Domestication, diversity and use of Brassica oleracea L., based on ancient Greek and Latin texts

Abstract

The domestication process of Brassica oleracea L. has not been fully clarified, either regarding its initial location or the progenitor species involved. Two alternative hypotheses proposed so far point to either a northwest European or a Mediterranean location. Previous studies to clarify the domestication process focused on linguistic aspects and on the earliest occurrences in ancient literature of words referring to B. oleracea. Those studies are here extended to offer a comprehensive account of literary occurrences of the brassica vegetables in ancient Greek and Latin texts, between the VI century B.C.E. and the IV century C.E. This study offers a contribution to ancient ethnobotanical knowledge in the Mediterranean, including agricultural practices and culinary and medicinal uses. It also defines the time when increasing diversity of crop varieties is documented and it adds weight to the hypothesis of a Mediterranean location of the domestication of B. oleracea.

Keywords

Brassica oleracea; Domestication; Culinary uses; Medicinal uses; Genetic diversity

Published in

Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution
2018, Volume: 65, number: 1, pages: 137-159 Publisher: SPRINGER

SLU Authors

• Maggioni, Lorenzo

  • Department of Plant Breeding, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    
  • Biodiversity International

• von Bothmer, Roland

  • Department of Plant Breeding, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

Sustainable Development Goals

SDG2 Zero hunger


UKÄ Subject classification

Agricultural Science


Publication identifier

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10722-017-0516-2

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/93438