Nibbles: Ug99, Heirloom & wild tomatoes, Opium, Healthy flavours, Quinoa descriptors, Wild yak community conservation, Phenotyping facility, Tree app, ABS & EU, C4, Barley in Ethiopia, Chinese coffee

  • Not totally wild genes protect wheat from Ug99.
  • Not really wild Texas Wild tomato brings Texan back to gardening. These in Peru are wild though.
  • Speaking of gardening, here’s Michael Pollan on his struggles with opium.
  • Wild, healthy fruit flavours becoming more popular on the soft drink market, but not clear to what extent they will come from actual plants, wild or otherwise. You know, plants with yield variation and other inconveniences. Plants that some people rely on for nutrition, by the way.
  • Descriptors for quinoa, including the wild species. And more, much more.
  • I wonder if there are descriptors for wild yaks.
  • New UK facility for phenotyping plants, including wild ones, I’m sure.
  • And if those wild UK plants are trees, you can use this app to identify them, before phenotyping them. Assuming you can dig them up and squeeze them into the new facility. Anyway, maybe one of them will be European Tree of the Year.
  • Of course, if you wanted access to the genetic resources of such trees, you’d have to deal with the Nagoya Protocol, which the EU is getting to grips with, don’t worry.
  • Not many C4 species among UK trees, I guess.
  • Teff is C4, but that isn’t stopping people trying to replace it with barley in injira.
  • Next thing you know the Chinese will be swapping tea for coffee. No, wait.

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