what are cultivars

Cultivars, short for "cultivated varieties," are plants that have been selected for desired traits and propagated not from seed, but rather vegetatively, for example, via stem cuttings. The term "cultivar" is commonly used in discussing plant taxonomy. When the full scientific name for a particular plant cultivar is given, the part of the name that indicates the cultivar itself follows the genus name and the species name. Furthermore, its first letter is capitalized, and the name is often set off by single quotation marks. Cultivars are distinct assemblages of plants that have been selected for a particular character or combination of characters and are propagated to retain those traits. Cultivars can be derived from non-native plants or native ones, and cultivars derived from native plants are often called "nativars". Cultivars can have sterile flowers and produce no seeds, and most cultivars are created by cloning, in which clones of the parent plant are produced.