Cultivar vs. Clone?

[josterha]

Hi All,

I was wondering about something about plant tags. Sometimes you have a tag that ID's the Genus and Grex, and sometimes it ID's the Genus, Grex AND a cultivar name. I understand that sometimes a particularly great individual plant will be named, awarded, and maybe cloned - that's where the cultivar name in the single quotes comes from. However, if the cultivar is not there, then what? For instance, I have a Doritaenopsis Queen Beer. There is no 'Cultivar Name' given. Does that mean that I have a clone? Otherwise, how could the grower know that the offspring plant that I bought would really look like a Queen Beer. I recently learned that crosses of two parent plants can have radically different appearing offspring. I'm just a little confused. Can anyone help?

THanks!

John