Traditionally the identification of cultivars has been based on the visual assessment of a number of specific traits such as leaf shape and size, growth habit and flower colour. The advent of molecular techniques provides an opportunity to generate specific genome marker systems for the identification and study of cultivars. Whilst current work has mainly been centred around the use of random genomic markers such as microsatellites (SSR) the development of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP’s) which can be associated with specific genes, provides an opportunity to predict specific characteristics of a cultivar on the basis of a laboratory assay.