Cultivar

The international term cultivar denotes an assemblage of cultivated plants that is clearly distinguished by any characters (morphological, physiological, cytological, chemical, or others) and when reproduced (sexually or asexually), retains its distinguishing characters. The term is derived from “cultivated variety,” or their etymological equivalents in other languages. For cultivated plants, the term cultivar is the equivalent of a botanical variety, in accordance with the International Code of Nomenclature of Cultivated Plants 1980. Usage: cultivar names are not italicized and are indicated by single quotes at first use, or the word cultivar (but not both). The abbreviation cv. is properly used only with a binomial name: Genus species cv. cultivar name. Omit the abbreviation if single quotes are used: Genus species ‘cultivar name.’ [Source: USDA National Plant Materials Manual]