Curated category
Plants described in 1753
- TomatoIn 1893, the United States Supreme Court had to decide what a tomato was. On the 10th of May that year, in a case called Nix v.
- MaizeMaize relies on humans to survive. Its kernels stay locked to the cob, unlike its wild ancestor teosinte, whose seeds scatter to the ground on their own.
- PeachThe peach, Prunus persica, carries a name that points to Persia, yet every thread of its origin leads back to China. That mismatch between name and…
- GarlicGarlic, known to botanists as Allium sativum, was placed by ancient Greeks on piles of stones at crossroads as a supper for the goddess Hecate.
- PapayaPapaya is a plant that feeds millions, and yet most people in temperate countries barely know what it is. Picture a tree standing between 5 and 10 metres…
- PotatoThe potato is a starchy tuber that pre-Columbian farmers domesticated around Lake Titicaca between roughly 7,000 and 10,000 years ago.
- RyeRye, known to botanists as Secale cereale, is a grass that has fed northern civilizations through climates that defeat nearly every other grain.
- OnionThe onion, Allium cepa, is the most widely cultivated species of an entire genus of vegetables, yet its ancestral wild form has never been found.
- OatOats, known scientifically as Avena sativa, may be the most underestimated grain on Earth. Samuel Johnson, writing his famous 1755 Dictionary of the English…
- PeaThe pea has fed civilisations for at least ten thousand years. Seeds showing domesticated characteristics have been unearthed at archaeological sites around…
- SpinachSpinach is not a better source of dietary iron than many other vegetables. That fact would surprise the cartoon sailor Popeye, who has spent decades downing…
- Phaseolus vulgarisPhaseolus vulgaris, the common bean, carries a remarkable secret in its raw form: eating just four or five uncooked, soaked kidney beans is enough to cause…
- Black pepperBlack pepper was found stuffed into the nostrils of Ramesses II, placed there during the mummification rituals that followed his death in 1213 BCE.
- CucumberThe cucumber, known to botanists as Cucumis sativus, is 95% water. That single fact hides a much stranger story. This creeping vine in the family…
- CoconutCoconut, Cocos nucifera, may be the single plant most responsible for human civilizations reaching distant shores. The Austronesian peoples who crossed open…
- FlaxFlax, known to botanists as Linum usitatissimum, carries a name that translates from Latin as "most useful", and the plant has spent thousands of years…
- CuminCumin has been sitting on human tables for thousands of years. The ancient Greeks kept it at the dining table in its own container, much as pepper is kept…
- ChickpeaChickpea, known scientifically as Cicer arietinum, is one of the oldest cultivated plants on earth, and the oldest archaeological evidence of it was found in…
- Common wheatCommon wheat, Triticum aestivum, is the single most widely grown crop on earth. It accounts for roughly 95% of all wheat produced worldwide, and of every…
- Indigofera tinctoriaIndigofera tinctoria, the plant known as true indigo, once colored the robes of emperors and the canvas of European masters.
- Gossypium barbadenseLinnaeus described the species in 1753, naming it Gossypium barbadense after the island of Barbados. Modern botanists place this plant within the mallow…
- Hyoscyamus nigerHyoscyamus niger, the plant the medieval world called henbane, carries a name that dates back to AD 1265 and translates, essentially, to "thing that causes…
- Ficus religiosaFicus religiosa, the sacred fig, holds a distinction shared by almost no other plant on earth: it is venerated across four major religions simultaneously.
- Juglans regiaJuglans regia goes by many names: common walnut, English walnut, Persian walnut. None of them quite captures what this tree actually is.
- Angelica archangelicaDuring its first year, the plant grows only leaves. In the second year, a fluted stem reaches 2.5 meters in height. This is just over eight feet of vertical…