What twelve plants supply most of the food

our world consumes?

By Chelsie Vandaveer

August 21, 2001

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Five hundred thousand is a rough guesstimate of the number of plant species on the face of the Earth.

Of this 500,000, there are 3,000 species, which provide some edible portion to humans.

Edible food portions include:

• leaves
• roots
• nuts
• fruits

Of these 3,000 species, only about 150 are regularly cultivated by humans.

Of the 150 cultivated plants, only 12 supply most of the food our world consumes.

The cereals:

1. corn (Zea mays)
2. rice (Oryza sativa)
3. wheat (Triticum aestivum)

The legumes:

4. common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris)
5. soybean (Glycine max)

The roots:

6. white potato (Solanum tuberosum)
7. sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas)
8. cassava (Manihot esculenta)

The sugar sources:

9. sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum)
10. sugar beet (Beta vulgaris)

Pan-tropical fruits:

11. coconut (Cocos nucifera)
12. banana (Musa spp.)

To learn more about the history of agriculture, click on the link:

http://www.adbio.com/science/agri-history.htm

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