List of cloud types
The list of cloud types groups the tropospheric types as "high" (cirrus, cirrocumulus, cirrostratus), "middle" (altocumulus, altostratus), "multi-level" (nimbostratus, cumulus, cumulonimbus), and "low" (stratocumulus, stratus) according to the altitude level or levels at which each cloud is normally found. Small cumulus are commonly grouped with the low clouds because they do not show significant vertical extent. Of the multi-level genus-types, those with the greatest convective activity are often grouped separately as "towering vertical". The genus types all have Latin names.
Castellanus
It is a cloud species attached to the cloud genera cirrus, cirrocumulus, altocumulus and stratocumulus. Species of the clouds include cirrus castellanus, cirrocumulus castellanus, altocumulus castellanus and stratocumulus castellanus. Sometimes cumulus castellanus are referred to, but the type is not recognised by the France's national meteorological service Météo-France, or by the American Meteorological Society and World Meteorological Organisation. Those clouds some would classify as cumulus castellanus typically do not have a common base and are not arranged in a line, thus differing to some extent from the more universally-recognised castellanus types. Some scientists also think that the "castellanus" should be a full cloud genus, and not just a cloud species. The Federal Aviation Administration "implicitly" considers a castellanus as a full cloud genus.