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Cultivar


The term cultivar is, most commonly, referring to an assemblage of plants selected for desirable characteristics that are maintained during propagation. More generally, cultivar refers to the most basic classification category of cultivated plants governed by the ICNCP. Most cultivars have arisen in cultivation, but a few are special selections from the wild.

Popular ornamental garden plants like roses, camellias, daffodils, rhododendrons, and azaleas are cultivars produced by careful breeding and selection for flower colour and form. Similarly, the world's agricultural food crops are almost exclusively cultivars that have been selected for characteristics such as improved yield, flavour, and resistance to disease and very few wild plants are now used as food sources. Trees used in forestry are also special selections grown for their enhanced quality and yield of timber.

Cultivars form a major part of Liberty Hyde Bailey's broader grouping, the cultigen, defined as a plant whose origin or selection is primarily due to intentional human activity.Cultivar was coined by Bailey and it is generally regarded as a portmanteau of "cultivated" and "variety", but could also be derived from "cultigen" and "variety". A cultivar is not the same as a botanical variety, a taxonomic rank below subspecies, and there are differences in the rules for creating and using the names of botanical varieties and cultivars. In recent times, the naming of cultivars has been complicated by the use of statutory plant patents and plant breeders' rights names.


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