Grex (horticulture)
Encyclopedia
The term grex derived from the Latin noun grex, gregis meaning flock, has been coined to expand botanical nomenclature
to describe horticultural hybrids of orchids, based solely on their specified parentage. It is a type of the "Group" category, which is used to describe cultivated plants in practical ways that are not necessarily related to their biological classification
.
A grex may be:
For example, a naturally produced hybrid between Cattleya warscewiczii
Rchb.f. 1854 and Cattleya aurea
Linden 1883 would be called Cattleya ×hardyana Sander 1883 or Cattleya × hardyana. An offspring of a Cattleya × hardyana pollenized by another Cattleya × hardyana would also be called Cattleya × hardyana. Cattleya × hardyana would also be the name of an offspring of a Cattleya × hardyana pollenized by either a Cattleya warscewiczii or a Cattleya aurea, or an offspring of either a Cattleya warscewiczii or a Cattleya aurea pollenized by a Cattleya × hardyana
When a hybrid cross is made, all of the seedlings grown from the resulting seed pod are considered to be in the same grex. Any additional plants produced from the hybridization of the same two parental greges also belong to the grex. All of the members of a specific grex may be loosely thought of as "sister plants", and just like the brothers and sisters of any family, may share many traits in common or look quite different from one another. This is due to the randomization of genes passed on to progeny during sexual reproduction
. The hybridizer who created a new grex may choose to register the grex with a registration authority, in which case the grex must be named. If two members of the same grex produce offspring, the offspring receive the same grex name as the parents. Individual clones in the same grex may be given cultivar
names to distinguish them from their siblings.
The non-specific gregaric name differs from a specific name in that the gregaric part of the name is capitalized, is not italicized, and may consist of up to four words.
For example: an artificially produced hybrid between Cattleya warscewiczii and C. dowiana (or C. aurea, which the RHS, the international orchid hybrid registration authority, considers to be a mere variety of and therefore synonymous with C. dowinana) is called C. Hardyana. An artificially produced seedling that results from pollenizing a C. Hardyana with a C. Hardyana is also a C. Hardyana. However, the hybrid produced between C. Hardyana and C. dowiana is not C. Hardyana, but C. Prince John. Similarly, the artificial hybrid produced between C. Hardyana and C warscewiczii is C. Eleanor. These relationships are often described in the following manner:
C. Hardyana = C. warscewiczii × C. dowiana
C. Eleanor = C. Hardyana × C. warscewiczii
C. Prince John = C. dowiana × C. Hardyana
An example of a complex hybrid grex is Phanaenopsis Baldan's Kaleidoscope
.
Due to the maintenance of many interspecific (and even intergeneric) barriers in the Orchidaceae by pollinator behavior, it is easy to produce complex interspecific and even intergeneric hybrid orchid seeds: all it takes is a human motivated to use a toothpick, and proper care of the mother plant as it develops a seed pod. Germinating the seeds and growing them to maturity is another story.
Botanical nomenclature
Botanical nomenclature is the formal, scientific naming of plants. It is related to, but distinct from taxonomy. Plant taxonomy is concerned with grouping and classifying plants; botanical nomenclature then provides names for the results of this process. The starting point for modern botanical...
to describe horticultural hybrids of orchids, based solely on their specified parentage. It is a type of the "Group" category, which is used to describe cultivated plants in practical ways that are not necessarily related to their biological classification
Biological classification
Biological classification, or scientific classification in biology, is a method to group and categorize organisms by biological type, such as genus or species. Biological classification is part of scientific taxonomy....
.
A grex may be:
- a speciesSpeciesIn biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...
(usually called "species" instead of "grex") - a hybrid between two greges.
