What is the definition of 'cultivar'?

[JPB]

I can't find it. To my recollection it is a specific form of a species. But does it apply to wild genotypes or selected genotypes? Is it one genotype which is vegetatively reproduced, or a number of different genotypes with the same characters? How is a 'cultivar' maintained? I.e. how is it protected from backcrossing with other conspecific individuals?

Thanks, hans

[Maggi Young]

It's a long and twisted tale, Hans!
Tis is as good a starting point as any..... some brief points made on "Cultivar Groups- a sensible approach"  and then a reply.... "....a systematic approach"......here..... http://www.hortax.org.uk/hortaxnews/text2.html


 but perhaps you really need to read the 200 pages of the International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants (ICNCP, 1995) ??

[SueG]

 but perhaps you really need to read the 200 pages of the International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants (ICNCP, 1995) ??

Maggie - surely no one deserves to be told that!! A punishment of last resort I think

[Maggi Young]

Yes, Sue, seems a bit harsh, I know.... but I must confess I was hoping Hans would read it and then summarise it for the rest of us!! 


There's this..... of course....
http://www.rhs.org.uk/NR/rdonlyres/B0D98AB8-3378-4D94-B105-77979D93388E/0/02Hanburyana12to14.pdf
 ------------------------
http://www.rhs.org.uk/Learning/Publications/pubs/garden0404/newslord.htm
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 This from an RHS SHow schedule........
 The meaning of “kind” and “cultivar” (variety). Throughout the Schedule the

words “kind” and “cultivar” (variety) are used in the following sense: peaches,

nectarines, apples and plums are “kinds” of fruit; peas and potatoes are “kind” of

vegetable; Royal George, Noblesse and Alexander are “cultivars” (varieties) of peach;

Gladstone and Autocrat are “cultivars” (varieties) of pea.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
 other quotes......

A "plant variety" is a legal term, following the UPOV Convention. Recognition of a cultivated plant as a "variety" (in this sense) provides its breeder with some legal protection, so-called plant breeders' rights, depending to some extent on the internal legislation of the signatory countries.

Note that this "variety" (which will differ in status according to the local law of the land) should not be confused with the international (the same the world over):

taxonomic rank of variety (regulated by the ICBN)
cultivar (regulated by the ICNCP).
A cultivar is a cultivated plant that has been selected and given a unique name because of its decorative or useful characteristics; it is usually distinct from similar plants and when propagated it retains those characteristics.

The naming of a cultivar should conform to the International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants (the ICNCP, commonly known as the Cultivated Plant Code). For this, it must be distinct from other cultivars and it must be possible to propagate it reliably, in the manner prescribed for that particular cultivar, either by sexual or asexual means.

The word cultivar, coined by Liberty Hyde Bailey, is generally regarded as a portmanteau of "cultivated" and "variety", but could also be derived from "cultigen" "variety". The word cultivar is not interchangeable with the botanical rank of variety, nor with the legal term "plant variety".[1]. Cultivars are a sub-set of Bailey's broader grouping the cultigen, defined as "a plant that has been deliberately altered or selected by humans" (see cultigen for Bailey's original definition of the cultivar[2], his definitions of the cultigen, and discussion of the current definition of cultigen).



 ..... and so it goes.........

[Gerry Webster]

Cultivar - the following definition in The Hillier Manual of Trees & Shrubs seems to say all that is required in a simple & intelligible form.

[Carol Shaw]

I think Wikipedia gives a very clear explanation:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultivar

[David Shaw]

What is the process of naming a cultivar. I know Ian and Maggie have a lot of 'Craigton' cultivars around but assume that the names have to be formally accepted by 'someone'.

[Maggi Young]

What is the process of naming a cultivar. I know Ian and Maggie have a lot of 'Craigton' cultivars around but assume that the names have to be formally accepted by 'someone'.

Not so very many 'Craigtons' around, really!

When a plant is given an award by the RHS Joint Rock Plant Committee, it is usually given " subject to the application of a cultivar name".  The exhibitor is aske what name they want to give the plant. Accepted procedures for choosing a name ( as delineated, among other things,I suspect, in the 200 pages of the ICNCP) must be followed ....for example, no "latinised" names .  For narcissus, of course, there is the International Daffodil Register, so one may secure a name in that manner also........ there are not international registers for all  types of plant. The RHS registers and Plant Award committees are open to the amateur grower as well as the professional...these "registration" do not, I beleive, give any LEGAL protection to a plant name.  There are other bodies,( such as the Dutch KAVB for bulbs) for the registration of plant names with commercial applications. This has been mentioned in other threads.

[Maggi Young]

If one has a plant which is distinctive in some way which one feels worthy of a name to go with it on its journeys around the world, it is a sensible thing to give it a name before you start distributing it. 

I recall some famous growers who began to distribute some fine hybrids, under the name of the cross, only for another grower to put it up to joint rock, get an award and give it a name.... the raisers diapproved of the name, and of an apparent attempt to pass the plant off as being raised by the  exhibitor....... it could all have been avoided had the raisers given the plant a name in the first place!
That being said, it is only common courtesy, if one has been given an un-named  plant to consult the raiser of the plant before giving it a name ..... I know of many instances of that good policy being used 

[Gerry Webster]

It seems that, in the case of plants of wild origin, it is not necessary for the collector to approve of the cultivar name. Years ago I remember one collector telling me that he did not like & would not use the cultivar name bestowed by someone on one of 'his' plants - a frit.  He continued to refer to it by the collection number (& so do I).
 

[Paddy Tobin]

Hans,

an amateur's attempt at a definition of "cultivar". I believe that a cultivar is a cultivated variety, hence the abbreviation to "cultivar". Cultivars are then, by definition, plants which have been bred. They are not naturally occuring variations or crosses but are manmade.

Paddy

[Martin Baxendale]

What is the process of naming a cultivar. I know Ian and Maggie have a lot of 'Craigton' cultivars around but assume that the names have to be formally accepted by 'someone'.

Anyone can name a cultivar and the name doesn't have to be accepted by anyone else. Registering a named cultivar with an international registrar, such as for daffs, may carry certain requirements. Of course anyone is perfectly free to disapprove of a name, especially if the naming seems especially stupid or commercial - wasn't there a white deciduous azalea raised in the middle of the last century named 'Persil' ? Dear God!

[Gerry Webster]

Hans,
an amateur's attempt at a definition of "cultivar". I believe that a cultivar is a cultivated variety, hence the abbreviation to "cultivar". Cultivars are then, by definition, plants which have been bred. They are not naturally occuring variations or crosses but are manmade.
Paddy

Paddy - many cultivars are selected & propagated from wild plants. Fritillaria hermonis amana 'Goksun Gold' & Iris reticulata 'Halkis' are just two, both from Norman Stevens collections.

[Mick McLoughlin]

Martin,
   'Persil' still exists.
http://www.crocus.co.uk/plants/_/shrubs/rhododendrons/rhododendron-persil/itemno.PL00000584/

[Maggi Young]

Martin,
   'Persil' still exists.
http://www.crocus.co.uk/plants/_/shrubs/rhododendrons/rhododendron-persil/itemno.PL00000584/

Nice Azalea.... shame about the name