Cultivar

A cultivar is a type of plant that has been selected and cultivated by humans for specific traits, such as appearance, flavor, or resistance to pests. The word cultivar comes from the combination of cultivated and variety, indicating that it is a distinct and uniform group of plants within a species. Cultivars are propagated by methods such as seeds, cuttings, grafting, or tissue culture, and they retain their characteristics in each generation. For example, the 'Pink Whirls' cultivar of Osteospermum is a flowering plant that has been bred for its pink and white petals that form a spiral pattern. Cultivars are named according to the rules of the International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants, which require a botanical name followed by a cultivar epithet in quotation marks. For example, Osteospermum 'Pink Whirls'.