Cattleya Alliance Orchids

[kmarch]

There have been a few questions recently about if a certain orchid is a Callleya Alliance orchid. The Cattleya Alliance is a very large group of plants. Because many Cattleya Alliance hybrids are complex or artificial intergeneric names which may not contain "catt" or "cattleya" I thought it might be useful to post a little tutorial/list of species and hybrid names found in the alliance.

Genera included in the Cattleya Alliance
Brassavolae
Broughtonia
Cattleya (naturally)
Caularthron (formerly Diacrum)
Dimeranda
Dinema
Encyclia
Epidendrum
Guaranthe
Laelia
Leptotes
Myrmecophila (formerly Schomburgkia)
Nidema
Prosthecea (formerly the cockle-shell encyclias)
Rhyncholaelia
Sophronitella
Sophronites
Tetramicra

...and probably a few more that I'm forgetting

Intergeneric Names included in the Cattleya Alliance
Brasophranthe (Brassavolae x Sophronites x Guaranthe)
Brassanthe
Brassocattleya
Brassoepidendrum
Brassolaeliocattleya
Brassophronitis
Cattilanthe
Cattleytonia
Cookara (Broughtonia x Cattleya x Caularthron x Laelia)
Epicattleya
Epilaelia
Fujiwarara (Brassavola x Cattleya x Laelia
Guaricattonia
Guaricyclia
Guaridendrum
Guarisophleya
Guaritonia
Hasegawaara (Brassavola x Broughtonia x Cattleya x Laelia x Sophronitis
Hawkinsara (Broughtonia x Cattleya x Laelia x Sophronitis
Iwanagara
Iwanagara (Brassavola x Cattleya x Diacrium x Laelia
Kirchara (Cattleya x Epidendrum x Laelia x Sophronitis
Laelianthe
Laeliocatonia (Broughtonia x Cattleya x Laelia
Laeliocattleya
Leonara
Otaara (Brassavola x Broughtonia x Cattleya x Laelia
Panczakara (Brassavola x Epidendrum x Laelia x Sophronitis
Potinara (Brassavola x Cattleya x Laelia x Sophronitis
Rolfeara (Brassavola x Cattleya x Sophronitis
Sophranthe
Sophrocattleya
Sophrolaelia
Sophrolaeliocattleya
Sophrolaeliocattleya
Thwaitesara (Rhyncolaelia x Cattleya x Sophronites x Guaranthe)
Yamadara (Brassavola x Cattleya x Epidendrum x Laelia

I'm sure there are more of these too. I used mostly the RHS database and the Orchid Genera Abreviations List to compile the hybrid list although the abbreviation list is starting to get really out of date.



I've noticed that there are some instances where all the species of a genus has a different generic name, Myrmecophila (formerly Schomburgkia) is one of these. Unlike Guaranthe which is a group of cattleyas that were split off, all of the Schomburgkias have been put into a new genus. I do not know how this affects an artificial generic name like Herbertara (Cattleya x Laelia x Schomburgkia x Sophronitis). I don't know if there are simply no more Herbertara or if Herbertara is now Cattleya x Laelia x Myrmecophila x Sophronitis. I'll have to check this out and see what I can find out.

[patticake]

Wow kevin,- My head hurts! I'm going to print this out for future reference. Thank you!!! I have a question. I ordered a Schomburgkia thomsoniana from Oak Hills along with my project plants. Is that now Myrmecophila? If so, is it still thomsoniana afterwards? Why are they still using the old name? Thanks again for this info. You're the best.

[jerrymeola]

It is valid to use the old names for 5 years after a change.

It would drive businesses crazy (and be expensive) to have to make changes immediately. Worst of all names do not always take, with someone making a further 'correction', and a second revision sometimes occurs soon after the first.

[kmarch]

Originally Posted by patticake

Wow kevin,- My head hurts! I'm going to print this out for future reference. Thank you!!! I have a question. I ordered a Schomburgkia thomsoniana from Oak Hills along with my project plants. Is that now Myrmecophila? If so, is it still thomsoniana afterwards? Why are they still using the old name? Thanks again for this info. You're the best.

Patticake,

As it stands now you'd use Myrmecophila as the genus and keep thompsoniana as the species so: Myrmecophila thompsoniana. I don't know why they're still using Schomburgkia. I often see nurseries using older names. I think it is just because they don't want to print out hundreds of new tags and go around replacing the tags in hundreds of pots...which I suppose I can understand.

I need to investigate the whole Myrmecophila/Schomburgkia thing. I understand how you might have a very large genus like cattleya and you split a few off into a different genus like Guarnathe while the rest stay cattleya but I don't understand simply renaming an entire genus. It seems to go against the rules of nomenclature. I suppose it is possible that it was recently discovered that Myrmecophila was the name published before Schomburgkia. That's what I need to sort out.

