Cultivars

Acala cotton

Acala is a group (type) of upland cotton (Gossypium hirsutum) known for stronger, longer staple, historically the standard fiber type of California cotton — not a single registered cultivar.

Atlantic

Atlantic is a white-fleshed American maincrop potato released by the USDA in 1978, valued for its high specific gravity and long a leading chipping (crisping) variety in the United States.

B73

B73 is a public maize inbred line developed at Iowa State University and released in 1972 from the Iowa Stiff Stalk Synthetic population. It is one of the most influential lines in temperate maize breeding and was the source of the first maize reference genome.

Basmati

Basmati is not a single cultivar but a group of aromatic, long-grain rices traditionally grown in the Indian subcontinent. The name is protected as a Geographical Indication in India and Pakistan for basmati meeting defined criteria, and the group includes both traditional landraces and modern improved lines.

Bintje

Bintje is a yellow-fleshed Dutch potato bred by Kornelis Lieuwes de Vries in Friesland in the early twentieth century, historically one of the most important frying and all-purpose varieties in north-west Europe.

Braeburn

Braeburn is a firm, crisp, sweet-tart bicolour dessert apple that arose as a chance seedling in New Zealand around 1952. It was one of the first modern commercial successes among richly flavoured, well-storing bicolour apples.

Bramley's Seedling

Bramley's Seedling is the pre-eminent English culinary (cooking) apple, grown from a pip planted in Nottinghamshire in the early 1800s. Sharp and acidic, it cooks down to a light, well-flavoured purée and is a triploid.

Brandywine

Brandywine is a late-maturing heirloom beefsteak tomato, best known in a large pink, potato-leaved form, grown on indeterminate plants primarily for fresh use.

BTx623

BTx623 is a public grain sorghum inbred line developed at Texas A&M University and released in 1977 as a maintainer (B) line for hybrid breeding. It is the source of the sorghum reference genome and a standard genetic reference for the species.

Cabernet Sauvignon

Vitis vinifera

Cabernet Sauvignon is a red wine grape that arose in Bordeaux, France, and is now among the most widely planted wine grapes in the world. DNA analysis has shown it to be a natural cross of Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc.

Cadenza

Cadenza is a United Kingdom spring bread wheat that has become one of the most widely used reference genotypes in wheat genetics, including a sequenced hexaploid TILLING mutant population developed for gene-function research.

Carmel

Carmel is a soft-shelled California almond cultivar with an elongated kernel, long planted as a major pollinizer for Nonpareil because its bloom overlaps.

Chardonnay

Vitis vinifera

Chardonnay is a white wine grape that originated in the Burgundy region of France. DNA analysis has identified it as a natural cross of Pinot and the old variety Gouais Blanc, and it is grown for still and sparkling wines worldwide.

Charlotte

Charlotte is a French-bred, yellow-fleshed salad potato with a waxy, firm texture that holds its shape, widely used for boiling and salads.

Cherokee Purple

Cherokee Purple is an heirloom beefsteak tomato with dusky pink-purple fruit, popularized in the United States in the early 1990s and now a widely grown "black" heirloom.

Chinese Spring

Chinese Spring is a landrace-derived bread wheat that became the standard genetic and cytogenetic reference line for wheat and was chosen for the first hexaploid bread wheat reference genome, released by the International Wheat Genome Sequencing Consortium in 2018.

Concord

Vitis labrusca

Concord is an American grape derived from the native species Vitis labrusca, selected in Concord, Massachusetts, in the mid-19th century. It is a cold-hardy, slip-skin grape widely used for juice, jelly, and table use rather than fine wine.

Cox's Orange Pippin

Cox's Orange Pippin is a richly aromatic English dessert apple raised near London around 1825, widely regarded as a benchmark for complex apple flavour. It is prized for eating quality but considered demanding to grow.

Désirée

Désirée is a red-skinned, yellow-fleshed Dutch maincrop potato, a widely grown, versatile all-rounder used for boiling, roasting, mashing, and chips.

