Species, Variety, Cultivar

Posted in Evolution of plants, General Information, Plant science

Groups

  • Angiosperms: Flowering plants
  • Gymnosperms: Conifers, cycads, allies
  • Pteridophytes: Ferns
  • Bryophytes: Mosses and liverworts

    • Families:

  • Currently 642 families

    • Genus:

  • Currently 17,020
  • Group of related plants
  • Origin, type, group

    • Species:

  • Genus name + specific feature that makes it different than other plants in Genus
  • Breeds true from seeds or cloning
  • The largest group in which two parents can create fertile offspring

    • Variety:

  • Usually occurs in nature and have same characteristics of parents
  • Seeds from varieties usually have same characteristics
  • Always written in lower case

    • Hybrid:

  • Crosses between species or different parentage in the species
  • Seeds rarely breed true

    • Cultivar:

  • Cultivated variety, created by humans. Some are mutations, some are hybrids of two plants.
  • Seeds don’t usually breed true, propagation by cloning is needed ( from cuttings, tissue culture )
  • First letter of a cultivar is capitalized

    • Heirloom:

  • Varieties found in nature for at least 50 years

    • The Plant List on going list of all known plant species