Intravarietal: Within the same variety.
In gardening, “intravarietal” describes something occurring within a single variety of plants. This could refer to crossing individuals within that variety to produce seeds, or it could describe a comparison of traits between different individuals of the same variety. For example, a gardener might observe differences in fruit size or disease resistance among plants grown from seeds of the same tomato variety, which would be intravarietal variation.
For home gardeners, the concept of “intravarietal” might not come up often. Still, it’s helpful to understand that even within a single named variety, there can be subtle genetic differences between individual plants. This is particularly true for open-pollinated varieties, where natural variation is preserved. This variation can sometimes lead to interesting discoveries in the garden, as you might find a particular plant within a variety with especially desirable traits.
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