Specification of 'Origin' and 'Provenance' for amenity and forestry planting

Usage

The terms origin and provenance have not been widely used by specifiers and providers in amenity sectors of the plant supply chain where the bulk of trading has been in vegetatively propagated varieties. The terms have however been in constant use in forestry. Here, most plants are grown from seed collected from populations of unimproved trees.

'Origin' and 'provenance' are relevant to plants raised from seed, and not to vegetatively propagated material, nor stock raised from controlled-hybrid seed or of improved cultivars.

Amenity Plant Usage

For plant supply for amenity purposes, the Horticultural Trades Association, with the backing of the Joint Committee of Landscape Industries, produced the National Plant Specification (NPS) as the basis for standard practice by specifiers.

'Origin' and 'provenance' are defined in the NPS and refer to known sources of propagation material. These definitions are repeated in sections covering shrubs and herbaceous species raised from seed.

Amenity Plant - 'Country of Origin'

The NPS reports a 'British Standards' definition of 'Country of origin' as the country where plants have been growing in the latter half of the most recent growing season. The definition is relevant to vegetatively-propagated cultivars

Forestry Usage

For commercial forestry, plant supply since 1977 has been governed by 'Forest Reproductive Material regulations' (FRM regulations) which include definitions of origin and provenance. While the regulations are derived from a European Community directive which applies to a limited number of species, in Britain, the FRM definitions of origin and provenance have in practice been applied to all commercial forestry stock.

The EC Directive on which these definitions were based, has recently been revised. The definitions of 'origin' and 'provenance' in the new directive are the same as in its predecessor. While the number of species to which it applies has been increased, this increase does not affect current forestry usage.

While the exact wording differs, the meaning of the definitions of 'origin' and 'provenance in the NPS and the FRM directives, old and new, are the same.

'Seed Origin' as Applied to Forestry and Woodland Seed Sources

The concepts underlying the current use of 'origin' for tree seeds are:

Relevance of Origin

(a) Knowledge of origin is relevant and important wherever attempts are being made to maintain or re-create native woodland/woodland habitat, using plants raised from seed rather than relying on natural regeneration. First choice is plants from origins local to the planting site in preference to origins from farther afield.

For other planting, especially amenity planting in parkland or similar 'open' landscapes, knowledge that plants are of local origin is a reassurance that plants have grown successfully in the locality in the past. If plants are known not to be of local origin, it is prudent to ensure that information about origin is noted in long term records for the relevant woodland.

(b) Knowledge of origin is also relevant where plants are being introduced, so that site conditions on the planting site can be related to site conditions of the seed origin and the subsequent performance of the plantings.

Uncertainty about origin
(c) Because of the scale of woodland clearance in Britain and the period over which British woodlands have been managed, there are many plantations for which records of the origin of planting stock have been lost. While formal records of any given current seed collection may show the origin as 'not known', any supplementary information indicating the probability that a provenance is of local origin may be valued by prospective purchasers.

(d) Because of lack of certainty about origin and hence lack of supplies of known origin, specifiers often have no option but to accept 'local provenance' as a substitute for local origin.

'Seed Provenance' as Applied to Forestry and Woodland Seed Sources

Seed Provenance

Refers to the place (geographical locality) where plants from which seed was collected are growing. The seed source may be restricted in area, e.g. where many seed-bearing trees (or shrubs) are growing in a forest stand, or may be diffuse, e./g. where seed trees are scattered and are at some distance from each other.

Record of Provenance and Verification

(a) Because seed from any given collection is likely to be used within a relatively short time, it should always be possible to maintain a record of the provenance of that seed and obtain independent verification.

Future forest plantings in Britain are likely to come within the scope of the UK Woodland Assurance Scheme, which monitors environmental aspects of silviculture and certifies timber leaving the woodland. It is possible that certification or similar assurance of the provenance of a seed source will be insisted on for new plantings and that available information on origin will be considered desirable.

(b) If plants are of local seed origin, their provenance is the same as their origin.

(c) Plants of any given provenance can be expected to exhibit similar phenological and morphological characteristics to their parents if planted on similar sites, even at some distance from
their origin.

(d) Seed collections made from the same provenance in different years are differentiated by year of collection.

Local Seed Zones and Regions of Provenance

The Forestry Commission have published a map of 'Local seed zones' and 'Regions of provenance' for planting native trees and shrubs in Britain. Any native seed origin or provenance collected within a local seed zone can reliably be used at similar elevations within that local seed zone. If seed is not available from within a preferred local seed zone, the next choice should be from among sources from stands of good form and vigour growing at similar elevations in the same 'Region of Provenance'. (Reference FC Practice Note 8, published August 1999).

Qualitative Criteria for Forest Seed Sources

i) A core concept both of the original and of the revised EC FRM directive is that, within forests, trees in some localities show better form/vigour than in others and that this better performance is repeated in plants raised from seed from such stands. If such stands are registered as available for seed collection, they are categorised as 'selected'.

Considerable effort has gone into identifying such 'selected' stands. The original directive required that 'selected' seed be used for forestry purposes, special permission being required for collections from non-selected seed sources.

ii) The revised FRM directive has retained the 'selected' category, but has allowed collections from non-selected seed sources to be made without special permission, such collections being designated 'source-identified'

iii) The new FRM directive requires that whenever plants covered by the directive are marketed, the relevant quality category be stated (i.e. 'source-identified', 'selected', 'qualified' or 'tested').