AGroup[1] (previouslycultivar-group[2]) is a formal category in theInternational Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants (ICNCP) used for cultivated plants (cultivars) that share a defined characteristic.[1] It is represented in abotanical name by the symbolGroup orGp. "Group" or "Gp" is always written with a capitalG in a botanical name, orepithet.[a] The Group is not italicized in a plant's name.[1] TheICNCP introduced the term and symbol "Group" in 2004, as a replacement for the lengthy and hyphenated "cultivar-group", which had previously been the category's name since 1969. For the old name "cultivar-group", the non-standard abbreviationcv. group orcv. Group is also sometimes encountered.[3] There is a slight difference in meaning, since a cultivar-group was defined to comprise cultivars,[2] whereas a Group may include individual plants.[1]The cultivar-groups, in turn, replaced the similar categoryconvariety (convar.), which did not necessarily contain named varieties.[4]
The ICNCP distinguishes between the terms "group" and "Group", a "group" being "an informal taxon not recognized in theICBN", while a "Group" is the formal taxon defined by the ICNCP (see above).[5]
This categorization does not apply toplant taxonomy generally, only tohorticultural andagricultural contexts. Any given Group may have a different taxonomic classification, such as asubspecific name (typically aform orvariety name, given in italics) after the genus and species.
A Group is usually united by a distinct common trait, and often includes members of more than one species within a genus.[6] For example, early flowering cultivars in the genusIris form theIris Dutch Group. A plant species that loses its taxonomic status in botany, but still has agricultural or horticultural value, meets the criteria for a cultivar group, and its former botanical name can be reused as the name of its cultivar group. For example,Hosta fortunei is usually no longer recognized as a species, and theICNCP states that theepithetfortunei can be used to formHosta Fortunei Group.[1]
Every word in a Group name is capitalized (unless that conflicts with linguistic custom; for example, lower-case is used after a hyphen in a hyphenated term, like "Red-skinned", and for conjunctions and prepositions except in the first word of the name). This is followed by the capitalized word "Group". The combined Group name is not italicized or otherwise stylized, and follows the italicized Latin epithet. It can also be used after a vernacular name for the species, genus, or other category. Examples:[1]
"Group" may be abbreviated "Gp" (without a terminal. character[b]). A cultivar group may be surrounded by parentheses (round brackets) for clarity in long epithets:[1]
ICNCP illustrates this order consistently, though in actual practice the cultivar name in single quotation marks may come before that of the cultivar group (with or without parentheses):
"Group" is translated in non-English material, and uses the word order of the language in question, but is always capitalized. Translation may or may not be applied to the name itself. For example, "Chater's Double Group" may appear as "Groupe Chater's Double" in French (retaining the English name but translating "Group" and using French word order), yet with full translation as "Chaters Doppelte Gruppe" in German.[1]
Groups are not necessarily mutually exclusive. For example, the same potato may be designatedSolanum tuberosum Maincrop Group, orSolanum tuberosum Red-skinned Group, or given with both asSolanum tuberosum Maincrop Red-skinned Group, "depending on the purpose of the classification used".[1]
Art. 3.1: "The formal category which may comprise cultivars, individual plants or combinations thereof on the basis of defined character-based similarity is the Group"; Glossary: "Group - a formal category denoting an assemblage of cultivars, individual plants, or assemblages of plants on the basis of defined similarity"
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