Food Plants

Modern Day Inuit - Greenland

Contemporary Hunter-GatherersThe San Bushmen

Torres Straits Islands

Origin of Domesticated Plants

Wheat

Most domesticated food plants have been selected for:

• large plant parts

• soft edible tissue

• thick flesh with intense color

• fruits attached to tough stems

How much domestication?

• About 5000 species have been grown for human food – less than 1% of all plant species

• Today about 150 species are commercially grown for food (not including spices)

• About 50 very productive species supply almost all of our caloric needs

Benefits of Domestication

• 10,000 years ago, before agriculture began, the world’s total human population was about 5 million. There was one person for every 25 square kilometers. Today we have more than 7.24 billion people, with a density of just over 25 people per square kilometer

As agriculture developed humans selected for:

1. Plants that provide enough calories to meet our basic energy needs. This usually comes from cereal grain or root carbohydrates.

2. We also selected for a balanced nutritional intake - this tends to develop in any system where the cultivator eats and depends upon on what he/she grows.

Vavilov centers – centers of plant diversity and areas of origin for agriculture

Plants from Near East – Fertile Crescent

• barley (Hordeum vulgare) • wheat (Triticum) • lentils (Lens culinaris) • peas (Pisum sativum)• chickpeas or garbanzos (Cicer arietinum) • olives (Olea europaea) • dates (Phoenix dactylifera)• grapes (Vitis vinifera) - Wine began to be made

from the grapes and beer from the grains• flax (Linum usitatissimum) – food and fiber

Barley

Lentils

Chickpeas

Date Palm

Flax

Plants from China, Far East

• Millet – several cereal grains

• Rice (Oryza sativa)

• Soybeans (Glycine max)

• Mango (Mangifera indica)

• Various kinds of citrus fruits (Citrus sp.)

• Taro (Colocasia esculenta)

• Bananas (Musa x paradisiaca)

Rice

Mango

Taro

Plants from Africa

• sorghum (Sorghum sp.)

• millet grains (several species)

• okra (Hibiscus esculentus)

• yams (Dioscrorea sp.)

• cotton (Gossypium sp.)

• Coffee (Coffea arabica)

Sorghum and Millet

Okra

Yams

Coffee

Plants from Mexico• corn (Zea mays), • kidney beans (Phaseolus

vulgaris) • lima beans (P. lunatus) • peanuts (Arachis

hypogaea)• cotton (developed

independently from Africa)

• chili peppers (Capiscum sp.)

• tomatoes (Lycopersicon sp.)

• tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum)

• cacao (Theobroma cacao) • pineapple (Ananas

comosus) • Pumpkins, squashes

(Cucurbita sp.) • avocados (Persea

americana)

Kidney Beans

Peanut

Chili Peppers – Capiscum sp.

Pumpkins and Squashes

Theobroma cacoa

Plants from Peru

• potato (Solanum tuberosum and many related species)

• quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa)

• tomatoes and peanuts may have really originated in Peru and then been taken to Mexico

Potato

Quinoa

Corn – Zea mays

Typical Corn Growth

Typical ear of corn

Variation in ear size and kernel color fromMexican landraces of corn

Zeamayssubsp.mexicana

Zeamayssubsp.mays

Teosinte – Zea diploperennis

Ear of teosinte – Zea diploperennis

Teosinte vs. Corn Growth

Teosinte Corn

Zea mays

Maize Types

Maize productivity

• Maize is tremendously productive - a typical Iowa cornfield will produce 3500 - 4000 g of carbon per meter squared per year - The most productive tropical rainforest or coastal salt marsh produce about 3500 g of carbon per meter squared per year

Maize productivity

• Maize is so valuable because it is productive across a huge range of conditions – temperate to tropical (following adaptation to different day lengths)

• Among modern cereal grains it is the most efficient in converting water and carbon dioxide into grains food

