Medicinal plants

Nibbles: Beautiful downtown Burbank, Oz rice weed and nuts, Teff embargo, Kew Gardens, Cherokee seeds, Vegetables semantics, MLN progress, Fishy chart, Inuit fishy diet, Bioversity photo fix, African food security, ICIPE cashes in, Root & tuber congress, Smallholders, EU agroecology, Sackville Hamilton, Kiwifruit history, USDA pathogen collection

Luther Burbank “…was willing to cross just about anything that had leaves…”
No, rice did not originate in northern Australia. Not in the sense those words are usually used.
Aussies to embrace cannabis. But not in the sense those words are usually used.
Australian exporters nuts for more than just macadamia. Ah, interdependence…
Meanwhile, Ethiopian teff exporters licking their lips in anticipation.
Kew is bigger than the sum of its parts.
Cherokee Nation genebanker gets award.
Yes, BBC, vegetables exist, let’s move on.
Maize Lethal Necrosis on its last legs? Well, “progress is being made” at any rate.
The Economist’s daily chart is on declining fish stocks. Why have they gone all warm and fuzzy lately? Something in the zeitgeist?
Inuit are genetically adapted to their fishy diet.
Damn it, I lost! Probably fixed.
Africa sets up a new institution for food security. Which is not the same as hunger, we are told. But is it malnutrition.
ICIPE scales up and out. More impact than any “new institution” is going to achieve.
World Congress on Root & Tuber Crops has a new website.
It’s the smallholders, stupid. Like the ones growing tea in Kenya, frinstance.
The EU to discuss agroecology. Yesterday, alas.
IRRI and Plant Treaty to share an IT-savvy genebank manager.
How kiwifruit became kiwifruit.
Microbes have collections too.

Really stunning video on plant taxonomy through the ages.
Growers often get cannabis taxonomy wrong. Where’s the video on that?
Kale or steak? Why not both?
Enterprising pupils make beer from oats/sorghum breakfast cereal.
Can always do with more news on Pawnee corn.
Let them eat Salicornia.
Australian Seed Bank Partnership organizing a National Seed Science Forum in March 2016.
The Instituto de Investigaciones de Viandas Tropicales is organizing the Third International Symposium on Roots, Rhizomes, Tubers, Plantains, Bananas and Papayas in Cuba, 20-23 October 2015.

In praise of common names. Meh. You won’t see a Latin name in this whole Nibbles. See how you like it.
Building a tomato. In Spanish.
Tracking a tomato.
The dark side of tomatoes.
Amaranth to rescue Mexicans from obesity.
Seeds of contention.
Finding the lost Least Lettuce.
Indigo goes back to the future.
What if the monsoon fails? MS Swaminathan has some answers.
Nice chocolate infographic from FAO.
A diverse microbial community in and around roots helps plants thrive. The Science article is behind a paywall, but there’s a helpful infographic on Twitter.
The US has a National Seed Strategy for Rehabilitation and Restoration. Vision? The right seed in the right place at the right time. Wish I’d thought of that.
When otherwise useful trees attack. Ah, the irony of this coming right after the previous one.
UK’s Global Food Security programme says extreme weather events are increasing and we must adapt agriculture. Good to know.
And today’s Five Plants That Will Save the World are…
Maybe add pawpaw to that?
Japanese rice farmers: change gonna come.
Nice coffee museum in Brazil.
Early agriculture in the Caribbean: Cuba and Trinidad.
The babaçu breakers of Maranhão are under threat. What’s babaçu? Yeah, well, look it up.
“Seed banking began about 30 years ago as an improvement to individual farmers storing and using their own seeds.” Riiiiight.
That Vilsak is a card.