A cultivar is a particular plant with "desirable" traits. When reproduced, all plants must retain the original traits (i.e. stem cuttings, leaf pullings, etc.).
Cultivars are not unique to
Nepenthes. One problem is when people recreate the same cross from the parents of the cultivar, most notably,
Pinguicula, as Joseph has discussed several times.
For example, the cultivar
N. 'Lady Pauline' is a selected
Nepenthes from the cross
N. talangensis x
maxima. Since no two seed grown plants are ever identical (especially in
Nepenthes) this particular plant was selected and registered and received cultivar status. If you were to cross
N. talagensis (f) and
N. maxima (m) you would not create a
N. 'Lady Pauline'.
Cultivars are notated by the single quotations (') around the name.
I'll see if I can find one of Joseph's posts about false cultivars.
xvart.