Fielder

Fielder is a soft white spring bread wheat released by the University of Idaho in 1974 that is now used chiefly as a model genotype in wheat tissue culture and genetic transformation because it is unusually amenable to regeneration and transformation.

Forrest

Forrest is a public soybean cultivar released by USDA-ARS in 1973 from the cross Dyer × Bragg. A Maturity Group V cultivar for the mid-South, it is best known as a soybean cyst nematode–resistant line and a reference source of that resistance.

Fuji

Fuji is a very sweet, dense, late-maturing dessert apple bred in Japan from a cross of Ralls Janet and Red Delicious and introduced to market in 1962. It is prized for high sugar, crisp flesh, and long storage life.

Gala

Gala is a sweet, aromatic, red-striped dessert apple bred in New Zealand by J. H. Kidd from a cross of Kidd’s Orange Red and Golden Delicious, and released around 1965. It is one of the most widely produced apples in the world.

Golden Delicious

Golden Delicious is a yellow-skinned dessert and all-purpose apple that arose as a chance seedling in West Virginia and was introduced commercially in 1914. It is one of the most influential parents in modern apple breeding.

Golden Promise

Golden Promise is a semi-dwarf two-row spring malting barley derived by gamma-ray mutation of the cultivar Maythorpe, historically important in Scottish malting and whisky and now a widely used model genotype in barley research and transformation.

Granny Smith

Granny Smith is a bright-green, tart, late-maturing apple that arose as a chance seedling in New South Wales, Australia, around 1868. It is a long-keeping, dual-purpose cultivar used both fresh and for cooking.

Heinz 1706

Heinz 1706 is a determinate processing tomato developed within the H. J. Heinz breeding program, best known as the cultivar sequenced for the first high-quality tomato reference genome.

Honeycrisp

Honeycrisp is a dessert apple released by the University of Minnesota in 1991, famous for its distinctively coarse, crisp, juicy texture. It was formerly protected in the United States by a plant patent that has since expired.

IR36

IR36 is an early-maturing semi-dwarf indica rice released by the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in 1976. Bred from a complex, many-parent pedigree, it became one of the most widely planted rice varieties in the world during the late 1970s and 1980s.

IR64

IR64 is a semi-dwarf indica rice released by the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in 1985. Valued for its grain quality and broad adaptation, it became one of the most widely grown and widely studied rice varieties in tropical Asia.

IR8

IR8 is a semi-dwarf indica rice released by the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in 1966. As the first widely grown IRRI variety, it became a symbol of the Green Revolution in rice and is best known today as a landmark in rice breeding history.

Kennebec

Kennebec is a white-fleshed American maincrop potato released by the USDA in 1948, a widely adapted, general-purpose variety used for the table and for processing.

King Edward

King Edward is a British heritage maincrop potato introduced in 1902, recognised for its party-coloured skin and floury, cream-fleshed tubers favoured for roasting, baking, and mashing.

Koshihikari

Koshihikari is a Japanese temperate japonica rice cultivar registered in 1956 and prized for its eating quality. It has become one of the most widely grown premium table rices in Japan and an ancestor of many later Japanese cultivars.

Kronos

Kronos is a United States durum wheat, grown as irrigated Desert Durum, that has become the standard tetraploid reference genotype in wheat genetics through a sequenced TILLING mutant population used to study gene function.

Lancaster Sure Crop

Lancaster Sure Crop is a historic open-pollinated maize variety selected by the Hershey family in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. It is the namesake and germplasm source of the Lancaster (non-Stiff-Stalk) heterotic pool used in temperate hybrid maize.

Lee

Lee is a public soybean cultivar released by the USDA in 1954 from the cross S-100 × CNS. A Maturity Group VI type bred for the southern United States, it was valued for disease resistance and became a foundational parent for southern U.S. and Brazilian breeding.

Marcona

Marcona is a traditional Spanish almond cultivar with a rounded, plump, high-oil kernel prized for confectionery such as turrón and for premium snacking.

