Heritage V Heirloom

[Guest]

Sorry, this has probably been asked before but stuffed if I can find it.

Am I right in thinking that 'heirloom' is american for what we call 'heritage' and refers to plant material of historical significance.

And 'heritage' for americans is what we call 'rare breeds' as it refers to animals with historical significance?

[Thelma Sanders]

I believe Vintage, Heirloom and Heritage are interchangeable for seeds in this country.

In USA I think they tend to only use Heirloom for seeds, and Heritage for farm animals/foods

[heirloomsquash]

heirloom seeds are usually defined as varieties of veg that are open pollinated,
and existed before most modern hybrid seeds which is usually defined as pre World War II.
the first use of term heirloom when related vegetable varieties was in the 1950's and original related to old bean varieties.

[Zelenina]

I think the word heirloom is more popular in the States because many of the old varieties there were actually heirlooms. They belonged to a particular family or cultural group and had been handed down from generation to generation without ever being in commercial production.

But in Britain it looks like most of our old varieties were in commercial production by small seed companies at one time or another. They might have been bred or improved by these companies, or at plant breeding institutions. Or they might have started as family or local varieties or landraces that were taken up by the seed companies. In a smaller country I suppose it was harder to keep a good thing hidden. I think they are all an important part of our seed heritage however they came into being.