Jerusalem Artichoke
Posted on 04/28/2008 7:21:53 PM PDT by blam
Heated debate over who planted first sunflower
22:00 28 April 2008
NewScientist.com news service
Colin Barras
Could raking over the ashes of past civilisations help tackle the current food crisis? David Lentz at the University of Cincinnati, Ohio, thinks so.
Genetic information from wild strains of domestic crops could help to improve crop yield, he says, making it important to identify the point of domestication.
That makes his controversial theory that the sunflower was domesticated in Mexico at least 4000 years ago more than just a matter of ancient history.
"If we are to improve the sunflower crop, we need to look at its full genetic base," Lentz says. "But conventional wisdom is that sunflowers were cultivated in eastern North America, and so Mexico has been ignored."
Although the crop is now present in Mexico, the traditional view is that the Spanish Conquistadors introduced it to the area from the north in the 16th century.
Rare find
Lentz challenged that view in 2001. His team unearthed a 4100-year-old achene, or fruit, at San Andrés in Mexico. Charles Heiser, a world authority on sunflowers, identified the achene as belonging to the domesticated sunflower. This raised the intriguing possibility that the sunflower was first domesticated in Mexico.
But critics argued that the single sunflower achene was no more than an anomaly. "People have been taking pot shots at me for a long time because the San Andrés achene was an isolated find," Lentz says.
Now, his team has dug deeper into Mexican culture to show that the sunflower has an ancient history in the area.
If the sunflower was a foreign introduction by the Spanish, Lentz argues that it should be known by the Spanish name for "sunflower" across Mexico – in much the same way
(Excerpt) Read more at newscientist.com ...
GGG Ping.
God!
He even hired his cohorts from the USSR/Afghanistan days to help.
The Clinton Administration got him booted out of Sudan, and to add injury to insult, the Sundanese gub'mint confiscated his money and agricultural businesses on his way out.
Al Gore.
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Thanks Blam. Jerusalem Artichokes -- generally sold as "Sunchokes" -- are actually American sunflowers, unrelated to either Jerusalem or artichokes. :') The roots (which are what is sold) are prepared similarly to potato, but are reputedly diabetic safe. The "artichoke" part of the name arose because someone thought the taste was similar to artichoke. Cut up one of those tubers and plant them (inside a grass stop, trust me), and you'll always have as many as you want. :'D |
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I vote it was.... Adam.
Either him or those snappy dressing Neanderthal dudes. Sunflower goes well with duck and mango salsa.
Globull warming, having been exposed as nothing but a huge scam, is being replaced by
THE CURRENT FOOD CRISIS!
Jerusalem Artichoke
Girasole!
Jerusalem artichoke, that which I planted once, harvested many times...and was dang nie unable to undo my folly.
Helianthus tuberosus
Despite its name, the Jerusalem artichoke has no relation to Jerusalem, and it is not a type of artichoke, though they are in the same family.
Thanks! Yeah, there’s no food shortage, really. Plant those things on the edge of a wasteland, and pretty soon...
I found out the hard way that tilling them under is NOT an effective means of doing them in. Starfish have nothing on these dudes.
Between them & cheyote, and jicama, one can eat an unsatisfyingly bland diet that will more or less maintain life as we know it.
Due to my ethnicity, I prefere onions, garlic, potatoes, and meat. Lots of all of them together is best.
“identify the point of domestication.”
Maybe there is no single point of origin.
“Genetic Analysis of Sunflower Domestication-... Moreover, two recent molecular studies suggest the possibility of multiple origins (S. TANG and S. J. KNAPP, unpublished data; A. V. HARTER and L. H. RIESEBERG, unpublished data).”
I wonder why they have the idea the Spanish introduced it.
Dang!.........
You are correct.
Good grief, what a stupid argument! Just plant the dang things where they grow well, and no one will care where exactly the plant was first domesticated!
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