Taxonomic Authorities

AOS awards granted by AOS judges requiring taxonomic identification are the Certificate of Horticultural Merit (CHM), Certificate of Botanical Recognition (CBR), the first award given to a species regardless of awards category, and in special cases, when one or more judge questions the identify of a particular plant. These awards are held as provisional awards pending the taxonomic verification by a botanical authority acceptable to the AOS before they can be processed by the Awards Registrar.

The list of current approved botanical authorities and instructions for submitting samples for identification are linked below.

Specific questions regarding botanical authorities  should be addressed to the Award Registrar.

Related Files

Taxonomic Authorities and Instructions (Adobe PDF File)