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open pollinated vs wild collected

I  think it would be good to distinguish from a gardener's point of view the
difference from wild collected and open pollinated seed.

Wild collected seed (abbreviated w/c)  is a sampling of seed from plants
growing in the wild in their native habitat. When you go out into the woods
or fields and collect seed you are getting a sample of the genetic diversity
of that species population in its current location. You may decide to
collect seed from the tallest plants or the largest flowers but you are
still only getting a sample. You may decide to collect seed from plants that
grow on dry hillsides to try to get more drought tolerance or in more
northerly locations or higher altitudes for more hardiness but its still
only a sample of the population. By making selections out of wild
populations you are introducing more genetic variability into the cultivated
plant world.

Open pollinated (abbreviated op) is a term commonly referred to as collected
seed from a plant cultivated and grown in a garden situation. Unless the
plant is self fertilized you really don't know what pollen fertilized the
seed. The reason this can be a problem is that if (like me) you enjoy
collecting similar species or cultivars the seedlings you end up with can be
not what you anticipated. The seedling will not necessarily come true to the
parent and will hopefully follow Mendelian law if it is an F1 hybrid. Often
the problem is with the named varieties of a species that don't come true to
seed and need to be propagated vegetatively. The reason this can be a
problem is that if (like me) you enjoy collecting similar species or
cultivars the seedlings you end up with can be not what you anticipated.

An open pollinated population will not realistically get you all the
variability of the natural wild population but only a sampling of the
diversity that was in the original parents plus some natural mutations along
the way. In a limited space, growing on only a few of each generation and no
similar varieties or species around to hybridize you will eventually end up
with little genetic diversity but will have selected for plants that do well
in your particular microclimate.

I don't have the room to grow even a representative sampling.

I hope this helps for those of you not growing vegetables. 

Sally Perkins Zone 5b/6a southern NH.
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