Varietas

Varietas, Latin for "variety," is a term used in biological taxonomy to denote a taxon below species.

In botany, varietas (var.) is an intraspecific rank below species; varieties are naturally occurring, heritable variants that differ in minor ways such as leaf shape, color, or fruit characteristics. Names take the form Speciesname var. Varietasname. Cultivated varieties are usually referred to as cultivars.

In zoology, "variety" was used in older literature to describe discrete populations with distinct traits, but there is no formal rank named variety in modern codes; many such populations are now treated as subspecies or as forms.

The term varietas remains most common in botanical contexts. In horticulture, the term cultivar is preferred for named cultivated varieties, while varietas denotes naturally occurring variation within a species, without implying a distinct taxonomic unit. The concept highlights intraspecific diversity but does not imply species status.