the.com/heirloom seed
A plant's family recipe, passed down instead of patented.
means A seed from an open-pollinated plant variety that's been saved and passed down through generations rather than bred and sold by modern seed companies.
from A compound of two old words: 'heir,' from Latin heres via Old French (one who inherits), and 'loom,' from Old English 'geloma' meaning a tool or implement — originally any treasured household object passed down in a family. The gardening sense is much newer, a 20th-century extension once people started noticing that seeds, like silver spoons, could be heirlooms too — kept alive by saving and replanting rather than by law or patent.
- open pollinated
- breeds true, so offspring match the parent plant
- age test
- typically predates 1951, before hybrid seed boomed
- flavor tradeoff
- often tastier but uglier than grocery store hybrids
- seed saving
- you can replant them, unlike most hybrid seeds