Showing papers in "Economic Botany in 1969"

Origin of the common bean, Phaseolus vulgaris

Abstract: A wild leguminous vine growing in Mexico and Central America is identified as conspecific with the cultivated Phaseolus vulgaris. The exact origin of the common cultivated bean has not certainly been known. Evidence from comparative morphology, geographic distribution, ecology, genetic relationship, and archeologic history all indicate the wild vines are progenitors of the common American bean. Collections of both wild and cultivated seeds graphically illustrate the evolution of the cultivated beans and display evidence for multiple origins in Mesoamerica. The recognition of the wild beans and their acquisition provides agriculture with a renewed genetic resource for the protein deficient world.

Ethiopia: A center of diversity

Abstract: “ Encompassed on all sides by the enemies of their religion, the Aethio pians slept near a thousand years, forgetful of the world by whom they were forgotten≓ (6).

Centers of plant diversity and conservation of crop germ plasm: Safflower

Abstract: Vavilov proposed three areas of origin for cultivated safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.) (12). One in India (his Center II) was based on variability and ancient culture. A second, in Afghanistan (his Center III), was based on variability and proximity of wild species. A third area of origin, in Ethiopia (his Center VI), was assumed primarily from the presence of a wild safflower species in that area. Kupzow (10), following a detailed study in Russia of collections made in many areas, reached the same conclusions as Vavilov. Hanelt (4) and Ashri and Knowles (1) placed the center of origin in the Near East. Their opinion was based on the similarity of cultivated safflower to two closely related wild species: C. flavescens, found in Turkey, Syria, and Lebanon; and C. palaestinus, found in desert areas of western Iraq and southern Israel. This paper briefly surveys the diversity in cultivated safflower. Much of the variability was probably present long before Roman times, with all of it developing from a wild progenitor assumed to have strong branching, well developed spines on leaves and involucral bracts, heads about 12 mm in diameter, yellow flowers, obovate seeds with about 20% oil, and probably mostly self-incompatible. No attempt is made here to catalog the variability. Instead, we look at safflower centers to learn what is going on to reduce or to magnify variability.

The nutritive value of three species of water weeds

Abstract: In a recent paper (2), the possibility of utilizing common fresh-water pest plants as feedstuffs was considered. Based on leaf protein extraction data, chemical analyses of dehydrated samples and standing crop estimations, a number of species appeared to be potential food plants. Further research on the biological value of aquatic plants and the economic feasibility of their utilization was suggested. Three of the most serious aquatic pest plants (6), water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes), water lettuce (Pistia stratiotes) and Hydrilla sp. were not included in the previous research (2). These plants occur in almost all tropical and subtropical nations (6). All three species produce dense monospecific stands which often cover hundreds of hectares. Therefore, methods for their utilization would develop an important resource in many areas. Several studies (6) have indicated that E. crassipe's can be used as a forage. However, there is a paucity of information on the nutritive value of E. crassipes and almost no data are available for P. stratiotes and Hydrilla sp. The present research is an evaluation of the chemical composition of these species.

The Races of Maize: III. Choices of Appropriate Characters for Racial Classification'

Abstract: Analyses of variance for 111 characters from 55 races and subraces of maize from eastern South America grown at Piracicaba, S. P., Brazil, between 1960 and 1965, indicated that those characters which were least affected by environmental factors and interactions were reproductive characters. In particular, the component of variance due to differences among races for certain ear and kernel characters was greater than the sum of the corresponding components due to differences among years and race by year interactions. The converse was true for all vegetative characters. Tassel characters tended to be intermediate between ear and plant characters. While some indices had larger components of variance attributable to racial differences than to the effects of environment and/or environmental interaction, some commonly used ones, such as cob/rachis and rachilla/kernel indices, proved to be quite susceptible to environmental influences. Again, indices based upon solely vegetative characters were consistently influenced more strongly by environmental factors and interaction than were those based on reproductive characters.

