Luther Burbank

Luther Burbank was an American horticulturist and plant breeder who developed hundreds of fruit, vegetable, and ornamental plant varieties through selection and hybridization.

Russet Burbank potato: A long-storing potato variety derived from Burbank’s work and widely used for French fries. This commercial potato variety became the best-known food crop associated with Burbank.
Artificial selection: The breeding of organisms by choosing which individuals reproduce to increase desired inherited traits. Burbank’s central method was selecting plants for traits useful to growers and consumers.
Lancaster, Massachusetts: A town in central Massachusetts where Luther Burbank was born in 1849. Burbank’s early life began in this New England farming community.
Charles Darwin: An English naturalist who developed the theory of evolution by natural selection. Darwin corresponded with Burbank and discussed plant variation and selection.
Plant breeders' rights: Legal protections that grant breeders control over the commercial propagation of new plant varieties. Burbank’s career became a prominent example in arguments over rewarding plant innovation.
Santa Rosa plum: A red-skinned, flavorful plum variety introduced by Luther Burbank in 1906. Burbank bred this plum as a notable example of his fruit improvement work.
Plant hybridization: The crossing of genetically distinct plants to combine inherited traits in their offspring. Burbank made many crosses to create new combinations of plant characteristics.
Santa Rosa, California: A city in Sonoma County that became the base of Luther Burbank’s plant-breeding work. Burbank established his principal gardens and nursery in Santa Rosa.
David Starr Jordan: An American ichthyologist and educator who served as the first president of Stanford University. Jordan helped bring Burbank’s work to scientific and public attention.
Plant patent: A patent protecting certain new plant varieties, especially those reproduced asexually. Burbank’s varieties became central to early advocacy for plant patents.

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Russet BurbankRelated: The cultivar takes its name from the potato breeder whose seedling supplied its original stock.