144 PLANTS AND MAN 



other parts of the world. The plants cultivated in each region 

 were naturally chosen from those wild species which possessed 

 valuable products or properties. It has been only in recent times, 

 with the development of modern means of transportation, that 

 the cultivated plants of each of these regions have become intro- 

 duced into any of the others. In some cases — as with the tomato, 

 grapefruit, tobacco and rubber — this has happened in relatively 

 recent times. 



The Mediterranean region is the meeting place for plants 

 originating on three continents — Europe, western Asia and 

 northern Africa. Because of the ease of communication between 

 these various areas, this region has been able to capitalize the 

 cultivation of a wider range of useful species than either of the 

 other two regions. The Oriental region (which includes Japan, 

 China, the Malay and East Indies area) has produced relatively 

 few cultivated vegetable and cereal plants, being most productive 

 of fruits. The American region (North, Central and South 

 America) has developed even fewer native cultivated plants 

 than the Oriental region. Those that were cultivated here were 

 unknown until after the voyages of Columbus. Little is known 

 of the actual dates of the e'arliest cultivation of these American 

 species. 



Cultivated Plants of the Mediterranean 



All but two of the cereal plants — maize and rice — originated 

 in the Mediterranean region. Wheat and millet, whose 

 ancestral homes were in Africa and Asia, were cultivated at least 

 as long ago as 2000 B.C. Of equal antiquity is barley, a native 

 of Asia. Less ancient are oats and rye, which developed from 

 species native to Eurasia at the beginning of the Christian Era 

 (fig. 86). 



This region has been very liberal with species used as vege- 

 tables in our modern diet. Longest under cultivation — dating to 

 2000 B.C. or earlier — have been turnips and onions, natives 

 of Eurasia; cabbage, native of Europe; and the broad bean, of 

 Africa. Many additional vegetables were brought under cultiva- 

 tion in the succeeding centuries before the Christian Era: celery, 

 LETTUCE and carrots from Eurasian species; radishes and beets 



