Plant terms explained

A plain English guide to staghorn fern terms, plant names, and pronunciation.

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How to read a plant name

Each part of a plant’s name tells you something about it. Here is an example:

Platycerium willinckii ‘Leonids’

Platycerium: The genus. This is the group of ferns commonly called staghorn and elkhorn ferns.
willinckii: The part that identifies the species within that genus.
‘Leonids’: The name used for a particular selection of that species. WPS lists Leonids as a named selection.

You can read this as “the selection called Leonids within the species Platycerium willinckii.”

What does P. mean?

P. is short for Platycerium. Write the full genus name when introducing the plant. After that, you can shorten it if the meaning is clear.

Why the italics and quotation marks?

Platycerium starts with a capital letter and is written in italics.
willinckii starts with a lowercase letter and is written in italics.
‘Leonids’ starts with a capital letter, uses single quotation marks, and stays in regular text.

This is the usual style for botanical names with cultivar names. WPS also uses this style for named selections. Quotation marks do not mean that a plant is officially registered.

Is Leonids a different species?

No. It is the name of a selection within Platycerium willinckii. Giving a selection a name does not create a new species.

What if the plant was grown from Leonids spores?

A plant raised from spores is new offspring. It does not automatically become the original Leonids selection. A clear label is: “Offspring of Platycerium willinckii ‘Leonids’, grown from spores.”

Naming style: Royal Horticultural Society naming guide.

How to say plant names

Plant names can look difficult at first. Breaking them into small sounds makes them easier to say.

These are suggested English pronunciations. Capital letters show the part to emphasize. Botanical names are said differently around the world, so you may hear other versions.

veitchii

VEECH ee eye

The first part sounds like “beach,” but starts with a V.

Platycerium veitchii was named in honor of James Veitch, an English nurseryman who introduced the species into cultivation in England. His surname, Veitch, has a Latin ending added.

Read the Australian fern reference

willinckii

wil LINK ee eye

Say “link” a little more strongly than the other parts.

Platycerium willinckii was named in honor of Jan Abraham Willink, a Dutch plant collector and grower. The botanical spelling is willinckii, including the C before the K.

Read the species history

ridleyi

RID lee eye

Start with the surname Ridley, then add “eye.”

Platycerium ridleyi honors Henry Nicholas Ridley, a botanist who directed the Singapore Botanic Gardens.

Read the naming history

wandae

WAN dee

The ending sounds like “ee,” as in “bee,” in the English convention used here.

Platycerium wandae gives us a staghorn example of the ae ending. A personal name such as Wanda takes the Latin form wandae.

Explore this species

How to say each ending

Try these sounds when reading the examples below. “Eye” sounds like the word eye. “Ee” sounds like bee. “Oh” sounds like go. “Ah” sounds like the vowel in father.

ii: ee eye
i: eye
ae: ee
iae: ee ee
orum: OH rum
iorum: ee OH rum
arum: AH rum
iarum: ee AH rum

These sounds are a starting point. The emphasis in a full name can depend on the rest of the word. You may hear ii shortened to “ee,” or ae said as “eye” in another pronunciation tradition.

Pronunciation guidance: Iowa State University. The surname Veitch is pronounced VEECH in the Cambridge Dictionary.

What do the endings in plant names mean?

Many plants are named in honor of a person. A Latin ending turns that person’s name into part of a botanical name.

The ending often carries the meaning “of” that person. You can think of veitchii as “Veitch’s” or “named for Veitch.” The first three examples are staghorns. The remaining examples come from other plants and show endings you may encounter elsewhere.

