Systematic Categories for Cultivated Plants

Summary Though there is no absolute distinction between the systematics of wild and cultivated plants, cultivated plants in general do differ in many respects from typical wild species. These differences are considered and their implications for the systematics of cultivated plants are discussed. It is concluded that while formal botanical categories can successfully accomodate both wild and cultivated plants down to the species level (i.e. the level of the binomial), they are inapplicable to the infraspecific levels of the systematics of cultivated plants. A flexible hierarchal system based on grouping of cultivars is proposed as a practical alternative.