Cultigen

A cultigen () or cultivated plant is a plant that has been deliberately altered or selected by humans. Cultigens result from artificial selection. These plants have commercial value in horticulture, agriculture or forestry. Because cultigens are defined by their mode of origin and not by where they grow, plants meeting this definition remain cultigens whether they are naturalised, deliberately planted in the wild, or grown in cultivation. Cultigens arise in the following ways: through the selection of variants from the wild or cultivation, including vegetative sports (aberrant growth that can be reproduced reliably in cultivation); from plants that are the result of plant breeding and selection programs; from genetically modified plants (plants modified by the deliberate implantation of genetic material); or from graft-chimaeras (plants grafted to produce mixed tissue with graft material from wild plants, special selections, or hybrids). Cultigens may be named in any of a number of ways. The traditional method of scientific naming is under the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants, and many of the most important cultigens, like maize (Zea mays) and banana (Musa acuminata), are so named. Although it is perfectly in order to give a cultigen a botanical name, in any rank desired, now or at any other time, these days it is more common for cultigens to be given names in accordance with the principles, rules and recommendations laid down in the International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants (ICNCP) which provides for the names of cultigens in three classification categories, the cultivar, the Group (formerly cultivar-group), and the grex. With this, one could say that there is a separate discipline of cultivated plant taxonomy, which forms one of the ways to look at cultigens. The ICNCP does not recognize the use of trade designations and other marketing devices as scientifically acceptable names, but does provide advice on how they should be presented.