ii: Often added when a man’s name ends in a consonant, except when it ends in “er.”Staghorn example: Platycerium veitchii honors James Veitch, an English nurseryman. Veitch becomes veitchii. Naming history
i: Often added when a man’s name ends in a vowel other than A, or ends in “er.”Staghorn example: Platycerium ridleyi honors Henry Nicholas Ridley, a botanist who directed the Singapore Botanic Gardens. Ridley becomes ridleyi. Naming history
ae: Often used for a woman’s name ending in a vowel or “er.” When the name ends in A, adding E gives the ending ae.Staghorn example: Platycerium wandae. Wanda becomes wandae, meaning “of Wanda.” This shows how the spelling works. Species record
iae: Often added when a woman’s name ends in a consonant, except when it ends in “er.”Example from another plant: Rosa banksiae, the Lady Banks rose, honors Lady Dorothea Banks. Banks becomes banksiae. Naming history
orum / iorum: Used when honoring two or more men, or a group that includes men and women. The spelling of their name affects which ending is added.Example from another plant: Artemisia verlotiorum, Chinese mugwort, honors the Verlot brothers, who studied the plant. Verlot becomes verlotiorum because the name honors both brothers. Naming history
arum / iarum: Used when honoring two or more women. The spelling of their name affects which ending is added.Example from another plant: Thelymitra dedmaniarum, an Australian sun orchid, honors two women recorded as Mrs and Miss Dedman, who collected it. Dedman becomes dedmaniarum because the name honors both women. Naming history

These are common patterns for names honoring people. Not every plant name ending in these letters honors someone. Some names follow older Latin forms, so they may look different.

Was the person honored also the discoverer?

Not necessarily. A plant may be named for a collector, grower, researcher, friend, or someone the author wanted to honor. The person honored may be different from the person who discovered or described the plant.

Name endings: International Code of Nomenclature, Article 60, the botanical rules for spelling plant names.

Plant identity

Clone: A plant and the plants copied from it without sexual reproduction. They share the same genetic origin. Pups usually continue the same clone.
Cross: The act of bringing together genetic material from two parents to produce offspring. Fern crosses involve eggs and sperm, rather than flowers and pollen.
Cultivar: A plant or group of plants selected for particular features that are kept when it is reproduced in a suitable way. A cultivar does not have to be a hybrid.
Genus: A group of related species. Platycerium is the genus that includes staghorn and elkhorn ferns.
Hybrid: A plant with ancestry from different species or distinct plant lines. A hybrid can occur in nature or be produced by a grower.
Named selection: A particular plant someone chose for its features and gave a name. WPS uses this label when it is more accurate than calling the plant a cultivar.
Natural variation: Differences that occur naturally between plants of the same species, such as differences in size or frond shape.
Species / original species: A recognized kind of plant, such as Platycerium willinckii. On WPS, the label Original Species refers to a naturally occurring species. It does not mean that a particular specimen was collected from the wild.
Wild form: A naturally occurring form of a species, sometimes associated with a particular place. The label describes the form or origin. It does not by itself mean that the plant being sold was collected from the wild.

Parts of the plant

Fertile frond / antler frond: The type of frond that can bear spores when mature. In many staghorns, these are the long or branching fronds that grow outward or hang down. A young fertile frond may not have spores yet.
Forking / branching: Where a frond divides into two or more parts.
Frond: A fern’s leaf.
Growing point: The place where new fronds develop. Protecting it is important because damage there can stop new growth.
Lobe: A section of a frond that sticks out from its main outline, such as a rounded edge or a finger at the top of a shield.
Rhizome: The fern’s stem. In staghorns it is usually short and partly hidden by fronds. Roots and new fronds grow from it.
Roots: The parts that take in water and nutrients and help anchor the plant to its support.
Shield frond / basal frond: The broad frond that grows around the plant’s base. It helps protect the roots and can catch water and fallen material. Older shields often turn brown naturally.
Sterile frond: A frond that does not bear spores. Staghorn shield fronds are sterile fronds.
Trichomes / hairs: Tiny hairs on the surface of a plant. They can give staghorn fronds a fuzzy, pale, or silvery appearance.

Making more plants

Division: Separating an established plant or colony into pieces that can grow on their own. Each piece needs a growing point and enough roots to survive.
Fertilization: When a sperm cell joins an egg cell to begin a new plant. In ferns this happens on the small gametophyte stage.
Gametophyte: The small stage of a fern’s life that grows from a spore and produces eggs or sperm. After fertilization, a new leafy fern develops.
Mother plant / source plant: The plant used to provide pups, spores, or material for tissue culture. How the new plant was produced affects whether it continues the same clone.
Propagation: Making more plants. Staghorns can be propagated through spores, pups, or tissue culture, depending on the plant.
Pup / offset: A new plant that grows from an existing plant without developing from a spore. An authenticated pup usually continues its parent’s clone and name.
Sorus / sori / spore patch: A sorus is a group of tiny spore cases. Sori is the plural. In staghorns, many spore cases form the visible patches on fertile fronds, often underneath.
Sporangium / sporangia: A tiny case that makes and holds spores. Many sit together in the brown spore patches on fertile fronds. Each case works a little like a tiny spring: as it dries, a row of special cells loses water and pulls the case open. The row then snaps back, tossing the spores into the air. Air movement carries them away. If a spore lands somewhere suitable, it can begin growing into the first stage of a new fern. Sporangia means more than one sporangium.
Spore: A tiny reproductive cell released by a fern. Ferns produce spores rather than seeds. A spore first grows into a gametophyte.
Sporeling / spore-grown plant: A young fern raised from spores. It is new offspring and does not automatically carry the identity of the original named clone.
Tissue culture: Growing plants from small pieces of plant tissue under controlled laboratory conditions. It can be used to copy a named plant when the source and resulting identity are documented.

