Jones 2006 Cross Index

There can be little doubt that David Jones's (2006) book "A Complete Guide to Native Orchids of Australia including the Island Territories" provides probably the most current and most comprehensive coverage of Australia's native orchids available between one set of covers. However whether, and to what extent, the very substantial taxonomic restructure presented in the book is accepted by the professional botanical community, only time will tell. In the meantime, while many orchid growers will enthusiastically embrace these new taxonomies, many others will exercise their valid right to continue labelling their orchids using the older taxa, waiting for the dust to settle on the scientific debate.

In either regard there are difficulties for users of Jones's book, in their attempt to relate many of these new taxa to older species descriptors. The individual species entries in the text provide no prior taxonomic information whatever; and the index is of limited assistance, and far from complete regarding taxonomic descriptors commonly used over the past decade or so.

For example, looking up Dendrobium falcorostrum, one finds in the index "= Thelychiton falcorostrus". The reader then must look up T. falcorostrus for the relevant page number. However, a reader interested in Dendrobium bigibbum var. compactum will find no reference anywhere. Inferring from the index entry "Dendrobium bigibbum = Vappodes bigibba" that one should start looking under genus Vappodes, further reading finds V. lithicola for which the description matches the orchid known as D. bigibbum var. compactum.

These tables constitute my personal attempt to make David Jones's book more user friendly for those needing to reference the earlier taxa. They present a cross-reference between the taxonomic descriptors in Jones's book and the more commonly used earlier versions, with a direct page reference for each species. They may be downloaded from below, in either of two PDF forms - sorted by the earlier names, or sorted by the new names presented in David Jones 2006 book.

What this cross reference is not

These tables are a cross index only - they are not intended to provide information that comprises any part of the content of David Jones's book. Nor is it intended that they provide a comprehensive taxonomic history of any taxon - there are many serious publications and other sources that provide this information. For one such, the reader is directed to Mark Clements & David Jones's "Australian Orchid Name Index". The title suggests the list is regularly updated. It should be noted, however, that several of the taxa in Jones's book do not yet appear in this index.

What this cross reference is

The purpose of these tables is simply to facilitate access to taxa in Jones's book via those descriptors which have commonly been used by enthusiasts to tag their plants over the last 10 to 20 years.

This index is a work in progress and currently only covers epiphytes but I hope to extend this to include the terrestrials. As the terrestrial group is a much larger group, any assistance with this group would be greatly appreciated.

Example

Below is an example of a small section out of the cross index.

Corrections

Users of these tables are invited to forward to me any advice regarding: 

• errors or omissions in the tables
• "earlier" taxa that are so out of date as to warrant exclusion
• "earlier" common names for taxa in the left columns
• any other suggestions that may improve the usefulness of the tables

I do, of course, reserve the right to make the final decision on what to include, exclude, or amend.

Download Cross Index

This index is a work in progress and currently only covers epiphytes but I hope to extend this to include the terrestrials. As the terrestrial group is a much larger group, any assistance with this group would be greatly appreciated.

For those without an Acrobat reader, a free download is available here.

Feedback

To provide feedback or offer corrections, E-mail David Gillingham.

David Gillingham