Linnean treatment of natural hybrids: the nothospecies
Naturally occurring interspecific hybrids are given Linnean binomials with the multiplication sign "×" between the generic epithet and the nothospecific epithet. An offspring of the nothospecies, either with the nothospecies or either of the parental species as the other parent, has the same nothospecific name. That is, the nothospecific binomial is an alias for a list of the ancestral species.For example, a naturally produced hybrid between Cattleya warscewiczii
Cattleya warscewiczii
Cattleya warscewiczii , a labiate Cattleya, is a species of orchid. The diploid chromosome number of C. warscewiczii has been determined as 2n = 40; the haploid chromosome number as n = 20.-Footnotes and External Links:...
Rchb.f. 1854 and Cattleya aurea
Cattleya aurea
Cattleya aurea is a species of labiate Cattleya orchid. The diploid chromosome number of C. aurea has been determinded to be 2n = 40.-Footnotes and External Links:...
Linden 1883 would be called Cattleya ×hardyana Sander 1883 or Cattleya × hardyana. An offspring of a Cattleya × hardyana pollenized by another Cattleya × hardyana would also be called Cattleya × hardyana. Cattleya × hardyana would also be the name of an offspring of a Cattleya × hardyana pollenized by either a Cattleya warscewiczii or a Cattleya aurea, or an offspring of either a Cattleya warscewiczii or a Cattleya aurea pollenized by a Cattleya × hardyana
Horticultural treatment of greges
A non-specific grex is initially produced by the deliberate hybridization of two different greges, and is treated as if it were some new species.When a hybrid cross is made, all of the seedlings grown from the resulting seed pod are considered to be in the same grex. Any additional plants produced from the hybridization of the same two parental greges also belong to the grex. All of the members of a specific grex may be loosely thought of as "sister plants", and just like the brothers and sisters of any family, may share many traits in common or look quite different from one another. This is due to the randomization of genes passed on to progeny during sexual reproduction
Sexual reproduction
Sexual reproduction is the creation of a new organism by combining the genetic material of two organisms. There are two main processes during sexual reproduction; they are: meiosis, involving the halving of the number of chromosomes; and fertilization, involving the fusion of two gametes and the...
. The hybridizer who created a new grex may choose to register the grex with a registration authority, in which case the grex must be named. If two members of the same grex produce offspring, the offspring receive the same grex name as the parents. Individual clones in the same grex may be given cultivar
Cultivar
A cultivar'Cultivar has two meanings as explained under Formal definition. When used in reference to a taxon, the word does not apply to an individual plant but to all those plants sharing the unique characteristics that define the cultivar. is a plant or group of plants selected for desirable...
names to distinguish them from their siblings.
The non-specific gregaric name differs from a specific name in that the gregaric part of the name is capitalized, is not italicized, and may consist of up to four words.
For example: an artificially produced hybrid between Cattleya warscewiczii and C. dowiana (or C. aurea, which the RHS, the international orchid hybrid registration authority, considers to be a mere variety of and therefore synonymous with C. dowinana) is called C. Hardyana. An artificially produced seedling that results from pollenizing a C. Hardyana with a C. Hardyana is also a C. Hardyana. However, the hybrid produced between C. Hardyana and C. dowiana is not C. Hardyana, but C. Prince John. Similarly, the artificial hybrid produced between C. Hardyana and C warscewiczii is C. Eleanor. These relationships are often described in the following manner:
C. Hardyana = C. warscewiczii × C. dowiana
C. Eleanor = C. Hardyana × C. warscewiczii
C. Prince John = C. dowiana × C. Hardyana
An example of a complex hybrid grex is Phanaenopsis Baldan's Kaleidoscope
Phalaenopsis 'Kaleidoscope'
Phalaenopsis Baldan's Kaleidoscope is an artificial orchid hybrid. One of the seedlings from this grex was awarded an Award of Merit by the American Orchid Society and given the cultivar name 'Golden Treasure'...
.
Due to the maintenance of many interspecific (and even intergeneric) barriers in the Orchidaceae by pollinator behavior, it is easy to produce complex interspecific and even intergeneric hybrid orchid seeds: all it takes is a human motivated to use a toothpick, and proper care of the mother plant as it develops a seed pod. Germinating the seeds and growing them to maturity is another story.