Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Weeds and Domesticates: Evolution in the man-made habitat

  • Published:
Economic Botany Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Summary

Weeds evolved, and are still evolving, within the man-made habitat in three principal ways: from colonizers through selection towards adaptation to continuous habitat disturbance; as derivatives of hybridization between wild and cultivated races of domestic species; and through selection towards re-establishing natural seed dispersal mechanisms in abandoned domesticates. Domesticates differ from weeds primarily in degree of dependency on man for survival. They evolved from wild food plants which were brought into cultivation. The process of domestication was initiated when man started to propagate plants in successive generations by means of seed or vegetative propagules. Phenotypic changes associated with planting and harvesting are species specific, and are brought about by natural selection under conditions of cultivation. Artificial selection by man during the domestication process is primarily responsible for subspecific variation in domestic species.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Anderson, E. 1953. Introgressive hybridization. Biol. Rev.28: 280–307.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • -. 1960. The evolution of domestication.In: Sol Tax (Ed.) Evolution after Darwin. Vol. II. Chicago Univ. Press.

  • Baker, H. G. 1965. Characteristics and modes of origin of weeds.In: Baker, H. G. and Stebbins, G. L. (Eds.), The genetics of Colonizing species. Academic Press, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Beadle, G. W. 1972. The mystery of maize. Field Mus. Nat. Hist. Bull.43: 2–11. Chicago.

    Google Scholar 

  • Burkill, I. H. 1952. Habitats of man and origins of the cultivated plants of the Old World. Proc. Linn. Soc. London164: 12–42.

    Google Scholar 

  • Busson, F. 1965. Plantes alimentaires de L’Ouest African. Etude Botanique, Biologique et Chimique. Leconte, Marseille, France.

  • Callen, E. O. 1965. Food habits of some pre-Columbian Mexican Indians. Econ. Bot.19: 335–343.

    Google Scholar 

  • —. 1967. The first New World cereal. Amer. Antiquity32: 535–538.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Celarier, R. P. 1958. Cytotaxonomic notes on the subsectionHalepensia of the genusSorghum. Bull. Torrey Bot. Club85: 49–62.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clark, J. D. 1971. A re-examination of the evidence for agricultural origins in the Nile Valley. Proc. Prehist. Soc.37: 34–79.

    Google Scholar 

  • Collins, G. N. 1919. Structure of the maize ear as indicated inZea-Euchlaena hybrids. J. Agric. Res.17: 127–136.

    Google Scholar 

  • Darlington, C. D. 1970. The origins of agriculture. Nat. History79: 47–57.

    Google Scholar 

  • de Wet, J.M.J. 1968. The origin of weediness in plants. Okla. Acad. Sci.47: 14–17.

    Google Scholar 

  • —, and Harlan, J. R. 1966. Morphology of the compilospeciesBothriochloa intermedia. Amer. J. Bot.53: 94–98.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • —, and —. 1971. The origin and domestication ofSorghum bicolor. Econ. Bot.25: 128–135.

    Google Scholar 

  • —, and —. 1972. Origin of maize: The tripartite hypothesis. Euphytica21:271–279.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Doggett, H. and Majisu, B. N. 1968. Disruptive selection in crop development. Heredity23: 1–23.

    Google Scholar 

  • Galinat, W. C. 1971. The origin of maize. Ann. Rev. Genetics5: 447–478.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Harlan, J. R. 1965. The possible role of weed races in the evolution of cultivated plants. Euphytica14: 173–176.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • —. 1969. Evolutionary dynamics of plant domestication. Japan J. Genetics44: 337–343.

    Google Scholar 

  • —. 1971. Agricultural origins: centers and noncenters. Science174: 468–474.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • —, and de Wet, J. M. J. 1965. Some thoughts about weeds. Econ. Bot.19: 16–24.

