>When speaking about hybrids that have been assigned a hybrid name
>e.g. S. X courtii, how is the "X" pronounced. Is it "S. by
>courtii", "S. cross courtii" or just plain "S. courtii". Can
>someone help?
The usual pronounciation of the "X" in S.X courtii (here it is part of the
epithet) is "hybrida" (if genus name is female). So S. X courtii is
pronounced:
"Sarracenia hybrida courtii".
In a bastard formula, the "X" is a logical symbol (not part of an epithet),
and is pronounced "by" ("cross" would be possible, too but this is not so
precise because it could be a "somatic", i.e. grafted cross), so S.flava X
S.purpurea should be pronounced:
"Sarracenia flava by Sarracenia purpurea". For the Botanist (ICBN), it is
irrelevant which is the female (pollen accepting) and male parent in a
hybrid (it may even be a back-crossing, or F2). In horticultural practise,
usually the female parent is cited first in a formula.
Grafting has not been tried with cp, yet. Their nomenclature is ruled by
the International Code for the Nomenclature of Cultivated Plants (ICNCP).
Here, the symbol is "+", it should be pronounced "chimaera" (in epithets),
or "and" (in formulae), respectively.
Kind regards
Jan