Growing Food: A Guide to Food Production

the legume (Leguminoseae) family are: Trifolium (clovers), Glycine (soybean),
Phaseolus (field beans), Pisum (peas) and Vigna (cowpeas).

Species
Two plants are considered to be the same species when they can reproduce (ie their
gametes can fuse) and produce fertile offspring. The normal abbreviation for species is
“sp.” (plural “spp.”). Plants that are very similar botanically can be further subdivided
into sub-species, or “ssp.”.
Plant names are normally classified using the binomial system—the first, or
“generic”, name describes the Genus of that plant (eg Glycine), while the second, or
“specific”, name describes its species (eg max) ie Glycine max, the soybean.

Variety
This word has two different meanings in agriculture and horticulture:

1. Equivalent to cultivar (abbreviated to cv. and cvs.), and


2. A botanical distinction between two very similar species.
   The difference between the two meanings and the way they are used is described below.

1)

same species that are:

• distinct—in the sense that plants of one variety are botanically identical,


• uniform—in the sense that the variations in plant structure which do occur between
  plants of one variety are capable of definition, and


• stable—in that the variety will remain largely unchanged when it is grown on for a
  number of years.
  In this way the word “variety” is interchangeable with “cultivar”, the former being
  favoured by the farming community and the seed trade, the latter more common with
  botanists. The word cultivar is used internationally to describe varieties and strains of
  cultivated plants.
  Example:Homo sapiens describes all human species, with Mongoloid people being a
  Chinese cultivar or variety and Caucasian people as a European cultivar or variety.

2. to “var.”, which can be described as a botanical variety as opposed to an agricultural
   variety described above.
   Example: the crop species Brassica oleraceae includes several distinct botanical
   varieties (“var.”):
   B. oleraceae var. botyritis—broccoli, cauliflower,
   B. oleraceae var. italica—sprouting broccoli (Calabrese), and
   B. oleraceae var. germifera—Brussels sprouts.
   Each of these botanical varieties normally has several agricultural varieties that are
   grown by food growers and farmers. To avoid confusion between the two meanings of
   the word it can be useful to distinguish them as follows:

In the agricultural and horticultural sense, a variety is a group of plants of the

Botanists have their own meaning for the word “variety”, normally abbreviated

38 TONY WINCH

1Ec. Cultivar / Variety