Cultivar

A cultivar is a plant or group of plants that has been selected for specific, desirable characteristics and is maintained through propagation to retain those traits. The term is short for cultivated variety and is used in horticulture and botany to distinguish human-selected, propagated lines from naturally occurring plants.

Cultivars arise from intentional breeding or selection, often starting from a wild species or an existing cultivated plant. For a plant to be recognized as a cultivar, it must meet criteria of distinctness, uniformity, and stability in its essential characteristics from generation to generation, commonly referred to as the DUS criteria.

Naming of cultivars follows the International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants. The cultivar name is placed after the scientific name and written in quotation marks, for example Rosa 'Peace' or Lilium 'Stargazer'. Distinct cultivar names help distinguish one line from another within the same species.

Propagation methods are chosen to preserve uniformity. Many cultivars are clonally propagated through cuttings, grafting, layering, or tissue culture to ensure identical offspring. Seed-propagated cultivars may be true-to-type, but some seed progeny can vary, making propagation by seeds less predictable for maintaining traits.

Cultivars cover a wide range of crops and ornamentals and can be subject to legal protections such as plant breeders’ rights or patents. The concept emphasizes human-directed selection and reproducibility, distinguishing cultivated varieties from naturally occurring plant variation.