Understanding Orchid Labels & Names

An orchid label is effectively the plant's identity card. It should remain with the plant throughout its life.

Knowing the correct name allows you to research its preferred light, temperature, watering and growing conditions. This is particularly useful in South Australia, where knowing whether an orchid prefers cool, intermediate or warm conditions can determine whether it will thrive in an outdoor shade house or needs additional protection.

Whenever possible, never throw away or separate a label from its orchid.

A species orchid normally has a two-part botanical name:

The genus always begins with a capital letter, while the species name begins with a lower-case letter. Botanical names are traditionally written in italics.

Another example:

This tells us that the plant belongs to the genus Dendrobium and is the species speciosum, an Australian native orchid.

Many orchids grown in our shade houses are hybrids, produced by crossing two different orchids. A label might show:

Here, Cattleya identifies the genus or hybrid group, while Something Special is the registered hybrid name, known as the grex name.

A more detailed label may also show the parents:

The × means that the two orchids have been crossed. Knowing the parents can provide useful clues about the plant's flowers, size and growing requirements.

You may also see another name in single quotation marks:

The name 'Beautiful' identifies a particular selected individual, or cultivar, of that hybrid.

This distinction is important. Many seedlings can result from the same cross and, just like brothers and sisters in a family, they are related but not genetically identical. A named cultivar identifies one particular plant that has been selected and usually propagated vegetatively, for example by division or cloning.

Orchid growers love abbreviations! Instead of writing Cattleya repeatedly, a label may simply use C. Other common examples include:

You may also encounter unfamiliar abbreviations for complex hybrids involving several related genera. Don't be concerned if you cannot recognise them immediately — even experienced growers occasionally need to look them up.

Occasionally an orchid has lost its original label and its exact identity can no longer be established. Growers often refer to such a plant as a NOID – No Identification.

It may still be a beautiful orchid and grow perfectly well, but identifying an orchid reliably from its flower alone can be extremely difficult. Many hybrids look remarkably similar. This is another good reason to keep the original label with the plant.

One particularly confusing aspect of orchid growing is that names occasionally change.

As botanical knowledge develops, particularly through modern genetic research, taxonomists may reclassify species or even entire groups of orchids. An orchid that you have known under one name for many years may therefore appear under a different name in newer publications or databases.

Older labels are not necessarily "wrong" — they may simply reflect the accepted classification at the time the label was written.