Introduction to Cultivar Registration

International Cultivar Registration Authorities (ICRAs) are appointed by the International Society for Horticultural Science (ISHS) through its Commission for Nomenclature and Registration and are contracted to operate within the provisions of the current edition of the International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants (ICNCP).

The purpose of an ICRA is to:

Promote fixity and stability in the nomenclature of cultivars and cultivar-groups within designated plant groups and to produce and promote authoritative checklists and registers of all names known to have been in use in such groups. The importance of horticultural taxonomy is in the resolution of the often complicated identification and nomenclatural problems that arise as a consequence of makeup of the contributing groups, specialist amateurs, and nursery trade and plant societies.

The International Waterlily and Water Gardening Society (IWGS) is recognized by the International Society for Horticultural Science as the official registrars of Nymphaeaceae and Nelumbonaceae. The IWGS has designated Jim Purcell and Verena Leichti as the ICRA for Nymphaeaceae (waterlily family) and Dr. Ken Tilt Auburn University Horticultural Lotus Project as the registrar for Nelumbo (lotus). Their purpose is to serve local, national and international horticulture through recording and clarifying areas of confusion in the naming and identification of cultivated plants in these families.

Cultivars of Nymphaea and Nelumbo are registered for two reasons -- first "to prevent, as far as possible, names already appropriated being given to new seedlings, and secondly to prevent the use of names which so closely resemble existing names that they would cause confusion. In these and in other ways names must also conform to the International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants.

Registration and Checklist

Standards (a specimen, seed sample or illustration kept and maintained to demonstrate the diagnostic characteristics of a cultivar) are suggested but not required. Plant registration BG data base are maintained by Jim Purcell or Verena Liechti for Nymphaea and Dr. Ken Tilt for Nelumbo. Registrants wishing to register a new cultivar name should contact the above to achieve this. The Official IWGS Names of Water-lilies and Nelumbo database is dedicated to developing an on-line Register of all cultivar names with links to associated literature (protologues) within this family and denomination classes. This can only develop with help from our members and aquatic plant enthusiasts world-wide. If you notice a mistake or wish to submit an amendment to the database, please contact the registrars to send your suggestions. It is the eventual aim of these pages to have links to standards, images and illustrations that together constitute standard portfolios.

The International Nymphaeaceae and Nelumbonaceae Register contains the names of Nymphaea or Nelumbo species and cultivars. The following is the key information the Registrar tracks on each cultivar epithet. Browsing or searching the International Register allows users to obtain the following information:

• Accepted Epithet — The final word or combination of words in a name that denotes an individual cultivar, one that has been established under the International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants (2004)
• Protologue citation — The name or abbreviated name of the first publication of a cultivar epithet
• Protologue — A digital copy of the original protologue (name, description)
• Synonymy — A list of synonyms and synonym publications
• Authors — For species and infraspecific ranks only
• Parentage — The parentage of the hybrid as listed in the protologue
• Hybridizer — The person(s) who first made a hybrid cross
• Originator — The breeder, hybridizer, raiser or discoverer who first recognizes the potential attributes of a plant or group of plants
• Nominant — The person(s) who invents or coins the name for a cultivar
• Registrant — The person(s) who first registers a cultivar

The main duties of the Registrar are:

• to register cultivar and cultivar-group epithets and to ensure their establishment;
• to publish full lists of all cultivar and cultivar-group epithets; and
• to maintain records, in as great a detail as is practical, of the origin, characteristics and history of each cultivar and cultivar-group.

It is not the duty of the International Registration Authority:

• to conduct trials;
• to judge whether one cultivar or cultivar-group is more meritorious or more useful than another; or
• to judge distinctiveness of cultivars or cultivar-groups.