This page is so far just a short intro to the systematic theory of Wilbert Hetterscheid and Ronald van den Berg, from which the Culton project uses many concepts; especially the culton, and the crop as a systematic category.
The problems in the systematics and nomenclature for domesticates are here solved by separating cultonomy and taxonomy more clearly. Instead of using the taxononomic name (usually species or below) as the first part of a full name, they propose the use of a crop name.
What is a culton?
Let us first return to the taxonomy of non-cultivated organisms to explain why we need such a term. In biological taxonomy, the term taxon is basal. It was invented in the 20s and formally introduced into systematics in the 50s as a collective term for systematic groups of organisms that are considered to belong together, and which then form the basis of the hierarchical groups that the taxonomic system is made up of: domain, kingdom, division, class, order, family, genus and species. And with all the intermediate categories, this becomes a comprehensive and strict hierarchy.
A taxon is the concrete member of such a classification category. So Solanaceae (the nightshade familiy) is a taxon of the category Familieae, Solanum L. a taxon in Genus, Solanum tuberosum L. a taxon in Species, and so on.
Wikipedia: Taxon, Taxonomic rank
What Hetterscheid and van den Berg propose, is a cultonomy where you have a similar basal term, called culton. And they further suggest that this system has only three classification categories:
- Crop: the total of all cultivars and cultivar-groups
- Cultivar-group: for use where it is appropriate to group cultivars within a crop according to certain (user-friendly) criteria
- Cultivar: cultivated variety, breed, strain etc.
They have defined it to be an open system and not strictly hierarchical as in taxonomy for wild organisms. This is a logical consequence from not deriving this system from evolutionary theory but from domestication theory and from the need of a classification system for groups of users who do not group organisms on the basis of phylogeny (reconstruction of evolutionary connection based upon genenetic analyses and mapping), but of general use and application in human society (agricultural use, medicinal use, ornamental use etc.).
A culton, as opposed to a taxon, is “systematic group of domesticated organisms, which nomenclature is governed by a cultonomic code”. Cultonomic classification systems to be subject to this code are based on the foundations of domestication theory. In the code, classification categories are defined and their nomenclature rules given.
What is a crop?
Crop as a collective term (with a name in an existing language and all its equivalents in other languages) covering domesticated organisms with one or more common characters that make them collectively useful to particular usage by mankind and hence useful to recognise. Like Onion, Barley etc. As a cultonomic category, it would be called the Crop Group. The latter’s definition is given by Hett. & vd Berg: The crop-group embraces the total of all domesticated material derived from within a taxon and which is subject to a common domestication goal. The nomenclature of the crop-group derives primarily from the common names used in all parts of the world where it is being cultivated.
How this system solves problems
The advantages can be summarized as follows:
- the scientific name, the taxon, may change over time with new discoveries, but the complete cultivar name remains largely unchanged (depending on its constituents)
- it does not matter whether the cultivar should be linked to several taxa or that the question is unanswerable
- we get names that correspond to everyday speech
Articles by Hetterscheid, van den Berg et al.:
(1995) Culton versus Taxon: Conceptual Issues in Cultivated Plant Systematics
(1996) An annotated history of the principles of cultivated plant classification
(1999) Cultonomy in statutory registration exemplified by Allium L. crops
(2002) The crop concept in cultonomic classification
(2003) Plant Nomenclature and Taxonomy: An Horticultural and Agronomic Perspective
(2007) The Crop-Group and the inconsistent use of Linnean names in the taxonomy of domesticated plants
Last Updated on 2023-09-02 by Karl Aakerro