Coffee Plants of the World — Specialty Coffee Association
In sexually reproducing organisms (i.e. higher plants, such as coffees), species consist of individuals that can breed with each other to produce viable offspring.
A botanical variety is a rank in the taxonomic hierarchy below the rank of species and subspecies and above the rank of form (form / variety / subspecies / species / genus / etc.). It will have an appearance distinct from other varieties, but will hybridize freely with those other varieties. Another meaning, as used by plant breeders and in legal texts, is synonymous with cultivar and can have legal implications.
Cultivated variants of a species originating through human influence. These could be selected from existing cultivated stock or from wild populations. It is a systematic group of cultivated plants that is clearly distinct, uniform, and stable in its characteristics and which, when propagated with the appropriate methods, retain the same characteristics.
The offspring of two plants or animals of different species, varieties, cultivars, or lines. A hybrid plant is formed by cross-pollinating plants of different types. The strictest sense of this definition considers hybrids only crosses between different species (compared with crosses within individuals of the same species).
