Australian Cultivar Registration Authority (ACRA)
The Australian Cultivar Registration Authority (ACRA) is an organisation whose primary function is to register cultivars of Australian plants. The activities of ACRA are co-ordinated by the Registrar, Secretary and a committee formed by representatives of each of the major regional (State) botanic gardens, the Australian Native Plants Society, and the Greenlife Industry Australia.
ACRA was created in 1962 and was incorporated as an association (Association no. A01593) in the Australian Capital Territory on 10 April 1989. The office is maintained at the Australian National Botanic Gardens (ANBG) in Canberra. The ANBG assists ACRA by providing a work station and supporting services, and the facilities of the Australian National Herbarium to process and store herbarium specimens.
Under the 2004 International Code for Nomenclature of Cultivated Plants ACRA is the "International Registration Authority for Australian plant genera excluding those covered by other authorities". This includes all endemic genera and all predominantly Australian genera. ACRA will register all Australian varieties granted registration by the Australian Plant Breeders Rights (PBR) office (subject to all registration requirements being met).
ACRA registers the cultivars of Australian native plants, in accordance with the International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants. It does this by recording the name, assessing suitability and develops a description submitted for registration and publishes this information.
It also maintains a register, together with correspondence files, herbarium specimens, photographic collections and any other necessary information on these cultivars.
In addition it records the published names of all cultivars of Australian native plants and hybrids between Australian and exotic plants (excluding Rhododendron and Orchidaceae) and these are recorded in the Australian Plant Name Index (APNI).
It also aims to cooperate with other organisations and individuals engaged in activities compatible with these objectives and endeavours to encourage the horticultural development of the Australian flora
What is a cultivar?
The cultivar is the basic grouping, or taxon (= culton), for cultivatedvarieties. The word was coined by L. H. Bailey in 1923 and is now commonly used. Their naming is governed by the International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants (ICNCP). This is a separate system to that used for wild plants, the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature (ICNB).
"By cultivated plants is meant plants raised in cultivation which differ sufficiently from their wild ancestors or, if taken into cultivation from the wild, are worthy enough of distinction from wild populations for horticultural purposes to merit special names"
W.T. Stearn (1986)
The rank of cultivar (ICNCP) is not the same as the categoriesvariety or form in ICBN. A cultivar name can only be given to cultivated plants whose origin or selection is primarily due to the intentional actions of mankind. Normal forms of plants brought from the wild into cultivation retain the same name (ICBN) and similarly plant forms maintained solely by cultivation practices are not eligible for cultivar status. It is important to note that not all plants in cultivation are cultivars, and not all cultivars are in cultivation!
The equivalent of the ICBN type is the standard. This usually includes a herbarium specimen and a description. The standard may only be a description or illustration and in the case of grain crops it is usually just a sample of seed.
Plants that can be considered as cultivars include:
- deliberate hybrids
- accidental hybrids in cultivation
- selection from existing cultivated stock
- selection from variants within a wild population and maintained as a recognisable entity solely by continued propagation
Hybrids, which are created sexually, can be either maintained asexually or by seed. F1 hybrids, which require to be re-created for each new generation, qualify as cultivars if the cross produces stable, repeatable forms.
Selections are usually asexually propagated (cloned) to maintain a particular plant form. Clones can be created in a variety of ways. For example, they may be taken from parts of the plant which result in a particular growth habit as when prostrate plants are derived from cuttings of lateral branches. Some clones maintain a particular phase of the plants life cycle. For example many Ficus cultivars are selected from forms of juvenile leaves that are maintained in a juvenile state. A common source of new cultivars is aberrant growth such as variegation of leaves.
To find out more about cultivars, visit the web site of the International Cultivar Registration Authority.
Why are stable plant names important?
The primary aim is to promote stable nomenclature. This helps nursery owners to protect their property rights, plant breeders can relate knowledge of genetics to plant material, taxonomists know what they are working with, communicators can have more confidence in the information they publish, retailers can source plant material, and the general public can link their purchases to published information on gardening.
For the trade user the use of correct nomenclature should be part of quality assurance accreditation and that the approved (internationally accepted) name should appear on plant labels regardless of the trademarked or promotional name used. Registration of a cultivar does not give the applicant any intellectual property rights (unlike PBR), but it does prevent another individual obtaining exclusive rights through PBR (cultivar piracy is not unknown in Australia).