Web Resources

External links are listed here under the categories of organisations, tools & databases and publications. We also provide a recommendation regarding specialist societies.

In all cases, the links open a new window in your browser. You can return to the current page at any time simply by closing the new window.

Organisations

Royal Horticultural Society (RHS): http://www.rhs.org.uk/
Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE): http://www.rbge.org.uk/
Royal Botanic Gardens Kew (RBGKEW): http://www.rbgkew.org.uk/
Sir Harold Hillier Gardens: http://www.hilliergardens.org.uk/
International Society of Horticultural Science (ISHS): http://www.ishs.org/
International Association for Plant Taxonomy (IAPT): http://www.botanik.univie.ac.at/iapt/
International Union of Biological Sciences (IUBS): http://www.iubs.org/
International Association for Cultivated Plant Taxonomy (IACPT): http://www.iacpt.net/
Scottish Agricultural Science Agency (SASA): http://www.sasa.gov.uk/
National Council for the Conservation of Plants and Gardens (NCCPG): http://www.nccpg.com/
Community Plant Variety Office (CPVO): http://www.cpvo.eu.int/
International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV): http://www.upov.int/

Tools & Databases

The International Plant Names Index (IPNI) at http://www.ipni.org/ is an invaluable tool for checking place and date of publication of botanical names, some of which may be interpreted as representing what we would now call cultivars. It is a searchable amalgamation of the Australian Plant Names Index, the Gray Herbarium Index and Index Kewensis, and supersedes each of the published versions.
Index Nominum Genericorum (ING) at http://ravenel.si.edu/botany/ing/ is where details of all validly published botanical generic names may be found, often with details of typification.
Names in Current Use for Extant Plant Genera (NCU-3) at http://www.bgbm.fu-berlin.de/iapt/ncu/genera/ is useful for checking current spelling and gender of generic names and often gives sound information on typification.
The Kew Record of Taxonomic Literature (KR), one of Kew's three searchable bibliographic databases (KBD), is available online at http://www.rbgkew.org.uk/data/kbd-redirect.html and is an extremely useful tool for checking recent known literature within a genus.
Cultivar Checklists for Ornamental Plants at http://herbarium.desu.edu/Cultivar_chklst.pdf is maintained by Art Tucker at the University of Delaware and is an invaluable base reference as to the place of publication of checklists and registers for cultivars in a wide range of plant groups.
International Cultivar Registration Authorities Web pages at http://www.ishs.org/icra/ contain details of the various ICRAs and their areas of responsibilities, along with much other useful information such as a summary of how to form new cultivar names.
The Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN) Taxonomy pages:
http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/index.pl
Mansfeld's World Database of Agricultural and Horticultural Crops:
http://mansfeld.ipk-gatersleben.de/mansfeld/mf-inf_e.htm
PlantScope®: http://www.plantscope.nl/
Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) Horticultural Database:
http://www.rhs.org.uk/databases/summary.asp
Nomenclatural Standards:
http://www.rhs.org.uk/research/standards.asp
International Seed Testing Association (ISTA) - List of Stabilised Plant Names:
http://www.ars-grin.gov/~sbmljw/istaintrod.html
Searchable World Wide Web Multilingual Multiscript Plant Name Database:
http://www.plantnames.unimelb.edu.au/Sorting/Frontpage.html
UK Plant Varieties and Seeds Gazette (listing cultivars currently registered with Plant Breeders' Rights in the UK):
http://www.defra.gov.uk/planth/pvs/gaz.htm

Publications

RHS Plant Finder is available online at:
http://www.rhs.org.uk/rhsplantfinder/plantfinder.asp
International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants (ICNCP or Cultivated Plant Code) is available for sale at:
http://www.ishs.org/sci/icracpco.htm
International Code of Botanical Nomenclature (ICBN or Botanical Code) is available online at:
http://www.bgbm.org/iapt/nomenclature/code/

Specialist Societies

Anyone needing links to specialist societies for particular genera or other groups of plants is recommended to enter the genus name in their usual search engines.

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