s.

1. The Writing of Cultivar-Names

The most important point, perhaps, concerning the names of cultivars is
that they should not be in Latin, but in any modern language using the
so-called Roman alphabet (_i.e._ the alphabet in which English, French,
German, etc., are written). The reason for this is, of course, to
distinguish, at a glance, names of cultivars from names of wild
varieties, which are in Latin. In the future, Latin names for cultivars
will definitely not be allowed by the Code, but we are faced with the
_fait accompli_ of hundreds of existing Latin names which have been
widely used for many years. For example: the dwarf conifers abound with
cultivars called 'nana,' 'prostrata,' 'compacta' and the like, and such
names as 'albus,' 'variegatus,' and 'plenus' occur in almost every
cultivated genus. It would clearly be foolish to try to alter all these,
and the Code accepts such legacies from the past as permanently with us.
(As we shall see, however, a distinction is made between the writing of
Latin cultivar-names and Latin varietal-names.)

The vast majority, then, of cultivar-names are vernacular or "fancy"
names like 'Winston Churchill.' How should the full name of a cultivar
be written? The complete and technically correct form, including the
Latin name of the species from which the cultivar has been derived, is
illustrated in the following example: _Sedum spectabile_ Boreau, cv.
'Brilliant,' but I hasten to add that this lengthy designation is for
use only on full-dress occasions! In the example, _Sedum_ is the name of
the genus, _spectabile_ the name of the species (technically called the
"specific epithet"), Boreau the name of the man who first described the
species under that name (technically called "the authority" for the
name), cv. the abbreviation of cultivar, and 'Brilliant' the
cultivar-name for the particular cultivar concerned. It should be noted
(1) that the generic name and specific epithet are printed in italics,
(2) that the cultivar-name begins with a capital letter, is printed in
ordinary Roman type, and is enclosed in _single_ quotation marks, and
(3) that there is no "authority" after the cultivar-name. These three
points are important, and apply to the writing of all names of
cultivars. If we wish to cut down this rather formidable string of words
for every-day use, the authority can be omitted in all except very
technical writing. Secondly, the abbreviation cv. can normally be