We see botanical (scientific) names, common names, varieties, various forms, sp. and subspecies, but how are they written? In order to avoid confusion there are formal ways to write each of these ranks or just their common names.
Edit April 21, 2022: cultivar names may not be Latin names, thus this issue needs to be addressed as timely as possible.
created: Aug. 10, 2021
edited: Apr. 21, 2021
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| Botanical species |
For the botanical species, the botanical name (or scientific name) is officially written in italics with only the first letter of the genus capitalized. |
| Common name | The common name - if there is one - is written within parenthesis → (...) following the botanical name. Example: Cyanotis somaliensis (Pussy Ears) or Cyanotis somaliensis (Kitten Ears), Kitten Ears another common name for this plant. Common names are used locally, the same name may be used for different plants and therefore they bring confusion. |
| Cultivar name | The cultivar - or cultigen or horticultural variety - (abbreviated as cv.) is a cultivated variety that originated after human intervention. The names of cultivars are quoted using single quotes → '. . .' and the first letter of each name is capitalized. In the past the abbreviation cv. was used to indicate that a plant is a cultivar, Example: Aloe cv. Pink Blush. But that is officially not used anymore. Example: Murdannia sp. 'Bright Star'. |
| Varietas (var.) | Varietas (abbreviated as var.) indicates a natural variety of a species. It is added after the botanical species indicating the specific variety. It is written in lower-case letters and not in italics. Example: Tradescantia zebrina var. flocculosa. |
| Subspecies (subsp.) | Subspecies (abbreviated as subsp. in botany and as ssp. in zoology) is a grouping within a species used to describe geographically isolated variants, a category above “variety”. Written in the same way as var. Example: Cyanotis repens subsp. robusta. |
| Forma (f.) | Forma of a variety, subspecies or species occurs sporadically within the distribution area of the taxon of higher rank to which it is referred and differs from that taxon in a single character. It is written in the same way as var. and subsp. Example: Tradescantia cerinthoides f. pilosa. |
| Species affinis (aff. or sp.) | Abbreviated as: sp. aff. or sp. or aff. or affin. . In open nomenclature it indicates that available material or evidence suggests that the proposed species is related to, has an affinity to, but is not identical to, the species with the binomial name it comes after. The Latin word affinis can be translated as "closely related to", or "akin to". Example 1: Tradescantia aff. umbraculifera. Example 2: Murdannia sp. 'Bright Star'. Example 3. Gibasis sp. 'Jose Puig'. |
Something that I have seen widely misused is how the common names are written. Even many plant shops that sell plants online are putting the common name of the plant inside single (or even double) quotes. That brings major confusion, since single quotes are only used to indicate a cultivar, not a naturally occurring variety, neither a common name.
tags: how to write a botanical name? how to write a common name? how to write a cultivar name? how to write a botanical variety? how to write a subspecies? how to write the different form of a plant? how to write a plant that is closely related to, but differs from the original plant?
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