>I'm looking at my growlist, and wondering
>just when I should be using the following
>in plant names:
>
> double quotes ("")
Use for non-Latin descriptions which have not been registered as cultivars.
these are not really "names" in a nomenclatural sense, but may be rather
descriptive. e.g.: _Utricularia_delicatula_ "Australian giant hungry clone"
> single quotes (`')
These are reserved for true cultivars, i.e. registered clones like
_Drosera_*_ `California Sunset'. Note that these names must not be Latin,
and they have to be written with capitalized initials. (now this hybrid has
even been given a "scientific" name: _D.* californica_, but the two are not
the same:
_Drosera_*_ `California Sunset' is only the offspring of the original
clone, while you can produce _D.* californica_ yourself if you hybridize
_D.filiformis_var.filiformis_ and _D.filiformis_var.tracyi_ (any clone and
any direction, i.e. irrespective of the mother plant).
> the word "aff."
Is very confusing, you could call any plant "aff. _Nepenthes_mirabilis_" ,
even if it doesnt belong to the genus _Nepenthes_ ("it just looked like a
_Nepenthes_..."), because all (higher) plants are of course related to each
other in some way.
Epithets (or rather pseudo-epithets) like _D.petiolaris_ "aff. Kununurra"
are bull.... because the plant is certainly not related to Kununurra, and
Kununurra is not an epithet one could refer to. These should rather be
written:
_D.petiolaris_ "Kununurra", i.e. "aff." can in any case be omitted.
> capitalized words (i.e. P. x sethos
> vs. P. x. Sethos)
These are of course a problem of their own. This name has been published,
but neither as a cultivar nor as a scientific name (but with parentage). As
it is obviously *used like* a cultivar name (and it is not Latin), I prefer
to call it _P.*_ `Sethos', even if it is not (or not yet?) registered. I
know this is not the way it *should* be, but if the people publishing these
names don't stick to the rules, I can't help it.
> parenthesized comments
>
>If people can comment on the correct
>usages I can clean up my plant list
>so it's consistent. Here are my guesses
>as how to use the things above:
>
>double quotes - descriptive names, such
> as P. agnata "blue flower".
>
>single quotes - place names, such as
> P. sp. `Ayautla'
This is not yet registered as a cultivar (of _P.agnata_, BTW), but like
with _P.*_ `Sethos', you may write it _P.agnata_ `Ayautla'.
>capitalized words - proper names, such
> as N. x Hookeriana
No! _N.* hookeriana_ is a scientific name (not capitalized).
>Parenthesized comments - these have no
> place in plane names per se.
Yes.
>the word "aff." - I don't know.
affinis (=related to) or "cf." (confer, =compare with). Usage
_N.spec.aff.mirabilis_ means: "This is a _Nepenthes_ species related to
_N.mirabilis_".
_N.cf.mirabilis_ means: "I have keyed this specimen, and with the
literature I have had at hand it keyed out as _N.mirabilis_, but comparison
with the accompanying photo revealed some differences. Thus, it may rather
reluctantly be labelled _N.mirabilis_".
Kind regards
Jan