'A catastrophe': Greenpeace blocks planting of 'lifesaving' golden rice

[LeftInTX]

21. I know that sweet potatoes are native to South America. That's a very long known fact.

Last edited Mon May 27, 2024, 08:26 PM - Edit history (1)

Sweet potatoes are members of the morning glory family.

This is newest theory is that red is for Polynesian distribution. Purple is Spanish. Yellow is Portuguese.





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https://www.calacademy.org/explore-science/sweet-potato-travelers

To add to confusion, Yams (a monocot) were grown all over Asia and Hawaii prior to the Columbian exchange. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yam_(vegetable)#:~:text=Yams%20are%20perennial%20herbaceous%20vines,numerous%20cultivars%20and%20related%20species.

About purple yams:

The center of origin of purple yam is in the Philippines, but archaeological evidence suggests that it was exploited in Island Southeast Asia and New Guinea before the Austronesian expansion. Purple yam is believed to be a true cultigen, only known from its cultivated forms. The vast majority of cultivars are sterile, which restricts its introduction into islands purely by human agency, making them a good indicator of human movement. Some authors have proposed, without evidence, an origin in Mainland Southeast Asia, but it shows the greatest phenotypic variability in the Philippines and New Guinea.[10][11][12]

Based on archaeological evidence of early farming plots and plant remains in the Kuk Swamp site, authors have suggested that it was first domesticated in the highlands of New Guinea from around 10,000 BP and spread into Island Southeast Asia via the Lapita culture at around c. 4,000 BP, along with D. nummularia and D. bulbifera. In turn, D. esculenta is believed to have been introduced by the Lapita culture into New Guinea. There is also evidence of an agricultural revolution during this period brought by innovations from contact with Austronesians, including the development of wet cultivation.[13][14]

However, much older remains identified as being probably D. alata have also been recovered from the Niah Caves of Borneo (Late Pleistocene) and the Ille Cave of Palawan (c. 11,000 BP), along with remains of the toxic ubi gadong (D. hispida) which requires processing before it can be edible. Although it doesn't prove cultivation, it does show that humans already had the knowledge to exploit starchy plants and that D. alata were native to Island Southeast Asia. Furthermore, it opens the question on whether D. alata is a true species or cultivated much older than believed.[4][15][16][17][18][19]

Purple yam remains an important crop in Southeast Asia, particularly in the Philippines where the vividly purple variety is widely used in various traditional and modern desserts. It also remains important in Melanesia, where it is also grown for ceremonial purposes tied to the size of the tubers at harvest time. Its importance in eastern Polynesia and New Zealand, however, has waned after the introduction of other crops, most notably the sweet potato.[6]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dioscorea_alata

And much of this study was based on a Polynesian name for yams and sweet potatoes and what Capt Cook saw etc. Additionally, the only DNA sample used was damaged.

Whenever I look at "past" stuff like this, it is important to remember that much of it is theories. (Such has how Neanderthals looked, where eye color came from etc) These theories are fine and are fun, if they stay theories. They start crossing the line when they go beyond theories. The sweet potatoes in Hawaii theory is based on carbon datings. Cultivation in 19th century Hawaii suffered from rats, insects and disease.

The general theory is that sweet potatoes were dispersed throughout Polynesia, but I don't know if it went all the way to the Philippines. And it seems like it was more niche. Even if sweet potatoes made it all the way across the ocean, purple yams were what was cultivated until sweet potatoes were introduced. Purple yams are, which are warm season monocots (like rice) are tough and are suited to low-land tropics. Sweet potatoes tubers and regular potatoes are pickier.

Is zucchini native to Italy?