The Vegetables of Ancient China

Abstract: In the very extensive literature in the Chinese language, there is a vast store of material relevant to economic plants. The Chinese, a traditionally agrarian and at the same time utilitarian people, are also historically minded. They have recorded over 30 centuries much of their knowledge about plants, their occurrence, introduction, cultivation, variation, and utilization. The Chinese literature has frequently been pointed out as the best source material for studies on the domestication and utilization of cultivated plants. Many of our present important crop plants originated in China. A large number of cultivated plants of extra-Chinese origin had also been introduced into China in ancient and medieval times. This paper is an attempt to identify the principal vegetables cultivated in ancient China and to trace the fate of these crops during the course of the history. As the literature on plants in China is scattered among widely different sources, an exhaustive or definitive study is not here intended. Fortunately for our purpose, there is still preserved a complete treatise on agriculture more or less intact, the Ch'i-min-yao-shu (Essential arts for the people), by Chia Ssu-hsieh of the Later Huei of the Northern Dynasties. This book was produced in the late 5th or early 6th Century and is probably the oldest complete treatise on agriculture extant in any language. While this work does not describe the most ancient conditions of agriculture in China existing around 3,000 years ago, it does give us a full record of the situation of crop plants and agricultural practices in northern China along the Yellow River Valley about fourteen centuries ago. This is the region where the ancient Chinese civilization originated and developed in the earlier times. This work has recently been translated into modern Chinese and extensively annotated and commented on by Shih (6). He

Décrue agriculture in Mali

Abstract: The hydrology of the central delta of the Niger River is extremely complex, but the local cultivators have developed a remarkably sophisticated agriculture in order to deal with it. Crops, varieties and cultural practices are sensitively adjusted to variations in the height of the flood, soil texture, storage hazards, bird damage, nutritional needs and food preferences.

Folk uses of new world aroids

Abstract: In this paper, I have tried to consider a single plant family, thbe Araceae, from the point of view of its significance to man: to both primitive and civilized peoples in the past and in the present. Such a study permits an appreciation of the relationship of plants to man in terms of the chemical, morphological, and geographic aspects of a natural plant family. The Araceae are poorly known from an economic point of view. Peoples of temperate climates know them primarily as a group of unusual woodland species or as ornamental indoor pot plants. In the wet tropics, however, the aroids are found everywhere as conspicuous terrestrial or epiphytic plants, growing wild or cultivated as omamentals. The many tropical species provide most of the information for this study, although these are botanically less well known than the temperate species which have, in most cases, been extensively studied. Because of my interest in the neotropical floras, I have limited my considerations to aroids of the New World. For their kind interest and assistance in the following study, I would like to thank Dr. Richard Evans Schultes, Dr. George Bunting, Dr. Abraham Krikorian, Dr. Allen Witztum, Dr. Siri von Reis Altschul, Miss Merri Swid and Mrs. Lillian Hanscom.

Tabernanthe iboga : an African narcotic plant of social importance

Abstract: Tabernanthe iboga is an apocynaceous shrub native to the forests of Gabon and the northern Congo. First described in the late 1800’s, it has been reasonably well studied by botanists. The roots of T. iboga contain several indole alkaloids, of which the most important, ibogaine, is a central stimulant and in large doses an hallucinogen. In Gabon, the roots are used in the initiation rites to a number of secret societies, of which the Bwiti is most famous. The plant remains to this day a central feature of local religion, and its spectacular effects have hampered native acceptance of Christianity in Gabon.

Ipomoea aquatica as a vegetable crop in Hong Kong

Abstract: The aquatic plant Ipomoea aquatica is grown in southeastern Asia as a summer leaf vegetable. It is particularly common in south China and Hong Kong, where it has a very ancient history. Two methods of cultivation are used in Hong Kong: the dry-land method utilizing raised beds and the wet-land method on flooded paddy-fields. During the summer months I. aquatica supplies up to 15% of local vegetable production.