[kmarch]

Originally Posted by jerrymeola

It is valid to use the old names for 5 years after a change.

Did you just make that up? I never heard that so I'm going to poke a little fun at you (don't take it seriously). I think you're just pulling my leg.

On a more serious note:

Originally Posted by jerrymeola

It would drive businesses crazy (and be expensive) to have to make changes immediately. Worst of all names do not always take, with someone making a further 'correction', and a second revision sometimes occurs soon after the first.

If I had a nursery I'd hate havign to go through all of these changes all the time. Expense aside, I just woldn't want to have to re-tag hundreds of plants. On the other hand not having the name right would drive me nuts too. Hmmm, maybe I'd just make new tags as I sold the plants...I dunno.

[patticake]

Thanks Kevin- You're da man! I kind of like the new name- Could I bug you for one more thing? Could you give me the "hooked on phonics" pronunciation for Myrmecophila? I'm usually pretty good at figuring out the names, but sometimes I'm WAY off- like the pronunciation for Coelogyne! The first time I saw how it was supposed to be pronounced, I laughed(because I was SO wrong)

[kmarch]

Originally Posted by patticake

Could you give me the "hooked on phonics" pronunciation for Myrmecophila?

I confess I have never heard this name pronounced. Based on what I learned in my "Teaching of Reading" course years ago, I believe it would be:

MEER-mek-oh-FI-lah with the "I" in "FI" pronounced long like "eye".

[patticake]

Thanks Kevin! It's got a nice ring to it! I'll be saying it all day at work.....

[articuno75]

Originally Posted by kmarch

I confess I have never heard this name pronounced. Based on what I learned in my "Teaching of Reading" course years ago, I believe it would be:

MEER-mek-oh-FI-lah with the "I" in "FI" pronounced long like "eye".

LoL I'm sorry I have to laugh. I like the sound of Schomburgkia better. Myrmecophila sounds like a disease

[Aleksa]

Originally Posted by articuno75

LoL I'm sorry I have to laugh. I like the sound of Schomburgkia better. Myrmecophila sounds like a disease

I agree Schomburgkia rules!

[kmarch]

Well I was going to keep my mouth shut but since you guys are mocking the name Myrmecophila i will too. Mispronounced, it sounds like a fetish for some strange biological something-or-other. Yickyyyyyy..... I swear they investigated this on Law & Order: SVU.

[patticake]

Originally Posted by articuno75

LoL I'm sorry I have to laugh. I like the sound of Schomburgkia better. Myrmecophila sounds like a disease

I used to hybridize streptocarpus- Now THAT sounds like a disease!

[made4engineering]

You guys know it means "ant-loving" right? Myrmecophilia species have hollow pseudobulbs so that ants can symbiotically live in there to protect and provide nutrients to the plant. They always have ants living inside in nature... At least some of you have to know this already. By the way, I could have sworn that only those members of Schomburgkia that housed ants were switched over to Myrmec...

[patticake]

I'm still pretty new to orchids. I had read about the plants with hollow pseudobulbs, housing ants- but that was a while ago and I didn't put 2 & 2 together. This only makes me more curious about the plant. I won't know until I try.....I like a challenge.

[exasperatus2002]

I took two years of latin in high school. Im glad i did because if I was a novice with out the background, I'd have no idea how to say some of them.

[Andrew]

Originally Posted by kmarch

I need to investigate the whole Myrmecophila/Schomburgkia thing. I understand how you might have a very large genus like cattleya and you split a few off into a different genus like Guarnathe while the rest stay cattleya but I don't understand simply renaming an entire genus. It seems to go against the rules of nomenclature. I suppose it is possible that it was recently discovered that Myrmecophila was the name published before Schomburgkia. That's what I need to sort out.

Usually it's the case that:
A/ Myrmecophila was the first published name - it's unusual that someone would dig up an old name for an established genus but not unheard of. Jones has proposed changing Paracaleana (duck orchids) to the name Sullivania for that reason (although the intent of the original article is a matter of debate).
B/ Schomburgkia and Myrmecophila were merged and Myrmecophila was published first. eg when Sarcochilus and Parasarcochilus merged Parasarcochilus lost out.
C/ The type species for Schomburgkia was split from the rest of the genus with the others being renamed Myrmecophila (I'm not really into Catts so I would know how old the name Myrmecophila is). Again Jones split all but one Genoplesium into Corunastylis, although it doesn't look like Kew has accepted the change. You seem to suggest Schomburgkia no longer exists so presumably this isn't the case.

As for which sounds better Myrmecophila or Schomburgkia... which to choose? A name that sounds like a disease or one that sounds like somebody emptying their stomach contents.