Cultigen
plant that has been deliberately altered by humans; result of artificial selection; man-made or anthropogenic plants
A cultigen (from Latin cultus 'cultivated' and gens 'kind'), or cultivated plant, is a plant that has been deliberately altered or selected by humans, by means of genetic modification, graft-chimaeras, plant breeding, or wild or cultivated plant selection. These plants have commercial value in horticulture, agriculture and forestry. Plants meeting this definition remain cultigens whether they are naturalised, deliberately planted in the wild, or grown in cultivation.
Naming
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 named. The items in the list can be in any rank. It is more common currently for cultigens to be given names in accordance with the International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants (ICNCP) principles, rules and recommendations, which provide for the names of cultigens in three categories: the cultivar, the Group (formerly the cultivar-group), and the grex. The ICNCP does not recognize the use of trade designations and other marketing devices as scientifically acceptable names; it does provide advice on how they should be presented.
Not all cultigens have been given names according to the ICNCP. Apart from ancient cultigens, there may be occasional anthropogenic plants, such as those that are the result of breeding, selection, and tissue grafting, that are considered of no commercial value and have therefore not been given names according to the ICNCP.
Origin of term
The word cultigen was coined in 1918 by Liberty Hyde Bailey (1858–1954), an American horticulturist, botanist and cofounder of the American Society for Horticultural Science. He created the term from the thought of a need for special categories for cultivated plants that had arisen by intentional human activity and which would not fit neatly into the Linnaean hierarchical classification of ranks used by the International Rules of Botanical Nomenclature (which later became the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants).
In his 1918 paper, Bailey noted that for anyone preparing a descriptive account of the cultivated plants of a region (he was at that time preparing such an account for North America), it would be clear that there are two gentes or kinds (Latin singular gens, plural gentes) of plants.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Cultigen” as plant that has been deliberately altered by humans; result of artificial selection; man-made or anthropogenic plants. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the science & nature register because the source frames it as plant that has been deliberately altered by humans; result of artificial selection; man-made or anthropogenic plants. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
The date and method of observation matter as much as the stated conclusion, especially where classification or consensus has changed. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 7, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1362373. The Library of Congress control number is sh85102884. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1918, 1858 and 1954.
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This entry incorporates text from “Cultigen” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.