Production of kelp - a major aspect of China's exploitation of the sea

Abstract: Every possible means is being exploited on water and land by the communist regime to feed China's ever-expanding population and to provide industrial materials for building the nation's military strength. To millions of mainland Chinese aquicultural and agricultural pursuits are part and parcel of their livelihood. There is no reason to doubt that, since the food crisis of 1959-61, considerable advances have been made in mainland China in aquicultural practices as well as in breeding of more productive strains of agricultural plants and animals, control of insects and diseases, and enlargement of fertilizer production facilities. However, long before many of these developments began to occur on land, the Chinese had turned to lakes, rivers, and seas for supplementary food supplies and industrial materials. Westerners tend to overlook the significance of aquatic plants and animals in their estimates of caloric intake by mainland Chinese. In addition to kelp, laver, and other edible seaweeds, such marine products as sea cucumber, jellyfish, Amphioxus, squid, and octopus are popular items in Chinese cuisine, a fact that most Americans tend to disbelieve. Partly due to lack of knowledge of Chinese eating habits, evaluations by western experts of the nutritional status of China's population often fall short of reality. In China's present plans for economic growth, expansion of aquiculture is a project of high priority. Creation of the Ministry

Additional notes on Pre-Conquest avocados in Mexico

Abstract: A total of 118 measured cotyledons from the archaeological deposits in the Oaxaca Valley show an average length of 2.9 cm and an average width of 1.6 cm. Average 1 × w =4.63. The majority of the cotyledons are elongate and have a convex base. Among the cotyledons found are eight in which the outer seed coats are intact. Assuming that the outer seed coats are relatively free from shrinkage, they show that the original size of the avocado cotyledons was about 36% greater than the size of the fully desiccated cotyledons. The average length of the intact seeds coats is 3.8 cm, average width is 2.0 cm and the average 1 × w =7.26. By applying the 36% differential to the Tehuacan Valley avocado cotyledons of the same time period, we find that the largest cotyledon had a length of 4.4 cm and a width of 4.8 cm which compare favorably with the size of modern cultivated avocado seeds. The Tehuacan Valley people practised selection for large fruit which was presumably of better quality than the wild-type fruit from which they were derived. while we have no old series with which to compare sizes in the Oaxaca Valley, it appears that the people of this area did little to improve the size of the avocado fruit which they were growing. If it is correct to assume that the two cotyledons found in Zone B-1 of Guila Nacquitz Cave are in their correct position (they could be instrusive) and they came originally from the same stock as those of the Tehuacan Valley where most of the archaeological cotyledons are of similar size and shape, it is obvious that the Oaxaca Valley people did not take advantage of the opportunity for improving avocados.

Historical notes on horseradish

Abstract: Horseradish (Armoracia rusticana Gaertn., Mey. & Scherb.) is a hardy perennial of the Cruciferae. The plant is thought to be indigenous to temperate eastern Europe and probably has been in cultivation for less than 2,000 years. The ancient writers, Dioscorides of Greece and Pliny of Rome, listed horseradish underThlaspi orPersicon; the early Renaissance herbalists, as Mattioli and Gerard, underRaphanus; Linnaeus under the genusCochlearia; today’s taxonomists under the genusArmoracia. The English word horseradish apparently comes from the German wordmeerettich or ‘sea-radish’;meer (sea) was probably taken by the English to meanmahre, an old horse. At least two distinct leaftypes of horseradish were known in the 16th Century, and these are present in cultivars grown today. Horseradish may be an interspecific hybrid. Various workers have reported sterility, partial pairing of chromosomes, different chromosome counts in different specimens, and embryo abortion. Viable seed, however, can be produced. Most of the commercial production in the United States is located in the Mississippi River Valley around St. Louis and on muck land near Eau Claire, Wisconsin. The roots were employed for medicine by ancient and medieval people as a preventative or cure for many ills; but today it is used mainly as a condiment on meats and seafoods.

