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T10.2 Origin and Provenance

These terms are of particular importance in the specification of native (indigenous) plants, or plants which are required from a known source of propagation material.

Origin is defined as "the place in which indigenous plants are growing or the place from which non-indigenous plants were originally introduced."

Provenance is defined as "the place in which any plants, whether indigenous or non-indigenous are growing."

It is not appropriate to specify particular origin/provenance speculatively. A limited number of specialist growers are producing native species and may be listed as sources. Specifications should be developed following discussions with specialists (ecologists and growers) and then contract grown to precise requirements. At the moment it is probably easiest to specify the required provenance (indicating the exact source of the young plants or propagation material) if this is significant to the project. Establishing the origin of plants is a complex issue which is currently the topic of research. It is hoped that this result will yield information which will assist in the specification of plants for our landscapes.

Current British Standards indicate that the 'country of origin' is the country where the plant has been growing for the latter half of the most recent growing season. If this is not acceptable then may be necessary to require information about the provenance of the propagation material (seed, cuttings, budwood, grafts, etc.) in the specification.

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