Chapter 5a- Fruits and Nuts of Warm Regions The textbook includes four groups: REVIEW: Life span Annual- A plant that completes its life cycle in one growing season. Biennial-A plant that completes its life cycle in two growing seasons. Perennial- Any plant that lives for more than 2 growing seasons. All trees and shrubs are perennials. Fruits of Tropical Herbaceous Plants Grown as Annuals in Temperate Regions The potato/tomato family (Solanaceae) includes many important “fruit vegetables:” Although the fruits differ in morphology, the flower structure is very similar.

Fruits of Tropical Herbaceous Plants Grown as Annuals in Temperate Regions The ancestors of modern cultivated tomatoes came from the west coast of South America. Solanum pimpinellifolium is the direct ancestor of domesticated tomatoes. Archeological data suggest the domestication occurred in Mexico. The Maya called the fruit xtomatl or tomatl, but the Spanish used the word tomate. Many Europeans were slow to accept tomatoes. Linnaeus used the idea of the wolfpeach to name the species, Lycopersicon esculentum = “juicy wolf peach” Recent molecular evidence indicated that tomatoes are more closely related to the genus Solanum. Colonel Robert Gibbon Johnson (1820) in Salem County, NJ, announced that he would eat a bushel of the “dreaded tomato fruits.” Tomato cultivation increased rapidly after 1920 with the rise in processed forms of tomatoes: Wild tomatoes are outbreeding perennial herbs with small red berries that have 2 carpels.

During the process of domestication, there has been selection for self-pollination to ensure high fruit set.

Fruits of Tropical Herbaceous Plants Grown as Annuals in Temperate Regions Selection has also produced a variety of colors and shapes of tomatoes. Sweet peppers, Capsicum annuum, are native to the New World and were first domesticated as hot peppers in Mexico. Archeological sites at Tehuacán, Mexico, have uncovered pepper seeds almost 7,000 years old.

Fruits of Tropical Herbaceous Plants Grown as Annuals in Temperate Regions

Most peppers produced in the United States are sweet, or bell varieties. Common green bell peppers are the immature stage of sweet red peppers bred to remain green when mature. Eggplant, Solanum melongena, is native to India or perhaps Southern China. Cultivation spread to Europe in the 15th century and later to the New World. Members of the Cucurbitaceae (squash family) have Old World and New World origins. True squashes are all native to the New World. Most melons are indigenous to Asia and Africa.

Fruits of Tropical Herbaceous Plants Grown as Annuals in Temperate Regions REVIEW The fruits of the squash family are called pepos, distinguished by their hard rind. Corn, beans and squash-known as the “three sisters” were important food sources of early agricultural peoples of the southwestern United States, Mexico and Peru.

Fruits of Tropical Herbaceous Plants Grown as Annuals in Temperate Regions

Four widely cultivated species commonly encountered in U.S. supermarkets: Cucurbita pepo was independently domesticated in Mexico and the Southern U.S. and is the most widely cultivated and versatile species of squash. Fossil remains have been uncovered in Mexico and dated to 10,000 years ago. Phytoliths of a squash from coastal Ecuador have also been dated to 10,000 ybp. A 9000 year old fossil remains of a cultivated squash was found in Peru. Because the earliest fossil was found in Mexico, C. pepo was probably first domesticated in Central America and then taken to South America.

Phytoliths from C. andreana.

Fruits of Tropical Herbaceous Plants Grown as Annuals in Temperate Regions

The New World cucurbits are an important staple food crop, but mature melons of the Old World are mainly dessert fruits. The New World cucurbits are an important staple food crop, but mature melons of the Old World are mainly dessert fruits. Modern, large scale production of melons is possible of selection for resistance to fungal and other pathogenic infections beginning in 1911. Hybridization has yielded triploid watermelons that ripen without fertilization which produce seedless fruit.

Fruits of Tropical Herbaceous Plants Grown as Annuals in Temperate Regions True melons, Cucumis melo, are most likely from Southeast Asia. The first mention of the sweet melons in Europe is from the 11th century in Spain. Selection eventually led to a wide array of varieties. Cucumbers, Cucumis sativa, also origniated in Asia with domestication in either central or western Asia. Travelers from Asia introduced cucumbers to the Mediterranean region after the fall of the Roman Empire.

The natural geographic range of Cucumis (shaded) and the geographic origin of the sequenced plant material. Triangles, Asian/Australian clade comprising cucumber and melon; circles, African grade; stars, outgroup.

Fruits of Tropical Herbaceous Plants Grown as Annuals in Temperate Regions Different varieties of cucumbers are grown for pickles. This process is an ancient method of preserving perishable fruits and vegetables. Several other members of the Cucurbitaceae are important in Latin America. The calabash, or bottle gourd, Lageneria siceraria, has a confusing origin of domestication. Most scientists consider the disjunctive distribution to be natural through human migration and “rafting of fruits” across an ocean from Africa.

Arkansas Little Leaf Pickling Cucumber

Fruits of Tropical Herbaceous Plants Grown as Annuals in Temperate Regions Domestication occurred independently in the Old and New Worlds. Archeological collections from Peru show a striking diversity of gourd shape. Native Americans used gourds of a specific shapes for chicha (corn beer) cups, water vessels and serving bowls.

http://www.chileantesdechile.cl/en/vitrinas/norte-grande/chicha-ayer-y-hoy/pactos-en-calabazas/

Fruits of Tropical Herbaceous Plants Grown as Annuals in Temperate Regions The chayote, Sechium edule, was domesticated in pre-Columbian times in Mexico. Chayotes can be boiled, fried, stuffed, or eaten in salads. Unlike most other members of the squash family, which have numerous seeds embedded in the endocarp tissue.

Fruits of Tropical Herbaceous Plants Grown as Annuals in Temperate Regions Several Asian cucurbits: Luffa fruits are eaten only when they are young. Old fruits are used to produce luffa “sponges.” Fruits of Tropical Herbaceous Plants Grown as Annuals in Temperate Regions The native region of okra (Hibiscus esculentus) is either India or Africa. The domestication of okra spread to the Far East and Europe. Okra reached the New World in the 1600’s. French immigrants in Louisiana adopted okra as a crop in the 1700’s. Okra is a member of the Malvaceae or cotton family. Okra is used as a thickening agent in soup, stews, and gumbos.

Study outline-Chapter 5a-Fruits and Nuts of Warm Regions The textbook includes four groups: - herbaceous species native to tropical regions - perennials of warm temperate and tropical regions - fruits restricted to the humid, wet lowland tropics -nuts from tropical species REVIEW: Life spans- Know the definition of annual, biennial and perennial This chapter outline focused on Fruits of Tropical Herbaceous Plants Grown as Annuals in Temperate Regions Family: Solanaceae (potato/tomato family) Know scientific names for tomato , peppers (sweet and hot) and eggplant. Know type of fruit, flower structure, origin/history and information about cultivation/domestication and uses. Family: Cucurbitaceae (squash family) Know scientific names for melons and squash- squash, watermelon, melons, cucumber, bottle gourd and chayote. Know type of fruit, flower/morphological structure, origin/history and information about cultivation/domestication and uses. Know common names for luffa squash, bitter melon and wax melon. Family Malvaceae (hibiscus family; mallow family) Know scientific names for okra Know type of fruit, flower/morphological structure, origin/history and information about cultivation/domestication and uses. Solanaceae Solanum pimpinellifolium Solanum lycopersicum Capsicum annuum Solanum melongena Cucurbitaceae Cucurbita pepo Citrullus lanatus Cucumis melo Cucumis sativa Lageneria siceraria Sechium edule Malvaceae Hibiscus esculentus