Where diversity flourishes — 2

Nicolai Vavilov, a Russian collector of plants who lived and worked in the early 20th century, traveled the world in search of previously unknown (at least to Russians) plants. He is known today as history’s most celebrated plant collector. He was pretty famous at the time, until he fell victim to Russian political intrigue (A look at Vavilov's life and work is coming up soon on this site.)

On the basis of his collecting and that of his students, Vavilov produced a list of “seven basic geographical centers of origin” and diversity for the world’s best-known plants. As science has dug ever deeper into the origins and distribution of our food plants, the list has been expanded to a dozen regions.

You’ll notice, from the list below, that some plants’ diversity is shared among several regions — wheat is one example, as are tomato, onion, and banana. The regions, with some of the foods for which they are best known, are:

Mexico and Guatemala. Maize, tomato, red pepper, sweet potato.

The Andean region. Potato, beans, tomato, quinoa.

Southern Chile. Potato, Chilean strawberry.

Brazil and Paraguay. Brazilnut, cassava (yuca), peanut, pineapple.

United States. Blueberry, cranberry, Jerusalem artichoke, pecan, sunflower.

Mediterranean. Wheat, asparagus, cabbage, beet, carob, chicory, lettuce, oat, olive, parsnip, rhubarb.

Ethiopia. Barley, coffee, banana, okra, onion, sesame, sorghum, wheat.

Asia Minor, also known as western Asia. Wheat, barley, oats, alfalfa, onion, almond, apricot, cabbage, celery, cherry, date palm, carrot, fig, grape, lentil, pea, pear, pistachio, rye.

Central Asia. Almond, apple, apricot, broad bean, cantaloupe, carrot, garbanzo, grape, lentil, mustard, onion, pea, pear, spinach, turnip, wheat.

South Asia. Rice, garbanzo, cowpea, cucumber, eggplant, lemon, mango, orange, black pepper, sugar cane, taro.

Southeast Asia. Banana, breadfruit, coconut, ginger, grapefruit, sugar cane, yam.

China. Soya bean, tea, sugar cane, millet, sorghum, oat, orange, apricot, buckwheat, adzuki bean, Chinese cabbage, cowpea, peach, radish, rhubarb.

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