Lineage & Genetics

Lineage is the core of what makes Ohtli useful. Every bred organism records its parents, creating a chain of genetic relationships that can be traced across generations.

Founding stock organisms sit at the root of lineage trees. When you cross two organisms and register the offspring, Ohtli records the parent-child relationship. Over generations, this builds a family tree showing exactly how genetics have moved through the community.

Lineage data is public. Anyone viewing an entity's page can see its parents, grandparents, and descendants. This transparency helps growers make informed decisions about what to grow and what to cross.

Each bred organism can have up to two parents recorded:

Parent A (required) — The first known Ohtli parent. This is required for all bred organisms. At least one parent must be a registered Ohtli entity.

Parent B (optional) — The second parent. This can be another registered Ohtli entity, or it can be marked as unknown if the second parent was not tracked.

Different species track parentage differently. Some species track maternal vs. paternal lineage, while others track either parent interchangeably. The species configuration determines which parent role matters.

Open pollination occurs when a plant is pollinated naturally — by wind, insects, or other means — without controlled crossing. In these cases, the pollen parent may be unknown.

When registering a bred organism from open pollination, select the known parent as Parent A and mark Parent B as unknown. The offspring still qualifies as an Ohtli entity because it has at least one known Ohtli parent.

Open-pollinated offspring can still be parents themselves. Their known lineage is tracked through the identified parent line.

Every entity page displays a lineage tree showing the organism's family relationships. The tree visualizes parents above and descendants below.

Click on any entity in the lineage tree to navigate to its page and explore further up or down the family tree.

The lineage tree updates automatically as new offspring are registered. Over time, popular parent organisms may show extensive branching as growers across the community use them in crosses.