Maris Huntsman

Maris Huntsman is a British winter bread wheat introduced in 1972 by the Plant Breeding Institute in Cambridge that became one of the most widely grown winter wheats in the United Kingdom during the 1970s.

Maris Otter

Maris Otter is a two-row winter malting barley bred at the Plant Breeding Institute in Cambridge and introduced in the mid-1960s, long prized in traditional British cask-ale brewing and still grown for that niche market today.

Maris Peer

Maris Peer is a British second-early potato bred at the Plant Breeding Institute in Cambridge, a firm, waxy variety used for new potatoes, salads, and boiling.

Maris Piper

Maris Piper is a British maincrop potato bred at the Plant Breeding Institute in Cambridge and released in 1966, one of the most widely grown UK varieties and a popular floury potato for chips and roasting.

Marquis

Marquis is a historic Canadian hard red spring bread wheat, selected in the early twentieth century for its early maturity and bread-baking quality, that became the dominant spring wheat of the North American plains and a foundation parent for later cultivars.

McIntosh

McIntosh is a cold-hardy, aromatic, red-and-green apple discovered as a chance seedling in Ontario, Canada, around 1811. A foundational North American cultivar, it is used both fresh and for sauce and is a parent of many later apples.

Merlot

Vitis vinifera

Merlot is a red wine grape from Bordeaux, France, widely grown for soft, early-drinking red wines and as a blending partner for Cabernet Sauvignon. DNA analysis identifies Cabernet Franc as one of its parents.

Micro-Tom

Micro-Tom is a miniature dwarf tomato released by the University of Florida in 1989 as an ornamental type, later adopted worldwide as a compact model system for tomato research.

Mo17

Mo17 is a public maize inbred line released by the University of Missouri in 1964 and belonging to the Lancaster Sure Crop heterotic group. Its cross with the Stiff Stalk line B73 is a classic model of hybrid vigour in temperate maize.

Moneymaker

Moneymaker is a heritage English tomato, long popular for glasshouse and garden production, known for uniform, smooth, medium-sized round red fruit on indeterminate plants.

Morex

Morex is a six-row spring malting barley released by the University of Minnesota in 1978 that became the North American six-row malting-quality standard and was later chosen as a reference cultivar for the barley genome.

Navy bean

Navy (pea) bean is a small white common bean market class of the Mesoamerican gene pool, used for canning and slow-cooked dishes. It is a seed-type class spanning many cultivars, not one variety.

Nipponbare

Nipponbare is a Japanese temperate japonica rice cultivar best known as the international reference genome for rice. Its map-based genome sequence, published in 2005, underpins a large body of rice genetics and genomics research.

Nonpareil

Nonpareil is the dominant almond cultivar of California and the reference grade against which other California kernels are described — a soft-shelled, self-incompatible clone with a light, smooth kernel.

Norin 10

Norin 10 is a historic Japanese semi-dwarf bread wheat, registered in 1935, whose reduced-height alleles were later introduced to Western breeding programs and became foundational to the semi-dwarf wheats of the Green Revolution.

Ogle

Ogle is a public spring oat cultivar released by the University of Illinois around 1980. It became one of the more widely grown spring oats in the U.S. Midwest during the 1980s and is maintained as public germplasm.

Optic

Optic is a two-row spring malting barley from a British breeding programme that became the most widely grown spring malting variety in Britain in the mid-2000s before being superseded by newer cultivars.

Pima cotton

Pima (American Pima) is an extra-long-staple cotton type of Gossypium barbadense, developed by USDA and grown in the U.S. Southwest for fine, strong, premium fiber — a type/class, not one cultivar.

Pinot Noir

Vitis vinifera

Pinot Noir is an ancient red wine grape from Burgundy, France, valued for elegant, aromatic red wines and as a principal grape of Champagne. It is regarded as difficult to grow and best suited to cool climates.

Pinto bean

Pinto is a common bean market class defined by mottled beige-and-brown seed of the Mesoamerican gene pool. It is a seed-type class encompassing many individually named cultivars, not one registered variety.

