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cultigen (KUHL-tuh-jen) - n., a cultivated plant created by artificial (rather than natural) selection.
Or to put it another way, a cultivated plant with no known wild counterpart (because it has been bred to be so different from any naturally occurring plant) or different enough from its wild ancestor to be a separate species. Examples: banana, corn/maize, kidney bean. The contrast word is indigen. Coined in 1918 by American horticulturalist Liberty Hyde Bailey from culti(vate) (from Latin roots) + gen(s) (from Latin meaning kind/type).
---L.
Or to put it another way, a cultivated plant with no known wild counterpart (because it has been bred to be so different from any naturally occurring plant) or different enough from its wild ancestor to be a separate species. Examples: banana, corn/maize, kidney bean. The contrast word is indigen. Coined in 1918 by American horticulturalist Liberty Hyde Bailey from culti(vate) (from Latin roots) + gen(s) (from Latin meaning kind/type).
---L.
