Abstract
The review deals with three books focused on two questions dealing with a single problem: how human cultures and crop cultures are interrelated? The two questions dealt with are: Is there a conflict between the evolution of cultivated plants and the present trend of our cultural (including social, economical, ideological or political) evolution? If yes, what can be done to diminish this conflict? The three books focused on these questions deal with (1) growing number of endangered crops on global scale (Khoshbakht and Hammer, Threatened Crop Species Diversity. Shahid Beheshti University Press, Teheran 2010), (2) massive erosion of locally and regionally important crop varieties and associated traditional knowledge followed by collapse of whole agroecosystems and landscapes on a country scale (Antofie, A red list of crop plant varieties for Romania—Lista rosie a varietatilor plantelor de cultura din Romania. Publ. House Lucian Blaga Univ., Sibiu 2011), and (3) the growing number of endangered human communities (ethnic, cultural and linguistic islands) which preserved for centuries many valuable genetic resources (Hammer et al. 2011).
Notes
The author consequently use the term “Central Part of Romania” and avoids using the toponym “Transylvania” for the zone of her case studies, perhaps to avoid the “Dracula Complex” associated with this name.
We propose for the second edition of this book also an Index commonly accepted in our textbooks for centuries (cf. Melius 1578, 1978, l.c.).
References
Antofie M-M (ed) (2011) A red list of crop plant varieties for Romania—Lista rosie a varietatilor plantelor de cultura din Romania. Publ. House Lucian Blaga Univ., Sibiu, 288 pp
Beythe A (1595) Fiveskönyv (Herbarium; in Hung.). Németujwar
Blaga L (1936/2011) Spatiul Mioritic. Ed. Humanitas, Bucureşti. (The Lamb Space). http://www.scribd.com/doc/6815589/Lucian-Blaga-Spatiul-mioritic; http://homepage.ntlworld.com/rt.allen/E1.html
Borza AL (1945) Alacul (Triticum monococcum) la romani. Bul Grad Bot Cluj XXVI:93–119; Idem 1945b, L’alac (Triticum monococcum) chez les Roumains. Sibiu
Clusius C (1576) Stirpium in Hispaniam…, Antwerpen
Clusius C (1583) Stirpium per Pannoniam …, Antwerpen
Clusius C (1601) Fungorum in Pannoniis …, Antwerpen
Clusius C, St Beythe (1583), Stirpium nomenclator …, Nemetujwar
Hammer K, Laghetti G, Pignone D (eds) (2011) Linguistic islands and plant genetic resources—the case of the Arbëreshë. ARCANE editrice S.r.é., Rome, 337 pp. Available online on: http://www.aracneeditrice.it/pdf/3958.pdf (21.08.2012, szta)
Hanelt P, Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK) (eds) (2001) Mansfeld’s encyclopedia of agricultural and horticultural crops (except ornamentals), vol 6. Springer, Berlin
Khoshbakht K, Hammer K (2010) Threatened crop species diversity. Shahid Beheshti University Press, Teheran, 134 pp
Krauss M (1943) Nösnerländische Pflanzennamen. Kolozsvár
Laghetti G, Ghiglione G, Miceli F, Cifarelli S, Pignone D, Hammer K (2012) Collecting crop genetic resources in two Italian linguistic (Occitan and Ladin) islands and West Liguria with historical and ethnobotanical notes. Int J Biodiversity Conserv 4(2):54–70. doi:10.5897/IJBC11.211
Maffi (ed) (2001) On biocultural diversity. Linking language, culture and the environment. Smith. Inst. Press, Washington
Melius P (1578) Herbarium. Colosvar. Reed., by A.T. Szabó, 1978, Kriterion, Bucharest
Montesano V, Negro D, Sarli G, De Lisi A, Laghetti G, Hammer K (2012) Notes about the uses of plants by one of the last healers in the Basilicata Region (South Italy). J Ethnobiol Ethnomedicine 8:15. doi:10.1186/1746-4269-8-15. Available on-line: http://www.ethnobiomed.com/content/pdf/1746-4269-8-15.pdf. http://www.ethnobiomed.com/content/8/1/15/abstract (2012.08.21 szta)
Péntek J, Szabó TA (1985) Plant kingdom and traditional human life in the calata area (Kalotaszeg). In Hung., Kriterion, Bucharest
Simonič P (ed) (2006) Ethnography of protected areas. Endangered habitats—endangered cultures. Zbirka Županičeva Knijčnica, Ljubljana
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Szabó, A.T. One problem, two questions, three books about the vanishing diversity of cultivated plants. Genet Resour Crop Evol 60, 395–401 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10722-012-9927-2
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10722-012-9927-2