Date: Wed, 6 Sep 2000 15:36:02 +0000 From: schlauer@chemie.uni-wuerzburg.de To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com Message-Id: <aabcdefg2731$foo@default> Subject: Re: Cultivar Naming Question
Dear Nigel,
> Suppose person A breeds an unusual new Venus' Fly Trap, decides it's
> worth registering as a cultivar and goes through the process, ending
> up with a cultivar name eg 'Norwegian Blue'. Person A specifies
> vegetative propagation only.
>
> Suppose some time later person B ends up breeding a plant that looks
> identical to VFT 'Norwegian Blue'. It can't be called 'Norwegian
> Blue' because it wasn't vegetatively propagated from the original
> 'Norwegian Blue', but it can't be called anything else because it's
> too similar to the original 'Norwegian Blue'. Is that correct or have
> I misunderstood the rules?
It is almost correct, apart from the fact that the mode of
propagation mentioned in an original cultivar description is a
recommendation in order to *retain* the characteristics of a
cultivar in cultivation. It is not compulsory for the *origination*
of this cultivar. If someone (e.g. person B) manages to breed a plant
that cannot be distinguished from a named cultivar (according to the
criteria specified in the original description by person A, excluding
the mode of origination, but including features of the offspring:
according to Art. 2.2. ICNCP, the characteristics of a cultivar must
be retained if it is propagated by appropriate means!), the plant can
be given the registered name, no matter how the plant was obtained.
This is why descriptions of cultivars should be as precise as
possible.
The relevant article of the ICNCP (Art. 2.18.) reads:
"In considering whether two or more groups of cultivated plants
belong to the same or different cultivars, the origin of each such
group is irrelevant. All indistinguishable variants, irrespective of
their origin, are treated as one cultivar."
Please note: While the ICPS (the cp IRA) publishes the names and
descriptions of cultivars, we are not entitled to judge if a given
plant belongs to a certain cultivar or not (we do only supply the
information required for such judgement), nor do we rank the quality
of cultivars (we do just record notes on awards received as far as
these are communicated to us).
Kind regards
Jan
ICPS, International Registrar
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