The story
From culti(vated) + -gen, or from Latin cultus (“cultivated”) + gēns (“kind”). Coined by American botanist Liberty Hyde Bailey in 1918.
First known use, by meaning
- from 1918 A plant that has been deliberately altered or selected by humans, that is it has resulted from artificial rather than natural selection.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.