Botanic names

Can someone out there tell me the correct way to list a plant by its correct botanic name? Which comes first, such as genus,etc and which should be capitalized. Thanks for your help.

JR

You start with the genus first then species (specific epithet) i.e. Digitalis purpurea. The genus name is always first letter capitaplized and the specific epithet is always lower case

If you are writing a cultivar name it comes after the botanical name and is in quote marks i.e. Digitalis purpurea 'Elsie Kelsy'. (cultivar names are first letter capitalized for each name as above).

Some cultivars aren't listed with specific epithets, in these cases you would write, Digitalis 'Glory Of Roundway'

If you are writing a varietas (var.), subspecies (subsp.) or form (f.) name then it comes after the specific epithet and is prefixed with the abbreviation of one of the above and all lower case, i.e. Digitalis purpurea subsp. nevadensis.

Baa, in other words Genus-Species-Cultivar, with genus always capitalized. Am I correct here?

JR

Yes, genus always capitalised on the first letter, specific epithet always lower case, cultivar capitalised on the first letters too :)

May I please add here that the names of Orchids are a little more complicated.
1. there is the capitalized Genus and lower case species, perhaps even a var. of species. ( Cattleya skinneri var. alba)
2. There are Hybrid names as in Masd. Kimballiana, (1. letter of the grex name is capitalized, no quotes)
3. Then there is the cultivar name as in Cattleya skinneri var. alba 'Debbie'. Only the cultivar name Debbie is in single quotes. (And never double quotes either)

Awards as in FCC/AOS are another addition to the name. (in this case first class certificate given by the American Orchid Society)

To have Orchid hybrids placed correctly in the PF, can some other provisions be made to list those?
I am resisting to list any more ( tried one) in this category, because they wind up in single quotes. Unless there is another way?

I have also noticed that orchid names get mangled a bit in the plant files and in the descriptions. I just asked one of the 'Ubers' in the Orchid Forum about if it was possible to do it correctly in the database, but I have now noticed this thread. Perhaps, for people interested in reading quick descriptions of orchid names, they might consider taking a peek at http://www.canadianorchidcongress.ca/nametag.html or at http://orchidweb.org/aos/orchids/orchids.aspx?sec=9
Is there a way to create a "hybrid" or "grex" field as the alternative to the "species" field in the form for naming a plant?

We do need to address orchids, as they are a different matter. The addition of a genus-specific entry field is one for Dave to consider, as there are programming ramifications.