085 Horticultural (Cultivated Plant) Taxonomic Research within ASHS
Horticultural Science in the past quarter of a century has been shifting to increased emphasis on ornamental plants due to the growth of the modern green industry. Numerous species are being introduced into the exterior and interior landscapes. For popular species, the cultivar, as defined by the International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants (ICNCP), has become the basic taxon of cultivated plants. Named ornamental plant cultivars are rising at a rapid rate creating identification and segregation problems in the landscape industry, nurseries, botanic gardens, arboreta, and breeding programs. Government regulations and legal issues are beginning to infringe as solutions to the problems. There is a critical need existing for taxonomic research on ornamental cultivars utilizing classical morphological analysis supplemented with modern biotechnological techniques (e.g., anatomical, chemical, cytological, DNA, Sem analysis). Taxonomic research on existing and newer cultivars can provide quantitative botanical descriptions, keys of segregation, correct identification, determination of correct names and synonymy, improved cultivar documentation, and grouping of similar cultivars in large complexes. The taxonomic research is basic science that has immediate applied application within the horticultural society, and results should be published in the journals of ASHS.