International Carnivorous Plant Society

Cultivars

The ICPS is the International Cultivar Registration Authority (ICRA) for cultivated carnivorous plants, appointed by the International Society for Horticultural Science (ISHS) on November 10, 1998. In order to promote uniformity, accuracy and stability in the naming of cultivated carnivorous plants, all names of carnivorous plant cultivars and cultivar-groups must be registered with the ICPS. If you have a carnivorous plant that should receive a registered cultivar name, you must do two things.

  1. You must write a description of the plant and have the description with a color photograph published in a book, journal such as Carnivorous Plant Newsletter, or other comparable printed publication.
     

  2. If the description is not published in CPN, a completed cultivar registration form should be submitted to the ICPS Cultivar Registrar after it is published to alert the registrar about the name.

You may register your new name with the ICPS without having previously published a cultivar description. In this case, your cultivar description will eventually be printed in Carnivorous Plant Newsletter, subject to the space availability in that publication.

The most detailed aspect of registering a cultivar name is probably writing the description of the plant. This description must indicate the precise features which make the plant different from other plants, and in particular, different from all other cultivars. A deserving cultivar is a special plant. Point out its special features! Additionally, the ICPS requires a nomenclatural standard (a color photograph/photographs that show/s all distinguishing features), together with a permit from the copyright holder to the ICPS to reproduce the standard for the purposes of registration and documentation which includes public distribution.

 

Registration Forms may be used to register a cultivar.

Cultivars published in CPN do not require a registration form. All the information required for the form should be in the published description of the cultivar.

 

 

A list of all registered CP cultivars is located at cpnames.carnivorousplants.org/Cultivars.php.

 

Visit CP Names Database

 

A list of all cultivars published in Carnivorous Plant Newsletter and their descriptions is located at cpn.carnivorousplants.org/CultivarDescriptions.php.

 

Visit CPN Archive

 

 

The denomination classes (groups of plants within which the use of a cultivar or cultivar-group name may not be duplicated) to be covered by the ICPS are: 

  • Sarraceniaceae (to include Sarracenia, Heliamphora and Darlingtonia)
  • Roridulaceae (Roridula)
  • Byblidaceae (Byblis)
  • Cephalotaceae (Cephalotus)
  • Droseraceae (to include Aldrovanda, Dionaea and Drosera)
  • Drosophyllaceae (Drosophyllum)
  • Nepenthaceae (Nepenthes)
  • Dioncophyllaceae (to include Triphyophyllum, Habropetalum* and Dioncophyllum*)
  • Martyniaceae (to include Ibicella*, Martynia*, Craniolaria* and Proboscidea*)
  • Lentibulariaceae (to include Pinguicula, Genlisea and Utricularia)

Please note that some of the genera listed above (marked with an asterisk *) are not carnivorous. They have been included because they are frequently associated with carnivorous plants in the horticultural practice or because they are closely related to carnivorous plants. Other groups with carnivorous species (e.g. Bromeliaceae) are not included because they are covered by other ICRAs. The generic names will include all synonyms or segregations (e.g. Utricularia will include Biovularia and Polypompholyx). Thus, the denomination classes are the genera listed in their widest taxonomic circumscription.