A patent granted and recorded by a patent agency, such as the U.S. Patent Office, specifically for plants. The development of a new species or hybrid often takes a considerable investment in both years and money. A plant patent protects that investment by recognizing the hybridizer as the sole owner of the patented plant. As such, any attempt to reproduce a patented plant is prohibited except by licensed propagators or by those to whom the owner of the patent has otherwise given express permission. Patent information is usually printed on the tag or plant stake accompanying the plant.

a federal grant of an exclusionary right that simply provides a means of control for the patent owner over a new plant's propagation, use, and sale during the life of the patent

a grant by the government to an inventor (or his heirs or assigns) who has "invented" or discovered and asexually reproduced a distinct and new variety of plant, other than a tuber propagated plant or a plant found in an uncultivated state