Botanical binomial help please!

Morning. I'm reading Christopher Lloyds Dixter Diaries at the moment (really enjoying them) and am confused about the way some species are named (I'm a complete novice as you can tell- bags of enthusiasm- no knowledge or talent!). Could anyone tell me what the "6" means in eg eryngium 6 oliverianum or corokia 6 virgata ???

thanks v much

B

 

Hi Mrs. B,

Sounds like a typing error to me. It would make more sense if there were an "X" instead of the 6.

Aesculus will know.

 

Hi Mrs B.I haven't read the diaries of that great man so can't give you a definate answer but Ziggy could be right in his answer to you...

 

I would agree with Ziggy and Kandy looks very much like a typing error.
Dave

 

I would agree with the others. If you Google those names you will see that both Eryngium x oliverianum and Corokia x virgata are accepted names. But there is no such name with a 6 instead of the x.

Whilst, for instance, Eryngium oliverianum is a species in its own right, I see that there are many references with an x between the two, and can only assume that these are not pure members of the species but have been crossed with one or more different species in the past.

 

I was assembling a flat pack bed for a lady yesterday, she asked what the wooden struts were made of, I said it looks like Linden Wood.

She said what was that so I replied Tillia x Europea, she looked even more blank so I said thats why I had called it Linden, I didn't think she would want to know its latin name.

 

Thanks everyone- that makes a lot more sense, I think it must be a typo.

B