Catalogue - French Natural Accessions (national scale)
800 individuals were collected from 49 natural stands located in four climatically contrasted regions of France (Brittany: oceanic, 11 stands; Burgundy: continental, 11 stands; Languedoc: Mediterranean, 16 stands; north of France: semi-oceanic, 11 stands) (Brachi et al. 2013). A stand is defined as a single patch of plants growing in relatively homogeneous ecological conditions. Seeds were collected randomly from ten to 30 individual plants in each stand. The selfed progenies of those individuals were characterized genetically using 135 SNP markers, phenologically for six traits spanning the annual plant life cycle, and ecologically for 42 variables (Brachi et al. 2013; data available in the DRYAD database, DOI). These local populations are genetically polymorphic and can be highly polymorphic at the phenotypic level, with some covering almost the global range of phenological variation. Therefore, single accessions cannot be used to represent the different stands.
Two successive SSD (Single Seed Descent) generations were carried out for each individual, followed by a bulk multiplication that provided the seeds available for distribution.