What does cultivar mean?
A cultivar is a variety of a plant that exists because people deliberately selected, bred, and propagated it — a word combining 'cultivated' and 'variety'. Unlike wild varieties that arise naturally, a cultivar is maintained only through human intervention: if gardeners stopped growing it, it would typically disappear, since most do not come true from seed. Cultivar names are formally governed by international botanical rules and are written in quotation marks, as in Rosa 'Peace' or Malus domestica 'Honeycrisp'. The term is central to horticulture, agriculture, and gardening, where distinguishing between named cultivars matters for consistency of traits such as fruit flavour, flower colour, or disease resistance. Coined in 1923 by American botanist Liberty Hyde Bailey, the word has become indispensable shorthand for anyone describing the vast diversity of plants humans have shaped.
nounA variety of a plant that has been produced and maintained by selective cultivation, especially one distinct enough to be given a cultivated name under horticultural nomenclature.
- A plant variety produced and maintained by deliberate cultivation, formally designated in botanical nomenclature with a name following the ICNCP rules.
"The 'Honeycrisp' apple is a popular cultivar prized for its crisp texture and balanced sweetness."
"'Rosa 'Peace' remains one of the most widely grown rose cultivars in the world.'"
"Farmers in the region switched to a drought-tolerant wheat cultivar developed at the local agricultural station."
Regular pluralization applies; used freely in horticultural and agricultural writing.
"The trial compared yields across twelve different barley cultivars."
The word 'cultivar' was invented in 1923 by Liberty Hyde Bailey to replace the clumsy phrase 'cultivated variety' — and it stuck so well that botanists now register new ones by name.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of cultivar
The word 'cultivar' was coined in 1923 by the influential American botanist Liberty Hyde Bailey, who formed it as a portmanteau of 'cultivated' and 'variety'. It derives ultimately from the Latin verb 'colere', meaning to till, cultivate, or dwell, which also gives English words like culture, colony, and cultivate. Bailey introduced the term precisely because the existing phrase 'cultivated variety' was cumbersome, and it was rapidly adopted in botanical and horticultural literature worldwide.
How cultivar is actually used
Cultivar names are written in single quotation marks (e.g. 'Granny Smith') and are not italicized. The term is standard in horticulture, agriculture, and botany; it carries no connotation of quality — it simply denotes cultivated origin. Cultivars typically do not breed true from seed and must be propagated vegetatively or by controlled breeding to remain stable.
Easily confused with cultivar
A species is the broader biological classification of organisms capable of interbreeding, while a cultivar is merely a selected cultivated variety within a species.
Variety is a broader term covering naturally occurring as well as bred plant variants, whereas cultivar specifically denotes a plant maintained only through deliberate cultivation.