Male Sterility in Allium cepa and some Species Hybrids

Abstract: One of the outstanding achievements in plant breeding over the last two decades has been the utilization of male sterility in the production of hybrid seed. In 1925, a malesterile clone of Italian Red onion [13-53] was discovered in the vegetable plots of the University of California at Davis (15). This discovery not only revolutionized the production of hybrid onion seed but opened the way for the use of similar procedures in the production of hybrid seed in other crop plants, such as corn, wheat, alfalfa and sorghum. Male sterility in the Allium species may be due to environmental or physiological factors as well as to genic causes. Abnormalities may involve only a few of the pollen mother cells and pollen grains within an anther, or the entire umbel may be involved. They may be caused by unfavorable weather conditions at the time of microspore development, diseases, injuries by insects (especially thrips) or other factors. This paper is limited to heritable genic sterility that results in the abortion of the pollen grains while the rest of the microsporogenesis is normal.

Possible gene centers for resistance in the genusBrassica toPlasmodiophora Brassicae

Abstract: There is urgent need for surveying wild populations ofBrassica spp. for additional genes for resistance to Plasmodiophora brassicae. The gene centers of the genusBrassica and of cultivatedB. oleracea are in the western Mediterranean area. Evidence from early records of the disease and the pattern of its spread indicate that the gene center of the pathogen may also be in this region. This area is suggested, therefore, as the place to search in wild Brassica populations for genes for resistance toP. brassicae. The rapid spread of the disease throughout the world has been expedited by cultivation of the turnip.

Phytochemical survey of few Mysore Plants

Abstract: Phytochemical survey results of 27 plant species from Mysore State (India) have been reported

The species ofDioscorea containing sapogenin

Abstract: Diosgenin, the sapogenin most widely used in the synthesis of steroidal drugs, was first discovered in 1936 by Fujii and Matsukawa. That discovery lay dormant for some years, however, until Marker and his associates (about 1943) revealed the potential use of plant sapogenins for the synthesis of cortisone and other drugs. After World War II, the growing need for steroidal drugs and the high cost of obtaining them from animal sources led to a widespread search for plant sources of steroidal sapogenins. That search has been ably documented by Correll et al. (11). The major program of the United States Department of Agriculture stimulated scores of other expeditions and screening programs of smaller scope among both public and private institutions. These continue today.

Nature, distribution, and use of diversity in the tuber-bearingSolanum species

Abstract: Efforts to preserve and utilizeSolanum germ plasm have produced many significant results during the past 50 years. Recent research promises even more success in the future. However, in order to obtain the most rapid advancements and to provide for long-term programs, efforts should be made to encourage and organize more cooperative international projects. The current International Biological Program may provide a means for doing this.

Salads for everyone—a look at the lettuce plant

Abstract: If we examine in detail the origin, domestication and breeding system of cultivated lettuce, the following conclusions emerge: 1. The group of species from which lettuce originated is indigenous to the eastern Mediterranean Basin, probably Egypt. 2. Lettuce was most likely domesticated in Egypt, moving at an early date to Rome, Greece and later to China. It moved to the Americas shortly after their discovery, and as early as 1806 seedsmen listed more than a dozen cultivars from the United States. 3. Lettuce is a self-fertilized species which, under cultivation, has produced an abundance of variation, mostly in leaf size, shape, texture and color, and the arrangement of the leaves on the stem. 4. Variation in lettuce can be accounted for by early interspecific hybridization, and the protection of many mutants undesirable under natural conditions, but favorable under cultivation. 5. An analysis of the characters that separate these two species indicates thatL. sativa could be derived fromL. serriola by intensive selection.

From Vavilov to the Present-a Review

Abstract: The title of this seminar-"Centers of Plant Diversity and the Conservation of Crop Germ Plasm"-is a clear indication of the philosophical change underlying man's comprehension of his relationship with the Plant Kingdom. At no time in history has man's dependence upon plants been greater than today. It is true that man was inseparable from his environment during the many thousands of years of his emergence into agriculture, but population pressures during the period of hunting and gathering were easily relieved by moving into new territory. Thereafter, in spite of local famines, agricultural improvements largely paced the growth of population so that little thought had to be given to obtaining maximum production from plants. Within this century, we have become aware of the impending collision of the potentialities of plants to provide nutriment and the growth of the human population of the world. For Alphonse de Candolle, Origine des Plantes Cultivees (10) was more a mental exercise than a practical means of pinpointing areas in which plants might furnish a genic pool leading to an increase in food supplies, either through greater production or the reduction of losses due to pests and diseases. From de Candolle's work stems the idea of centers of origin of cultivated plants. N. I. Vavilov opened a whole new approach to the problem of locating pools of germ plasm and the practical application of this knowledge. While he continued to discuss "centers of origin," it is evident from his first two dicta for establishing centers of origin (66) that he was evolving an idea of areas of genic diversity. These dicta are: 1) establishment of area with greatest varietal diversity of a species; 2) elucidation of the system of varietal diversity of a species. Accordingly, during the early 1900's,

