Garlic's mysterious origins

totototo@telus.net totototo@telus.net
Sat, 01 Aug 2009 13:13:58 PDT
Garlic is only one of a number of plants cultivated since the dawn of time with 
no known wild equivalent. The saffron crocus is another such, as is (oddly 
enough) the "Dutch Yellow" crocus, which Brian Mathew demonstrated to be a 
sterile hybrid of C. ancyrensis and C. flavus, iirc.

The Hittites three or more millenia ago had a festival featuring a plant whose 
name is transcribed krk, presumably some form of crocus.

A closely related category of cultivated plants comprises those grown so widely 
for so long that no one is certain where they originated. 


-- 
Rodger Whitlock
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
Maritime Zone 8, a cool Mediterranean climate
on beautiful Vancouver Island

http://maps.google.ca/maps/…


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