landrace

[ land-reys ]

noun

1. an animal breed or plant cultivar that, isolated from other populations of its species, has adapted to its local environment, especially by purposeful means of breeding and agriculture:

   landraces of rice from Sri Lanka;

   a Turkish dog that is a beautiful landrace.

2. (usually initial capital letter) any of several widely distributed strains of large, white, lop-eared swine of Danish origin.

landrace

/ ˈlændˌreɪs /

noun

1. a white very long-bodied lop-eared breed of pork pig
2. a breed of Finnish sheep known for multiple births
3. botany an ancient or primitive cultivated variety of a crop plant

Word History and Origins

Origin of landrace¹

First recorded in 1930–35; from Danish: literally, “country breed,” equivalent to land “country, land” + race “breed, stock” (from English or French); land, race ²

Word History and Origins

Origin of landrace¹

from Danish, literally: land race

Example Sentences

The landrace collection was assembled in England starting in 1924, when Arthur Ernest Watkins joined the University of Cambridge’s Plant Breeding Institute.

From Science Magazine

One Ark of Taste stalwart is the Southwest’s Navajo Churro sheep, a source of mutton and wool and once “a fixture of Diné life as central as corn,” according to Lord and Shields, was critically endangered by the late 1970s after decades of culls by the U.S. government; efforts to protect and revitalize the landrace sheep led to the creation of Slow Food’s Navajo Churro presidium, which now includes 11 Indigenous herders who have helped bring the breed back from extinction.

From Salon

A fast-growing, easy-to-cultivate plant, cannabis is a crossbreeding goldmine for growers like Rosenthal and Frank, who worked with original landrace, or native, seeds to create ever-growing numbers of hybrids.

From National Geographic

Actor Jim Belushi, who opened Belushi Farms along the Rogue River in Oregon 15 years ago, is purposeful about his crop: He seeks original landrace strains that tell stories of grass from the past.

From National Geographic

Known as the "Smell of SNL" for the aroma that wafted "down the halls of the 17th floor of Rockefeller Center," says Belushi, Gulzar Afghanica is a landrace strain, the parent from which many modern hybrids have been bred.

From National Geographic