The soybeans of the Kumaon Hills of India

Abstract: In the rainy season, rice and ragi are the primary crops grown in the Kumaon Hills while the soybean and the common pulses must be considered the secondary crops.

The lack of acceptance of the pejibaye palm and a relative comparison of its productivity to that of maize

Abstract: The pejibaye palm (Guilielma gasipaes (HBK.) L. H. Bailey, also known as Bactris gasipaes), is a tropical plant which, when mature, may reach 15 m in height. It has a slender trunk which is well marked by circular leaf scars and is usually covered with long sharp spines, although there are spineless varieties. This palm is monoecious, and the fruits are borne in compact bunches which may weigh as much as 10 to 15 kg. These fruits, when ripe, are yellow to orangered and are usually about the size and shape of a large hen's egg. The larger fruits are often scarred on the surface, and actually these are the most desired, as they are thought to have more flavor. Sometimes seedless fruits are produced which are smaller and usually greener, but the majority contain a single large hard seed which is somewhat similar in taste and consistency to hard copra. Despite this fact, the seed is almost never utilized, except when fed to hogs. When the fruits have been boiled in salt water they have a distinctive, nutty flavor and are usually mealy. Although the fruit is highly nutritious a taste for it is sometimes an acquired one. This palm produces suckers which grow from the base of the tree. When mature, the suckers may be almost as tall as the parent trunk and will produce fruit bunches. A mature palm on good soil has been observed to produce as many as five to ten or more bunches on a stem. Thus, it is possible for a clump with three to four stems to produce anywhere from 15 to 30 bunches a year. In areas with abundant rainfall throughout the year, there is a

Diversity of germ plasm in small grain cereals

Abstract: Small grains in the USDA World Collection total about 44,500 accessions. This constitutes a valuable, growing, and much used gene bank. It contains only a few duplicates, but many individual genes are represented over and over. Therefore, the probability of adding altogether new genes to the bank is diminishing, and only as truly exotic, untapped gene pools are discovered in the world is the trend altered. It is feared that agricultural improvement and increased utilization and grazing of natural areas is erasing forever some rich, but unknown, gene centers. Future generations may, therefore, have to do without needed genes that we have now and do not know how to preserve. They would have to wait until nature evolved them, or they would have to find and use ways to induce the genes by directed evolutionary processes.

The life and work of N. I. Vavilov

Abstract: Received for publication September 23, 1968. today by plant explorers and introduction specialists. Primary and secondary gene centers of cultivated plants, as much as they are known or can be established, admittedly are the best sources of new genotypes and natural varieties for breeding purposes. Secondary gene centers frequently coincide with the present-day centers of genetic diversity. Less known in this country is Vavilov's law of homologous series in the inheritance of variability (9). This concept has had broad practical application in USSR (8). Few of us still remember N. I. Vavilov as an explorer and world traveler or had an opportunity to meet him during his journeys to America. This writer met Vavilov first in Rome, Italy, during his trip to Ethiopia, visited later his Institute in Leningrad, and still later had a rare opportunity to get thoroughly acquainted with Vavilov's world collection of cultivated plants.

