{"id":1158,"date":"2025-07-02T22:16:47","date_gmt":"2025-07-02T20:16:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/marimurtra.cat\/origin-of-horticultural-varieties\/"},"modified":"2025-07-02T22:16:47","modified_gmt":"2025-07-02T20:16:47","slug":"origin-of-horticultural-varieties","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/marimurtra.cat\/en\/origin-of-horticultural-varieties\/","title":{"rendered":"Origin of horticultural varieties"},"content":{"rendered":"

How do<\/strong> traditional crop varieties originate?

\nWhen we talk about crop varieties<\/strong>, we refer to those plants which, due to the characteristics of their fruit or their growth, can be considered differentiated within the same species. A good example is the tomato (Solanum lycopersicum<\/em>)<\/strong>, which is probably the plant with the most crop varieties present in Catalonia. Although it is always the same species, in the markets we find very diverse tomatoes: hanging, cluster, oxheart, Montserrat\u2026 Each with a specific culinary use<\/strong>, such as for salads, preserves, or for rubbing on bread.<\/p>\n

Now then, what do we<\/strong> mean by a traditional variety?

\nIt is one that has been cultivated in a given area for at least the last fifty years. Unfortunately, this antiquity does<\/strong> not always have precise documentation. Often it is oral memory that reminds us they are \u201cthe lifelong vegetables,\u201d typical of a territory.<\/p>\n

The origin of a local variety<\/h2>\n

It all begins with the arrival of a<\/strong> seed in a territory where that plant had not been grown before. Let\u2019s imagine, for example, a pumpkin plant. Traditional cultivation consisted of letting it complete its entire biological cycle<\/strong>: germination, growth, flowering, fruiting, ripening of the fruit, seed collection, and their subsequent cleaning and preservation.<\/p>\n

This process was repeated year after year<\/strong>, and meant a constant human selection. Often, the gardener would choose the best pumpkins to keep their seeds: the largest, the sweetest, the most resistant to pests, drought or cold\u2026 At the same time, natural selection<\/strong> also intervened, since the seeds had to survive temperature, humidity, and light changes inside cupboards, attics, lofts, or more recently, freezers. Only those most adapted would manage to germinate the following spring.<\/p>\n

Over time, the plants<\/strong> became increasingly adapted to the local environment, and the pumpkins from one municipality ended up differing from those in the neighboring county. This is how, jointly, natural selection<\/strong> and human action have shaped the local varieties we know today.<\/p>\n

A living legacy<\/h2>\n

This combination between natural selection<\/strong> and artificial selection is part of the history of plant domestication. A valuable legacy that has reached us and that we must continue to take care of. Today, many people follow this tradition, looking for those plants that best adapt to their vegetable garden, their territory, and to increasingly changing climatic conditions<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

However, this task has been<\/strong> progressively lost. In many cases, the collection and conservation of seeds has been replaced by the purchase of seedlings from agricultural cooperatives. This system greatly facilitates the cultivation of the vegetable garden<\/strong>, but it also leads to the loss of the direct link with the seed and the genetic richness it represents.<\/p>\n

For this reason, it is necessary to keep spreading and<\/strong> promoting local horticultural heritage: varieties of vegetables, garden crops, legumes, and fruits that are part of our culture, our history, and our landscape. Only in this way can we continue sowing<\/strong> the future from the seeds of the past.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How do traditional crop varieties originate? When we talk about crop varieties, we refer to those plants which, due to the characteristics of their fruit or their growth, can be considered differentiated within the same species. A good example is the tomato (Solanum lycopersicum), which is probably the plant with the most crop varieties present […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1158","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/marimurtra.cat\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1158","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/marimurtra.cat\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/marimurtra.cat\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marimurtra.cat\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marimurtra.cat\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1158"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/marimurtra.cat\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1158\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/marimurtra.cat\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1158"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marimurtra.cat\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1158"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marimurtra.cat\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1158"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}