1929
The rich flora of China, still only superficially studied and known only from fragments brought back by European and American travellers, hides very much of great value. Tung-oil trees (Vernicia fordii and V. cordata), guttapercha-producing eucommias (Eucommia ulmoides) and thousands of woody and herbaceous annual and perennial ornamental plants have penetrated into European and American cultures or are being tested. Fast-ripening forms, suitable for transfer to northern latitudes, have been adapted for mountains and alpine areas there.
Under the particular conditions of a monsoon climate, in the course of thousands of years, the Chinese forms of wheat and barley have changed into peculiar subspecies. Rice, the native land of which seems to be India, where it is still possible to trace the connection between wild relatives and cultivated forms, was introduced to China and gave rise to special and improved varieties. [1] A number of millet-like plants came originally from China. A millet, introduced there from Africa, has changed into a special species, ‘kaoliang’ (Sorghum nervosum). [2]
The important agricultural civilization of China, where the largest and densest population of Asia is concentrated, still awaits its investigators. In the forefront of this challenge looms an enormous, detailed study of the plant resources of China and a synthesis of the knowledge concerning these resources. …
The most urgent problem facing the science of natural history is to elucidate the resources of southeastern Asia, to scrutinize critically this enormous experiment, to reveal the genius of the people and to tear down the Chinese wall of isolation.
Notes:
- Or not. See Origins of rice and Rice domestication: a different story. [↩]
- Oh, the multiple problems this sentence raises. What did Vavilov mean by “a millet”? And describing it as “a special species” seems to be an indication of the Russian tendency to split taxa. S. nervosum, for what it is worth, is not recognized as a valid name these days, but is regarded as a synonym of S. bicolor. More in a day or two. [↩]
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