Documentation for the conservation, management, and use of plant genetic resources

Abstract: stocks includes information relative to the identification, the genealogy or origin, and the genetic composition and nature of the specific maintenance unit. Complete and proper documentation is important not only to the effectiveness of programs concerned with the conservation and management of these genetic resources; it is both functional and useful in plant improvement research. Increasingly greater usefulness is added, and the genetic resources increase in value as the documentation can be supplemented by descriptive information, performance, and evaluation data and records of identified genes. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the need for better documentation of our plant genetic stocks, to suggest some approaches to the internationally standardized documentation, and to suggest ways in which improved and standardized documentation might aid in the conservation, management,

Hibiscus vitifolius, a new fibre crop

Abstract: This is a discussion of an investigation conducted on the morphology and anatomy ofHibiscus vitifolius, the physical and chemical properties of its fibre and yarn, and a preliminary study on reaction to dyes. The quality and physical and chemical properties of the fibre closely resemble those of jute. But further agronomic investigations are needed to assess more fully its potentialities as a commercial crop to supplement the growing demand for jute. Because of its short reed length and higher tex values, it may be best utilized, at present, as a mixture with jute.

Kokusaginine: Plant sources and its isolation fromPtelea trifoliata root bark

Abstract: 1. Kokusaginine, as the free base, has been isolated in a yield of 0.015% from root bark ofPtelea trifoliata. 2. By descending paper partition chromatography an Rf value of 0.70 has been determined for the alkaloid. 3. The incorporation of 2% hydrochloric acid solution and hot benzene in the extraction procedure appears to facilitate the isolation of kokusaginine. 4. Members of the Rutaceae are significant natural sources of the alkaloid. 5. Pharmacological testing of kokusaginine is being conducted currently.

Rapid inbreeding in maize

Abstract: The number of inbreeding generations required to produce homozygotes may be reduced if the more homozygous individuals in each breeding generation are selected phenotypically in the segregating progenies for further inbreeding. To demonstrate this, inbred lines and their F1, S1, and S2 progenies were studied for number of days from planting to anthesis, plant height and total leaf number. The data indicated that a high degree of control of rate of inbreeding may be obtained by proper use of heterotic characteristics in selection. The technique is a simple one: the selection of those individuals in a segregating array that most closely approach the characteristics of the ultimate homozygotes obtainable from the population. If these traits are undefined, then simple negative selection for heterotic attributes should suffice. In an S1 progeny of maize, an individual with the same number of leaves and (1) as short as and (2) as slow to flower as the parental inbreds will be likely to be more homozygous than its taller and earlier flowering sibs of like leaf number. Since the inbreeder’s aim is not homozygosis per se but the development of agronomically useful homozygotes, the population dealt with should be sufficiently large to permit intense selection for outstanding individuals among the more homozygous members of each generation of selection.

Notes on hair and nail loss after ingesting sapucaia nuts (Lecythis elliptica)

Abstract: Francisco Kerdel-Vegas 2 has shown that eating nuts of Lecythis ( L. oIIaria Loefl.) grown on certain soils in northern South America can cause hair and nail loss as well as nausea, vomiting, and even death. I wish to relate a personal experience on eating nuts of Lecythis eUiptica H.B.K. grown on soils along the Chamelec6n River, Department of Cort6s, Honduras. Over the past 13 years (1954-1967), I have eaten perhaps 50 to 100 nuts or more, from time to time, both raw and toasted. Occasionally, slight loss of hair has been noticed, but up until my most recent experience, this never became conspicuous, and I never related the two events. My hair always grew back readily, and the loss was attributed to natural causes. On May 7, 1967, in the late afternoon, two of my sons (ages 6 and 3) and I cracked several hundred of these nuts, each of us eating about 5 to 10 (raw). The next morning, the youngest boy was nauseated and quite pale. We attributed this to indigestion rather than a toxic effect of the nuts, since he had not chewed them well. He was given milk of magnesia and, later in the day, showed no further signs of illness. No symptoms of any kind were shown by the other boy nor by me. Over a two-week period, beginning on the above-mentioned date, I consumed somewhere between 300 and 600 of these shelled nuts (about one pound in weight). On June 2, upon rising, a quantity of fallen hair was found on my bed. On combing, more hair came out. It continued falling, increasing in quantity for about a week or