Nano Nursery Carnivorous Plant Encyclopedia · 3
A plant label can describe ancestry, botanical classification, a cultivated selection or a grower’s own stock record. Learning which part does which job makes a rare carnivorous plant collection easier to understand—and much harder to mislabel.
Read the scientific name first
In Drosera capensis, Drosera is the genus and capensis is the specific epithet; together they identify the species. Scientific genus and species names are conventionally italicised, with a capital for the genus and a lower-case epithet. An abbreviated name such as D. capensis is useful only after the genus is clear. Common names help conversation, but several plants can share them. Keep the complete scientific name on the permanent label.
Ranks below species
Subspecies, variety and form are botanical ranks, commonly abbreviated subsp., var. and f. The abbreviation is not italicised; the scientific name following it is. These ranks reflect a taxonomic treatment, rather than a guarantee of a particular garden appearance. A seller’s phrase “red variety” may be an informal description rather than a published botanical variety. Check the name against a taxonomic reference before treating it as a formal rank. Kew’s resources connect accepted names with synonyms and their underlying taxonomic sources. [1]
Hybrids describe ancestry
A multiplication sign, ×, indicates a hybrid in a name or formula. A cross written as species A × species B identifies the reported parents; in breeding records, the seed parent is usually written first. Parentage is information to preserve, not something to reverse casually. Plants from the same cross can differ. A hybrid formula therefore does not establish that two plants are the same clone, and a photograph rarely proves complicated parentage.
Cultivars describe cultivated selections
Cultivar names use single quotation marks and are not italicised. A cultivar may be selected from a species or a hybrid. Read the original description to learn which traits define it and how those traits are maintained. Do not assume every cultivar must consist of one clone: the defining characteristics and stated propagation requirements matter. The ICPS names database and the more recent Carnivorous Plant Newsletter descriptions should be checked together, because the former identifies its own registration-date limit. [2][3]
A clone is a propagation relationship
A clone consists of vegetatively derived material from one original plant, subject to the possibility of mutation. A division and an appropriate cutting can preserve that lineage. Seed introduces sexual reproduction and should not automatically inherit a parent’s clone identity. A batch code, supplier number or locality label is different again. It may be valuable provenance without being a botanical or cultivar name.
A practical label example
Imagine a plant supplied with a species name, a locality and “Clone A”. Keep all three pieces, plus the supplier and acquisition date in your records. If a later reference changes the accepted scientific name, record the new name alongside the supplied name rather than erasing the trail. If the identity is uncertain, write “received as” instead of silently promoting the label to a confirmed identification.
Checking a disputed name
Compare the full spelling, publication and taxonomic status in a current reference. Then examine diagnostic characters and provenance. A synonym is not necessarily an invalid or careless label: it can record an older treatment of the same taxon. A trade name absent from a database needs investigation, not an invented correction. For identification photographs, include the whole plant, mature traps or leaves, and flowers when present.
Sources and further reading
- Kew: name and synonymy resources
- ICPS registered cultivar database and its coverage note
- Carnivorous Plant Newsletter cultivar descriptions
Research checked 22 September 2026. Cultivation guidance concerns established plants unless stated otherwise; sealed tissue-culture plants need their own acclimatisation instructions.
