Curated category
Medicinal plants
- Cannabis (drug)Archaeologists uncovered cannabis residue inside burners within the 2,500-year-old tombs of Jirzankal Cemetery in the Pamir Mountains.
- MangoThe mango tree Mangifera indica first took root in the northeastern part of the Indian subcontinent. This region now includes Bangladesh, northeastern India…
- PlumArchaeological sites from the Neolithic age have yielded plum remains alongside olives, grapes, and figs. These findings suggest plums were among the first…
- FraxinusThe oldest fossils that are clearly Fraxinus date to the Middle Eocene, spanning 49 million years ago to 39 million years ago.
- CinnamonThe genus Cinnamomum contains the trees that produce cinnamon, a spice derived from their inner bark. Only a few species within this family are grown…
- ElmThe genus Ulmus spans the Northern Hemisphere, inhabiting temperate and tropical-montane regions of North America and Eurasia.
- OatThe common oat Avena sativa stands as a genetic mosaic, its DNA woven from three distinct ancestral species. Molecular analysis reveals this cereal grass…
- ParsleyThe word parsley emerged from a linguistic merger in the 1548 era of English cultivation. Old English speakers used a term identical to the contemporary…
- CannabisThe genus Cannabis likely split from its closest relative, Humulus, during the mid Oligocene, around 27.8 million years ago according to molecular clock…
- OpiumThe Mediterranean region holds the earliest archaeological evidence of human use of opium poppies dating back to before 5000 BCE.
- ThymeIn the dry heat of ancient Egypt, embalmers wrapped bodies in thyme to preserve them for the afterlife. The common thyme plant, known scientifically as…
- CoconutA fossilized fruit from New Zealand dates back to the Miocene epoch, roughly 23 million years ago. This specimen, named Cocos zeylandica, measured only about…
- GingerGinger (Zingiber officinale) is a flowering plant whose rhizome, ginger root or ginger, is widely used as a spice and a folk medicine.
- NutmegThe Banda Islands in Maluku, Indonesia, remain the only place where true nutmeg trees grow wild. These dark-leaved evergreens stand as dioecious plants…