Domesticates play a central part both in the everyday and ritual life of the Maenge people of New Britain. Maenge relationship to this category of plants is here analysed through their horticultural techniques, their systems of classification and appellation, their utilisations and finally through myths and rites. Gardening techniques as well as the systems of classification and appellation emphasise the importance of the notion of cultivar in Maenge eyes. While the taxonomy of domesticates is relatively shallow, keys are built by taking into account minute differences between cultivars, as is shown with reference to taro and cordyline. As men may receive names of taro cultivars or give their own names to cultivated trees, the boundaries between nature and culture are suppressed: domesticates appear as part of humans’ culture, a |