Red Delicious

Red Delicious is a deep-red, elongated dessert apple that began as an Iowa chance seedling named "Hawkeye" and was introduced by Stark Brothers as "Delicious" in 1895. Over the twentieth century it was selected heavily for colour and shipping quality.

Red kidney bean

Red kidney is a common bean market class with large, kidney-shaped red seed from the Andean gene pool, spanning dark and light red types. It is a seed-type class of many cultivars, not one variety.

Reid's Yellow Dent

Reid's Yellow Dent is a historic open-pollinated maize variety developed by the Reid family in Illinois in the mid-19th century. It became the dominant dent corn of the U.S. Corn Belt and a foundational source of germplasm for later hybrid maize.

Riesling

Vitis vinifera

Riesling is an aromatic white wine grape from the Rhine region of Germany, noted for high acidity, cold-hardiness, and a wide range of styles from bone-dry to intensely sweet. It is regarded as strongly expressive of site.

Roma

Roma is a determinate plum (paste) tomato that originated as a mid-twentieth-century United States introduction and has since become a broad, widely grown type name for sauce tomatoes.

Russet Burbank

Russet Burbank is a late-maturing, russet-skinned potato with white, floury flesh and high dry-matter content, long the dominant processing variety in North America for French fries and baking.

Rutgers

Rutgers is a historic American tomato released in 1934 by the New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station, bred for both canning and fresh market and long a standard in the eastern United States.

San Marzano

San Marzano is a traditional Italian plum (paste) tomato type from the Agro Sarnese-Nocerino area of Campania, prized for canning and sauce and associated with an EU Protected Designation of Origin.

Sauvignon Blanc

Vitis vinifera

Sauvignon Blanc is an aromatic white wine grape from the Loire Valley and Bordeaux in France, known for crisp, high-acid wines with herbaceous and citrus character. It is one of the two parents of Cabernet Sauvignon.

Svevo

Svevo is a modern Italian durum wheat grown for pasta whose genome was sequenced as a durum reference, providing a framework for studying the domestication and improvement of tetraploid wheat.

Swarna

Swarna (MTU 7029) is a long-duration semi-dwarf indica rice developed at Maruteru, Andhra Pradesh, and released in India. It became one of the most widely grown rice varieties in the country and is the recurrent parent of the flood-tolerant variety Swarna-Sub1.

Tempranillo

Vitis vinifera

Tempranillo is a red wine grape native to Spain and the principal variety of Rioja and Ribera del Duero. Its name reflects its relatively early ripening, and it is grown across Spain and Portugal under many regional synonyms.

Thompson Seedless

Vitis vinifera

Thompson Seedless is a white, seedless grape of eastern Mediterranean origin, also known as Sultana or Sultanina. It is a leading grape for raisins as well as table use and juice, and is grown widely in hot, irrigated regions.

TME 419

TME 419 is an IITA-disseminated improved cassava variety associated with cassava mosaic disease resistance and among the most widely grown varieties by farmers in Nigeria.

TMS 30572

TMS 30572 is an IITA-bred improved cassava variety of the TMS series, selected for cassava mosaic disease resistance and widely disseminated in Nigeria and West Africa.

W22

W22 is a public maize inbred line associated with the Wisconsin Agricultural Experiment Station and widely used as a genetics model. Its anthocyanin-expressing background and its role in transposon research make it a standard reference line, and it now has its own assembled genome.

Williams 82

Williams 82 is a public soybean cultivar developed by USDA-ARS and the University of Illinois by backcrossing a Phytophthora-resistance region from Kingwa into the cultivar Williams. It is the primary reference genome for soybean research.

Yecora Rojo

Yecora Rojo is a CIMMYT-derived semi-dwarf hard red spring bread wheat released in 1975, adapted to hot, irrigated low-desert conditions and noted for its milling quality and characteristically high grain protein.

Yukon Gold

Yukon Gold is a yellow-fleshed potato bred at the University of Guelph and released in 1980, notable as one of the first widely marketed yellow-fleshed varieties in North America.