. Cyclopedia of farm crops. Farm produce; Agriculture. THE PLANT AND ITS RELATIONS .3 lime, kumquat, grape-fruit. Other families contain only one or two agricultural plants of commanding importance; as cotton, of the Malvacece or mallow family ; flax, of the Linacece or flax family; buck- wheat, of the Polygonacece or knotweed family; beets and mangels, of the Chenopodiacea: or pigweed family; sweet-potato, of the Convolvulacem or morning-glory family. The number of distinct species of flowering plants now described is about 125,000. What this vast number has so far contributed to the food req
. Cyclopedia of farm crops. Farm produce; Agriculture. THE PLANT AND ITS RELATIONS .3 lime, kumquat, grape-fruit. Other families contain only one or two agricultural plants of commanding importance; as cotton, of the Malvacece or mallow family ; flax, of the Linacece or flax family; buck- wheat, of the Polygonacece or knotweed family; beets and mangels, of the Chenopodiacea: or pigweed family; sweet-potato, of the Convolvulacem or morning-glory family. The number of distinct species of flowering plants now described is about 125,000. What this vast number has so far contributed to the food requirements of man has been made the subject of an inquiry by Sturtevant (Agricultural Science, iii, p. 174). Basing his list on Bentham and Hooker's "General Plan- tarum" (1862-1883), in which about 110,000 species of flowering plants are recognized, in some 200 fam- ilies and 8,349 genera, he arrives at the following figures: 4,233 species, belonging to 170 families and 1,353 genera, are known to have furnished food for man either habitually or during famine periods; 1,070 species, belonging to 92 families and 401 genera, are or have been cultivated for human food. Among. Fig. 3. A mushroom, one of the non-vascular flowerless plants. It is saprophytic. flowerless plants 431 species have been recorded as edible, but only 5 or 6 are cultivated. In other words, about 3J per cent of the known species of flowering plants furnish parts which can be eaten, and nearly 1 per cent are or have been cultivated for human food. About 300 species are cultivated to an impor- tant or commercial extent. De Candolle, in "Origin of Cultivated Plants," discusses the origins of 247 species which are " cultivated on a large scale by agriculturists, or in kitchen-gardens and ; These belong to 51 families. They may be tabulated as follows: Native to the Old World Native to the New World A. Cultivated for more than 4,000 years . 44 D. Very anciently cultivated 5 B.
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1920, booksubjectagriculture, bookyear
