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How to read these names

Anthurium is a large genus. Over a thousand species are known, and likely as many are still undescribed. Many cross-pollinate readily, so growers hybridize them, and the result carries its parentage in its name. A few marks decode most of it:

• x means one plant crossed with another.
• Italic lowercase (papillilaminum) is a species.
• Single quotes ('Amy') name an accepted cultivar, an official process under the International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants that tries to officiate the countless trade names that get tossed around. For Anthurium it means a specific plant, often called a clone.
• Double quotes ("RLFS") are a common or trade name, something a grower (me) tagged onto a specific clone or complex hybrid, mostly as a memory aid. It may have distinguishing traits, but it has not gone through cultivar registration, approval, or publication. Some trade names from breeders mark genuinely interesting plants, some are hype. Caveat emptor.
• Brackets group parentage like math: [(A x B) x C] means A and B were crossed first, then that result crossed with C.

A caution: not everyone applies these marks correctly, or at all. Single and double quotes get swapped, and a name in quotes is not proof of anything on its own. The source of truth for registered cultivars is the Aroid Cultivar Registry. If it is not there, it is not a registered cultivar, whatever the tag says.

That is the whole cipher, and you do not need it. Buy the plant that catches your eye. The name is provenance for understanding lineage, not a guarantee of which traits pass on. Parent plants are linked to inform and suggest possible traits; the plant itself will reveal what carried through in time.

More on how aroid names work →