Thursday, April 25, 2013

Haworthia 'Kewensis'

This plant is a good example of the historic confusion in the naming of haworthias. Originally described by Von Poellnitz as a species - H. kewensis - it most certainly is a garden hybrid. Since the latinized name (in accordance with the rules for botanical names) has been published, it can be retained for the hybrid or cultivar name, but it has to be altered. It now must be capitalized, not be printed with italics, and be included in single quotes. (Botanical names are latinized, printed in italics, with the Genus capitalized and the species in lower case.) Ordinarily, hybrids or cultivars must be named with a name in the commonly used language, not a name which has a Latin ending. Got that?!

And the plant? Hey...just enjoy it!

1 comment:

  1. Naming drives me crazy, I have to do a post on that sometime. But this is a lovely plant!

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