Which statement best defines a cultivar in plant naming?

Which statement best defines a cultivar in plant naming?

• A. A named cultivated plant variety distinguished by humans
• B. A wild plant species
• C. A hybrid species
• D. A geographic population

Answer: (A)

A cultivar is a named cultivated plant variety produced and maintained by humans because of specific, desirable traits they want to preserve. This means the group of plants has been selected or bred in cultivation, and those traits are stable enough to reproduce—often through asexual propagation to keep the characteristics consistent. It differs from a wild plant species, which exists and evolves in nature without deliberate human selection, from a hybrid species, which is a cross that may or may not be kept as a stable, propagable form, and from a geographic population, which is simply a natural grouping by location rather than a human-selected form. So the statement that best defines a cultivar is that it is a named cultivated plant variety distinguished by humans.

A cultivar is a named cultivated plant variety produced and maintained by humans because of specific, desirable traits they want to preserve. This means the group of plants has been selected or bred in cultivation, and those traits are stable enough to reproduce—often through asexual propagation to keep the characteristics consistent. It differs from a wild plant species, which exists and evolves in nature without deliberate human selection, from a hybrid species, which is a cross that may or may not be kept as a stable, propagable form, and from a geographic population, which is simply a natural grouping by location rather than a human-selected form. So the statement that best defines a cultivar is that it is a named cultivated plant variety distinguished by humans.