Luther Burbank, a horticulturalist from Massachusetts, is inducted for his prolific development of over eight-hundred plant varieties.

Burbank first discovered a rare potato seed ball from which he developed a fine-grained, long potato, a predecessor to one of our popular American potatoes. Burbank sold his potato seed ball for $150 and used this money to move from his native Massachusetts to California to start a plant nursery. Some of his earliest experimentation with plums laid the foundation for contemporary California plum and prune industries.

Burbank is also credited with development of many flower, vegetable, and fruit varieties, including raspberries, blackberries, apples, peaches, nectarines, tomatoes, corn, squash, peas, asparagus, cherries and walnuts. He is probably best known for his brilliant white Shasta Daisy, the product of seventeen years of work.

Unfortunately, since there were no plant patent laws during Burbank’s time, there was nothing to prevent others from duplicating his varieties. Because of this, Burbank’s developments brought him only limited financial reward during his lifetime. After his death, however, testimony about his long support for patent laws was important to passage of Federal Plant Variety Patent Legislation to protect the property rights of plant breeders.