Origin of Cultivated Plants / The International Scientific Series Volume XLVIII

The work surveys the origins, early cultivation, and geographic spread of about 249 domesticated plant species, using botanical, historical, and archaeological evidence to assign probable native habitats and estimate epochs and diffusion routes. After outlining methods for tracing origins, it examines crops grouped by harvested parts—roots and bulbs, stems and leaves, flowers, fruits, and seeds—discussing wild relatives, cases where wild progenitors are unknown or extinct, and the role of human selection and environmental change. Concluding sections compile tables of species with proposed origins and earliest cultivation and draw broader observations about crop diversity and domestication processes.