146 PLANTS AND MAN 



and CANTALOUPS, while some gooseberries originated in 

 Africa. 



Other useful plants brought under cultivation in the Mediter- 

 ranean region were textiles and beverages. Flax can be traced 

 back to native species found on all three continents, while hemp 

 originated in Asia. Both of these textile plants are of great 

 antiquity, known to have been cultivated at least 2000 B.C. 

 Cotton plants were cultivated independently in both the new 

 and the old world; the old world species, originating in Asia, 

 have been grown since the birth of Christ. Coffee — cultivated 

 as long ago as cotton — is the beverage contributed by the 

 Mediterranean region, tracing its ancestry to wild species of 

 central Africa. 



Flowers and other ornamental plants have an antiquity more 

 difficult to date. Tulips, delphinium and larkspurs, geraniums, 

 PANSiES, begonias and lilacs originated in the Mediterranean 

 region at some unknown date. However the poppy, rose and 

 CARNATION Can be definitely traced back to the times of the 

 Greeks and Romans. 



Thus this region, both in number of species and in value to 

 mankind, has added considerably to our present day heritage of 

 cultivated plants; hardly a meal is eaten but that some cereal, 

 vegetable or fruit is used which can boast an ancestry from this 

 meeting place of the European, Asiatic and African plants. 



Cultivated Plants of the Oriental Region 



The Oriental region has been less fortunate in possessing 

 native plants suitable for use as cereals, vegetables and textiles; 

 most of the native species have been cultivated for their fruits or 

 used as ornamentals (fig. 87). The only cereal originating in this 

 region is rice ; for thousands of years it has been the most impor- 

 tant item in the diet of every Oriental. Its cultivation dates back 

 to 3000 or 4000 B.C. Tea, of equally ancient history, is the bever- 

 age plant native to this same area. Of the vegetables originating 

 in the Orient, the oldest (under cultivation for at least 4000 

 years) are the cucumber and onion; more recent is the soy bean, 

 which with rice forms the staple Oriental meal. Radishes were 

 also grown by the early Chinese and Japanese. 



I 



