising the RHS would go down that road, they're a horticulturist not a botanist/taxonomist organisation. It seems they want to appear to be 'scientists'.

DNA sequencing show evolutionary relationships between organisms but it's people who decide where the dividing lines between those organisms lay. People don't often agree with one another. The arguments and the 'toing and froing' will continue. Only difference will be that it's a new lot of wobbly boundaries.

I do not have a problem with the Genera names. but think the RHS has been saving these changes for ages and now we have the Big Bang.

My problem is previously recognised variety names..

Here is an example...

Cattleya intermedia var. amethystina 'Aranbeem' AM/AOS

Variety amethystina is no longer listed by the RHS. That is fine, but that particular orchid was highly awarded by the American Orchid Society, so the name is valuable, I am seeking some info re. what governing bodies want us humble orchid growers to do.

Just keeping recording the names as above? put amethystina 'Aranbeem' in quotes?

i.e. Cattleya intermedia 'amethystina 'Aranbeem'' AM/AOS.

These orchid names were already rocket science in the minds of most orchid society members, about half way through recording the results from a recent meeting and most of the benching cards have junk written on them.

A sensible suggestion for the example above is

Cattleya intermedia f. amethystina 'Aranbeem' AM/AOS

where f. is short for forma

It's 'horses for courses', or should be. Taxonomists and horticulturalists don't have the same goals. Possibly some new people came into the organisation and were able to convince others to use a different approach. You'd think they'd have to realise the implications of what they do. Are all the RHS's united in this, or do they just operate independently? Do they have a "suggestions box"? There's bound to be a lot of people affected the same as you and would want this sorted sooner rather than later.

And then there are some shomberkia with new names. Shoms are from Guatemala and other tropical places. I have a Guatemalan crew that are Mayan Indians. They come once a week for yard maintenance. Best of best workers. They speak an ancient dialect. After I planted the shomberkia one of the workers walked by the plant and pointed and yelled ek. Looked at me and pointed again and said ek, ek. The dialect name for the plant. So the word ek is 5000 plus years old. And shom is out of date and has been change to I forgot what. Does RHS have precedence over the indian dialect being only a few hundred years old?

After it is all said and done the RHS has many benefits and they are needed. A written accounting, safe and secure. Ek works on shomberkia tibicinis. Maybe RHS could footnote this info. Someday...

Just a little more information for readers new to the orchid growing hobby.

The royal horticultural society in England keeps the records.

There are some 30,000 orchid species growing (hopefully) in the wild.

There are about 100,000 registered orchid hybrid names kept in a register by the RHS in England.

If you make a new cross it will cost you Ten English Pounds to register the name.

Why bother with the names?

You might go to an orchid show or look at pics on the net and see an orchid that you would like to add to your collection. A name might help you find the orchid for sale.

Apart from the Royal Horticultural Society, there are bodies in many countries which train orchid judges and look after awarding systems for superior orchids.

AOS American Orchid Society and so on.

The name changes, I think some are due to DNA Analysis, others due to precedence where the botanist who first described the orchid gets credit and the name he/she gave the orchid is the (new) name.

There is an orchid FAQ somewhere on this site which gives more info. on names (it probably needs a bit of an update.)

Hi Arthur, I am frustrated that I cannot find the FAQs!!! I thought perhaps this thread might help me. I was hoping that C. Shika Salow Springtime x C. Peter Creek Super might have been named. This is the name on the ID stick. I tried using RHS, but was completely confused how to find info re named hybrids.

Hi Sheila, Some sites are not user friendly, and then there is the problem of old faded tags written by doctors (joke).

Maybe your tag perhaps might be C. Shiku Satow x C. Peter's Creek.

Added via edit.

If the parents are as above, you have C. Shore Sounds.

Thank you Arthur, this isn’t my plant, but I am scheduled to get a division later when the plant gets divided. The gentleman who owns it asked me if I knew how to find its name. I will forward this info to him!.

Hi Sheila, you can find the orchids FAQ with a google search or use this link. Some of the entries need work because of all the name changes.

https://www.gardenweb.com/discussions/orchids-faq

Good work on finding the link Arthur!

Thanks,

Bob