Nomenclature Committee

The American Hosta Society is a dedicated to the study of the genus Hosta. Part of the many benefits provided for members and the hosta nursery trade is the society’s involvement in maintaining standards for the classification and nomenclature of Hosta species and cultivars. The society has made this task part of its mission by maintaining a classification and nomenclature committee and by supporting the registration of Hosta cultivars.

The mission of the nomenclature committee is to prevent confusion over species and cultivar names in the gardening world and establish standards by which hostas are named. In botany and horticulture, the naming of plant species and cultivars must follow international rules so that all botanists and horticulturists follow the same naming principles the world over. A plant species occurring in the wild and assigned a binomial is in botany referred to as a taxon (pl. taxa) and the naming must follow the rules of the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature (ICBN), currently the 2006 (Vienna) Code adopted by the Seventeenth International Botanical Congress, Vienna, Austria, July 2005. The classification and nomenclature committee evaluates several international databases (International Plant Names Index, MOBOT VAST, Flora of China, Flora of North America and other lists) and all applicable scientific literature to maintain correct botanical nomenclature. The classification and nomenclature committee is chaired by W. George Schmid , who can be contacted for further information.

There is also a set of rules for naming garden plants (cultivars), which is sometimes called culton (pl. culta), but the name “cultivar” is generally used. Rules for naming cultivars are set forth by the International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants (ICNCP), currently the 2004 Code established by the IUBS Commission for the Nomenclature of Cultivated Plants (in ISHS Acta Horticulturae 647). Cultivar names are registered with the International Registrar for the Genus Hosta under the auspices of The American Hosta Society. This AHS office is held by Kevin P. Walek, 9122 John Way, Fairfax Station, VA 22039-3042; TEL. 703.798.5501; Web site AHSRegistrar@aol.com. Registration establishes a permanent record of names and descriptions, which are kept on the Registrar’s Web site. It also provides benefits for registrants by establishing a record of “ownership” of a cultivar (and its name) for the originator/introducer. Registration also provides means for having a cultivar name and description published. Further information on registration of cultivars is available on the link Registering Hosta elsewhere on this AHS Web site

W. George Schmid
Author, The genus Hosta – Giboshi Zoku (ギボウシ属)
Chair, AHS Nomenclature Committee

Revised 2008-01-31