Crops Flashcards
Where was cotton domesticated?
Peru
Cotton fruit type
dry dehiscent fruit capsule called a boll
Cotton fiber
single cell strand of cellulose
Cotton harvesting process
bolls or just the fibers are picked and then ginned to remove the seeds
Cotton usage
cotton seeds pressed to make cotton seed oil and the fibers are used to make thread
Where was wheat domesticated?
Near East, 9,000 years ago
From what did wheat evolve
grass that has shattering seed head that would rapidly germinate because they lacked a hull
What traits were selected for in wheat?
that was selected for non-shattering seeds, hulled seeds, shallow roots, and increase shaft and grain size
Deities associated with wheat
Neper, Demeter, and Ceres
3 Common wheat types
einkorn wheat (earliest form), emmer wheat, and bread wheat which has the highest protein and gluten content
Traditional wheat harvest methods
sickle, tie bundles, thresh bundles to separate grain and winnow chaff
Industrial wheat harvest methods
Combine that reaps, threshes, gathers, and winnows
Wheat uses
flour, beer, biofuels, feeding livestock, and straw for construction and feeding
Where was rice domesticated
Yangtze River Valley and spread through asia
Rice deities
“Rice Mother/Maiden,” Mae Phosop, Dewi Sri, and Inari
Rice connotations
status and fertility
Rice grain structure
surrounded by bracts
Rice flower structure
inflorescence to help wind pollination
Rice stem structure
air chambers linking roots to stems allows them to breath during floods
Rice harvesting process
flood fields then drain when rice almost mature, then harvest by hand and thresh, winnow, and mill
Rice usage
can be boiled steamed or made into rice flour, produces straw, be used in animal food, or for industrial uses
Where was corn domesticated
Mexico
Corn female dieties
associated with fertility; include Selu, Iyatiku, Chicomecoatl
Corn male dieties
Centeotl and Iouskeha
