NYMPHAEA AND NELUMBO PLANT REGISTRATIONS
Nymphaea and Nelumbo Plant Registrations
Deadline for submissions of Nymphaea and Nelumbo Registrations is November 1st each year.
Cultivars of waterlilies and lotus are registered for two reasons: first to prevent, as much as possible, names that are already appropriated from being given to new hybrids, and second, to prevent the use of names which so closely resemble existing names that they would cause confusion. Names must also conform to the International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants.
The International Waterlily and Water Gardening Society (IWGS) is recognized by the International Society for Horticultural Science as the official registrar for waterlilies (Nymphaeaceae) and lotus (Nelumbonaceae). The registrars’ purpose is to serve local, national and international horticulture through recording and clarifying areas of confusion in the naming and identification of cultivated plants in these families.
The registrars for these two genera are responsible for ensuring that each new cultivar name adheres to the guidelines put forth in the International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants (ICNCP). This publication is created by the International Society for Horticultural Science and details the rules and recommendations for naming plants in cultivation. A downloadable copy of the ICNCP is available at this site.
Use of the RHS Color Chart is recommended in order to complete the registration form where color is requested. Some botanic libraries may have these available or they can be purchased directly from the RHS.
Below you will find links to registration forms for both Nymphaea and Nelumbo cultivars. If you have any questions regarding the registration process, you may contact the registrar listed there.
Nymphaea Registration
Register an account for plants.iwgs.org and fill out the E-registration form under "My registrations". Your iwgs.org account will not work on the plants.iwgs.org subdomain. Complete the Nymphaea E-Registration Form by NOVEMBER 1 of each year.
Please note that any submitted Nymphaea registrations will not be finalized until later this summer. You may continue to file your registrations online.
Effective this year, Nymphaea registrations will be limited to a maximum of 5 cultivars per hybridizer/registrant each year.
Have more than 5 to register? No worries! Simply ensure your new cultivars propagate well and choose 5 more to register next year.
In the last 10 years the number of new cultivar name registrations has grown from 2 a year in 2014 to 117 in 2024.
The additional workload of the registrar and the IWGS volunteers is substantial, so we decided it necessary to limit the number of registrations per person to ensure that we can process everyone requests in a timely manner.
Keep up your great work and thank you for your understanding!
IWGS Nymphaea Registrar
Tamara Kilbane
Denver Botanic Gardens, 909 York Street, Denver, CO 80206 USA
Email: NymphaeaReg.IWGS@gmail.com
Nelumbo Registration
Download the Nelumbo Registration Form by NOVEMBER 1 of each year, and send to:
IWGS Nelumbo registrar:
Daike Tian (Ph.D.), Professor, PI, International Nelumbo Registrar
Shanghai Chenshan Plant Science Research Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Chenshan Botanical Garden
3888 Chenhua Road, Songjiang Shanghai 201602 China
Tel+Fax: 86-21-57762652
E-mail: dktian@sibs.ac.cn