There’s a controversy brewing over whether it is Shakespeare or Drake holding an ear of maize on the frontispiece of Gerard’s Herbal. But what I really want to know is what’s that other thing in his right hand.
Nibbles: Iron millet, Potato problems, Potato award, Chocolate, Cider, Nerica for Ebola, African vegetables, Collections in peril, Frida Kahlo, Diverse grasslands, Svalbard, Watermelon heirloom, Sugar, Food security, Engineered heroin, Collecting seeds, Foraging, Early modern maize, Plant protection, Guernsey seaweed
- Biofortified pearl millet has an effect!
- Bayer says the potato is a diva. But then they would, wouldn’t they.
- Potato exhibit wins award. Did someone say diva?
- Do we really need to be told that fermentation is a good thing?
- See what I mean? I’ll drink to that!
- Nerica for Ebola-hit areas. But why only?
- Cooking up some veggies in Cameroon. With some Nerica rice, no doubt.
- French national collection of carnivorous plants up for sale. Sorely tempted.
- Frida’s garden. I bet there’s some carnivorous plants in there.
- Diverse grasslands are stable grasslands.
- No, actually, The Guardian, not an overpriced deep freeze.
- The sweetest melon in the South.
- Taking the sugar out of our diets. But not watermelons, surely.
- Interview with the US Ambassador to the Rome-based UN agencies, focusing on food security.
- Home-brewed heroin: what could possibly go wrong?
- The Global Seed Conservation Challenge: but will it be done the right way?
- Rummaging around Europe’s forests.
- Is that Shakespeare or Drake holding an early introduction of maize to England?
- Using plants to protect plants.
- Vraic Day! h/t @twaihaku
Brainfood: Prunus hybrids, Wild potato gaps, Agroecology & CC, German orchard loss, Downy mildew in millet, Googling birds, Legume genetic resources
- Development of a New Hybrid Between Prunus tomentosa Thunb. and Prunus salicina Lindl.. Prunus just keeps on giving.
- Ex Situ Conservation Priorities for the Wild Relatives of Potato (Solanum L. Section Petota). 32 out of 73 species, mostly in Peru.
- Agroecology and the design of climate change-resilient farming systems. Forget monocultures, go for “…crop diversification, maintaining local genetic diversity, animal integration, soil organic management, water conservation and harvesting…”
- Patterns and Drivers of Scattered Tree Loss in Agricultural Landscapes: Orchard Meadows in Germany (1968-2009). It’s all about the bottom line.
- New Sources of Resistance to Multiple Pathotypes of Sclerospora graminicola in the Pearl Millet Mini Core Germplasm Collection. 62 of 238 accessions resistant to at least 2 of 8 pathotypes tested.
- Searching for backyard birds in virtual worlds: Internet queries mirror real species distributions.
Searches for common names of birds correlated with bird population densities. Wonder if same applies to (some) plants. - Legume Crops Phylogeny and Genetic Diversity for Science and Breeding. 6 tribes, 13 genera, a million accessions. But are we making the most of them?
Palmyra’s grapes
Remember our discussion of Ruoppolo’s grapes? You know, the ones with the weirdly shaped berries and the confused synonymy? Well, something looking remarkably similar has just turned up in a tweet featuring a photo of a carving from Palmyra, a UNESCO World Heritage Site under threat in Syria.
The grapes of wrath – beautiful stone carving in #Palmyra #Syria – @UNESCO World Heritage Site under threat pic.twitter.com/Nnaq6lFtHO
— Matthew Ward Hunter (@HistoryNeedsYou) May 15, 2015
Strangely-shaped grapes obviously go back a long way.
Nibbles: Bees, Oysters, Herbals, Svalbard
- US honeybees really in trouble.
- Europeans also worried.
- Chesapeake oyster, on the other hand, are recovering.
- Series of posts on old herbals.
- Q&A on Svalbard Global Seed Vault.