Jardinerong Sunog (the Burnt Gardener)

Currently in bloom at the plant junkyard is this Erythrodes wenzelii which, despite its plain green leaves, is a member of subtribe Goodyerinae tribe Cranichidae - the tribe where the jewel orchids belong. While the 'jewel orchid' designation has also been used for totally unrelated plants particularly Crepidium (subtribe Malaxidinae tribe Malaxideae thus related to Liparis ), it perhaps should be kept in mind that since the original application was for the members of the cranichids- think of Ludisia and Macodes , among others- then it follows that only those from that tribe deserves recognition as 'jewel orchids.' Or does it? Because like in the case of our plant here, it can hardly be called a 'jewel orchid' due to the unadorned foliage. In fact, many members of the cranichids have non-descript leaves. One can argue that any terrestrial orchid with flashy leaves can be a jewel orchid. However, once we try to be politically correct then it's a can of w...

 You probably have seen these odd abbreviated words before, squeezed in between a plant's genus and species name. The likelihood of you encountering these is even greater if you have leanings towards botany and have seen discussions or identifications made by more seasoned botanists. And since this is a very seldom discussed topic, I do sometimes get queries what these abbreviations are for. This time I'll let the information go public and save time and effort mansplaining botanical mumbo-jumbo through private messages.  cf. and cfr. Both of these are just abbreviations of the same word, confer. However,  confer here refers to a Latin word and not the one in English usage. A direct translation into English of the Latin  confer is 'compare' and this is often wedged in between a genus and a species name to convey how the plant in question is comparable in appearance to an already known species. This is often employed in social media discussions when pictures of a plan...