Luigi Guarino

February 10, 2008February 11, 2008

Of rats, bamboo and semelparous mass flowering

Over at Ecosystem and Poverty, our friend and occasional guest contributor Andy is asking whether anyone has a use for bamboo flowering culms… BTW, thanks for linking to our latest posts, Andy.

February 10, 2008

Yet more potato salad

And part 38. “La papa es peruana.” Chileans unavailable for comment.

February 8, 2008

More potato salad

Never rains but it pours, part 37. Local newspaper article on the US potato genebank.

February 8, 2008

More on Columbian Exchange

Columbus not responsible for lice.

February 7, 2008February 8, 2008

More hot cocoa

Never rains but it pours. Mars and Nestle jump on the ethical cacao bandwagon.

Fresh Nibbles

In the UK, Herefordshire’s Museum of Cider is picking up national recognition for its genebank of heritage apple trees. The BBC’s canonical autumnal apple story comes a little early this year.
Speaking of iconic apples, Kazakhstan is scaling up efforts to bring back the Aport, the giant heirloom that once made Almaty famous. No word of museums, though. Or cider.
Over in the Philippines, Department of Environment and Natural Resources is beefing up its rattan genebank to keep pace with demand, with forest stewards in Bukidnon planting seedlings to match. Furniture makers need genebanks as much as cider makers.
Sri Lanka’s pre-Green Revolution heirloom rice varieties, purana haal, are being eyed for their resilience and disease-management potential. Good thing they’re in the national genebank.
Saudi Arabia’s Jazan terraced coffee farms are turning into rural and ecotourism hotspots, proving not all agrobiodiversity needs to be in a genebank to survive. But it helps.

Published on August 9, 2026