Names and history

Breeder / cross maker: The person who makes or plans a cross to produce offspring.
Common name: An everyday name, such as staghorn fern. Common names can vary between places and may refer to more than one species.
Cultivar name: The name given to a cultivar, usually written in single quotation marks after the botanical name.
Grower / raiser: The person who grows a plant to an age or size where its features can be observed. This may be someone other than the breeder.
Introducer: The person or nursery that first makes a plant available to other growers.
Lineage: A plant’s family history, including the plants it came from and how it was produced.
Namer: The person who chooses a plant’s name. This may be someone other than the breeder or seller.
Offspring: New plants produced through reproduction. Offspring raised from spores can differ from the parent plant.
Parentage: The parents that contributed genetic material to a plant.
Provenance: The documented origin and history of a particular plant, such as where it came from and which source plant it was propagated from.
Scientific name / botanical name: The name used to identify a plant in botany. A species name has two parts: the genus and the word that identifies the species within it.
Selector: The person who chooses a particular plant for features they want to keep or develop.
Synonym: Another botanical name for the same species or plant group. It may be a name used in an older reference.
Trade name / market name: A name used to sell a plant. It may differ from its cultivar name, and a sales name alone may not identify one consistent selection.

Describing a plant

Arching: Curving outward and then downward.
Compact: Growing with its parts close together rather than spreading widely.
Crested: Having a growing tip or frond tip that spreads into a fan or produces extra crowded branches.
Dwarf: Growing smaller than the usual form. A dwarf plant is not simply a young plant.
Juvenile: A young growth stage. Juvenile fronds can look different from the fronds of a mature plant.
Mature: A developed growth stage when the plant shows its adult features. A mature plant may continue to grow larger.
Pendulous / hanging: Growing downward in a hanging shape.
Upright: Growing mostly upward.
Variegated: Having areas of different colors in the same frond, often because some areas contain less green pigment.

Habitat and care

Acclimation: Gradually adjusting to a change in light, temperature, humidity, or other growing conditions.
Airflow: Air moving around the plant.
Bright indirect light: Plenty of light without strong sunlight falling directly on the plant.
Cultivated: Grown and cared for by people.
Dormancy: A period when a plant’s growth pauses or slows as part of its seasonal cycle. Not every staghorn has a clear dormant period.
Drainage: How easily extra water leaves the material around the roots.
Epiphyte: A plant that grows on another plant for support. It does not take food from its host like a parasite.
Growing medium: The material around a plant’s roots, such as bark or sphagnum moss.
Habitat: The kind of place where a plant naturally lives.
Humidity: The amount of water vapor in the air.
Lithophyte: A plant that grows on rocks.
Mounting: Attaching a plant to a board, cork, or another support so it can grow there.
Native range: The places where a species occurs naturally.
Wild-collected: Taken directly from a natural habitat. This describes where a specimen came from, rather than just how it looks.

Understanding WPS records

Accepted record: A WPS record whose main identity and history have enough supporting information for acceptance. This is a WPS review status, not official cultivar registration.
Cultivar registration: Recording a cultivar name with the appropriate registration authority. WPS documentation and acceptance are separate from this process.
Documented: Supported by an identifiable source, such as a publication, original nursery record, or firsthand account.
Pending review / research in progress: A record that still needs review or confirmation of important details.
Registry: An organized collection of plant records, names, histories, and supporting sources.
Reported: Information attributed to a source or contributor. Read the source and context to understand what is supported.