• However, it requires large amounts of nutrients and current high yields such as occur in farm land around here require the input of tremendous amounts of fertilizer

Cross section of corn leaf

Cross section of cornleaf showing C-4pathway

The One Food Problem

Cliff House at Mesa Verde – circa 1200 AD

Beginnings of the Anasazi

• During their so-called Archaic Period (5500 - 100 BCE) the Anasazi were hunter-gatherers - they lived mostly on roasted seeds of Indian grass (Oryzopsis sp.), cattails (Typha lattifolia), salt bush (Atriplex canescens - Chenopodiaceae), and sheep sorrel (Rumex acetosella - Polygonaceae); Rabbits and a few deer provided the bulk of the animal protein in the diet - they lived mostly in caves or in depressions with simple coverings made of juniper branches (Juniperus scopulorum - Cupressaceae)

Oryzopsis sp. – Indian ricegrass

Atriplex canescens - saltbush

Typha latifolia - cattail

Rumex acetosella – sheep sorrel

Changes to Anasazi life

• About 100 BCE, maize plants arrived and Anasazi life began to change - at first the Anasazi did not adopt maize except as a novelty

• About 100 BCE, Anasazi made a change to the so called Basket Maker II lifestyle in which they made baskets, sandals, and nets woven from yucca fibers (Yucca baccata - Agavaceae)

Yucca baccata

Anasazi yucca products

Basket Maker III

• Basket maker III was from about 400 - 700 AD - here they became much more agricultural - probably due to the arrival of beans Phaseolus vulgaris (pinto and kidney beans) and P. acutifolius (tepary or pavi beans)

• The Anasazi began to select maize varieties with larger ears and more productivity

• They also begin to experiment with irrigation and developed or acquired bows and arrows

Phaseolus vulgaris – pinto, kidney beans

Phaseolus acutifolius – tepary or pavi bean

Pueblo I

• Pueblo I lasted from 700-900 AD - here the Anasazi adopted an increasingly sedentary lifestyle with advances in basketry and pottery, cotton was used for cloth, dwellings were made of stone above ground with pit houses transformed into ceremonial kivas

• Large stores of grain made higher populations possible and also led to warfare and raiding for grain

Anasazi Runi

Pueblo II and III

• Pueblo II (900 - 1100 AD) and Pueblo III ( 1100 - 1300 AD) saw the development of even larger towns and cities, dwellings were built in cliffs for protection - made very sophisticated baskets and pottery, had highly developed irrigation systems - may have used captive turkeys for meat, feeding them on grain

• Then from 1276 to 1299 there was 23 years of continuous drought - the Anasazi ultimately abandoned their cities and moved south to better drainage areas - today their descendents survive as the Zuni, Hopi, and Rio Grande Pueblo tribes

Timeline of Anasazi culture

What the Anasazi Left

For Love of the Potato

The Potato Comes to Europe

• The potato came to Europe about 1565 - at first, most people in Europe, including the Irish, used the potato as a back up for grain production, but by the end of the 17th century, it had become an important winter food; by the mid-eighteenth century it was a general field crop and provided the staple diet of small farmers during most of the year

Benefits of the Potato

Van Gogh – The Potato Eaters

Ukrainian Food

Potato Pancakes Borsch

Potato Vodka

Young potato plant with early stage of late blight

Dried potato leaf infected with late blight – Phytophthora infestans

Potato tubers with Late Blight

Potato field infected with late blight – Infection started in center of field

Severity of blight and famine

Cartoon of Irish “Bogtrotters” circa 1840’s

Irish family diggingPotatoes - 1847

Irish family potato dinner - 1846

Irish food riots - 1847

Irish food sent to England – 1847 or 1848

Lessons learned?

“Whatever may be the misfortunes of Ireland, the potato is not implicated. It, on the contrary, has more than done its duty, in giving them bones and sinew cheap ... There is no other crop equal to the potato in the power of sustaining life and health.”

- Bain 1848