A rose registration name is a unique name that distinguishes a rose variety (cultivar) from every other rose variety. All rose registration names are registered by the American Rose Society.
A registration name is either a buyerâÂÂfriendly name consisting of one or more words from natural language, or a code name, where the first three letters signify the breeder, and the other letters are more or less meaningless, e.g. the rose KORschwill bred by Kordes.
A rose registration name can be a commercially viable "fancy" name such as "Silver Anniversary" or "Birthday Girl", or a seemingly nonsensical code name such as "Ausjive" (which can be written AUSjive). Many older varieties and some new ones have one or more words or proper nouns from everyday language such as "Peace" as registration names. Code names were introduced in 1970s and 1980s.
If a variety has a well known name as well as a code name, the code name is often the official registration name. But in some cases, for example Betty Boop, the buyerâÂÂfriendly name Betty Boop is the registration name, and the code name is a registered synonym.
Naming of rose cultivars is guided by the International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants. The code stipulates, amongst other things, that registration names must
Since 1955, the American Rose Society (ARS) is the International Cultivar Registration Authority for Roses (ICRAR or IRAR), appointed by the International Horticulture Congress of the International Society for Horticultural Science. Rose registration names can only be registered through application to the American Rose Society.
The most important rose cultivars bred by major breeders have code names as registration names. A code name or ICRAR code is a unique code, consisting of letters of the 26âÂÂletter Roman alphabet, given to a new registered rose variety, to distinguish it from other varieties (cultivars) of roses.
Rose registration names that do not have the structure of threeâÂÂletter breeder code plus additional letters are also allowed, but are not called âÂÂcodesâÂÂ. Hence some of the existing code names constitute a subset of the registration names of roses, but not all code names are registration names.
In 1978, the Convention of the International Union for the Protection of New Plant Varieties in Geneva, Switzerland voted that each new rose variety registered be given a unique descriptor, the code name.
The reason is that every rose plant sold to the public should be identifiable, whatever the commercial names given the rose for sale to the public in different countries and by different retailers. The code name also protects the breedersâ rights to the cultivar. The code name makes it easy to identify the breeder. The code name is often written on the labels or tags of roses sold by retailers, or in catalogues, below a more buyerâÂÂfriendly commercial name. All rose code names are registered with the American Rose Society, as the rose registration name of the cultivar, or as one of the synonyms.
There are a few variations of the designation for rose code names, such as âÂÂ(rose) breeder codeâÂÂ. The different usages have in common that they include the word âÂÂcodeâÂÂ.
Code names are typically a combination of the first three letters of the breeder's name or company followed by additional letters that make each code name unique. The threeâÂÂletter breder code is usually in upperâÂÂcase letters. However, the International Code for the Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants (9th edition) does not stipulate that the breeder code should be in upperâÂÂcase letters. Examples include MEIclusif, a variety created by Meilland International SA, or BEAdonald, bread by Amanda Beales, working for Peter Beales Roses. BEAdonald is marketed under these names:
Breeder codes consisting of four or five letters exist,) but the current application process only allows threeâÂÂletter breeder codes. Sometimes a code name is written with all letters upperâÂÂcase (MEICLUSIF) or the first letter upperâÂÂcase (Meiclusif). All breeders, also amateurs, are required to request a threeâÂÂletter breeder code from the American Rose Society before their varieties can be registered under a code name of this type with a leading breeder code.
The four terms defined by the American Rose Society are: