Explain the difference between a cultivar and a species name, and provide an example.

Explain the difference between a cultivar and a species name, and provide an example.

• A. Cultivar is the scientific name; species is a common name.
• B. Species name is the scientific name (Malus domestica); cultivar is a human-selected variety with distinct traits (Malus domestica 'Granny Smith').
• C. Species name refers to plant family; cultivar to genus.
• D. Cultivar and species names are interchangeable.

Answer: (B)

In plant naming, the species name is the universal scientific label for a wild or natural population, while a cultivar is a human-selected variety with distinct traits that is maintained through propagation. For the domestic apple, the species name is Malus domestica. A cultivar example is Granny Smith, which is a specific cultivated variety of that species. When you write the full name, you put the species in italics (Malus domestica) and add the cultivar in single quotes to indicate it’s a particular cultivated line: Malus domestica 'Granny Smith'. The cultivar name identifies a chosen variety, not the general species, and is not the same as the scientific binomial for the species. Therefore, the correct distinction is that the species name is the scientific name for the species, while the cultivar name marks a human-selected, clonally propagated variety.

In plant naming, the species name is the universal scientific label for a wild or natural population, while a cultivar is a human-selected variety with distinct traits that is maintained through propagation. For the domestic apple, the species name is Malus domestica. A cultivar example is Granny Smith, which is a specific cultivated variety of that species. When you write the full name, you put the species in italics (Malus domestica) and add the cultivar in single quotes to indicate it’s a particular cultivated line: Malus domestica 'Granny Smith'. The cultivar name identifies a chosen variety, not the general species, and is not the same as the scientific binomial for the species. Therefore, the correct distinction is that the species name is the scientific name for the species, while the cultivar name marks a human-selected, clonally propagated variety.