    Google Scholar 

  • —, and —. 1971. Towards a rational classification of cultivated plants. Taxon20: 509–517.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • —, — and Price E. G. 1973. Comparative evolution of cereals. Evolution27:311–325.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Heer, O. 1866. Pflanzen die Pfahlbaut. Neujahrbl. Naturforsch. Gesellsch., Zurich.

    Google Scholar 

  • Higgs, E. S. and Jarman, M. R. 1969. The origins of agriculture: a reconsideration. Antiquity43: 31–41.

    Google Scholar 

  • — and —. 1972. The origins of animal and plant husbandry.In: Higgs, E. S. (Ed.). Papers in Economic prehistory. Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jardin, C. 1967. List of foods used in Africa. F. A. O. Rome and Nat. Inst. Health, Bethesda, Maryland.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kornicke, F. and Werner, H. 1885. Handbuch der Getreidebaues, 2 vols. Verlag von Paul Parey, Berlin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mangelsdorf, P. C. 1965. The evolution of maize.In: Sir Joseph Hutchinson (Ed.). Essays on crop plant evolution. Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge.

    Google Scholar 

  • —, MacNeish, R. S. and Galinat, W. C. 1967a. Prehistoric maize, teosinte andTripsacum from Tamaulipas, Mexico. Bot. Mus, Leafl, Harvard Univ.22: 33–63.

    Google Scholar 

  • —, —, and —. 1967b. Prehistoric wild and cultivated maize.In: Byers, D. S. (Ed.) The prehistory of Tehuacan Valley, Vol. I. Texas Univ. Press, Austin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Millicent, E. and Thoday, J. M. 1961. Effect of disruptive selection. IV. Gene flow and divergence. Heredity16: 199–217.

    Google Scholar 

  • Panetson, C. A. and Baker, H. G. 1968. The origin of variation in ‘wild’Raphanus sativus (Cruciferae) in California. Genetica38: 243–274.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Reed, C. F. and Hughes, R. O. 1970. Selected weeds of the United States. U. S. D. A. Handbook 366, Government Printing Office, Washington, D. C.

    Google Scholar 

  • Renvoize, B. S. 1972. The area of origin ofManihot esculenta as a crop — a review of the evidence. Econ. Bot.26: 352–360.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rogers, D. J. 1965. Some botanical and ethnological considerations ofManihot esculenta. Econ. Bot.19:369–377.

    Google Scholar 

  • —, and Fleming, H. S. 1973. A monograph ofManihot esculenta — with an explanation of the taximetric methods used. Econ. Bot.27: 1–113.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sauer, C. O. 1952. Agricultural origins and dispersals. Amer. Georgr. Soc. Publ.

  • Scudder, T. 1971. Gathering among African woodland savannah cultivators. Zambian Papers 5, Inst. for Afr. Studies, Univ. Zambia, Printed by Manchester Univ. Press.

  • Sinskaia, E. N. and Beztuzheva, A. A. 1931. The forms ofCamelina sativa in connection with climate, flax, and man. Bull. Appl. Bot., Genet., Plant Breed.25: 98–200.

    Google Scholar 

  • Snowden, J. D. 1936. The cultivated races of Sorghum. Adlard and Son, Ltd., London.

    Google Scholar 

  • —. 1955. The wild fodder sorghums of sectionEu-Sorghum. Jour. Linn. Soc. London55:191–260.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stebbins, G. L. 1950. Variation and evolution in plants. Columbia Univ. Press, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Steward, J. H. 1941. Ethnography of the Owens Valley Paiute. Univ. Calif. Publ. Amer. Arch. Ethnol. 33. Berkeley.

  • Story, R. 1958. Some plants used by the Bushmen in obtaining food and water. Bot. Survey So. Afr. Mem. 30. Pretoria.

  • Vavilov, N. I. 1926. Studies on the origin of cultivated plants. Inst. Appl. Bot. Plant Breed., Leningrad.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilke, P. J., Bettinger, R., King, T. R., and O’Connell, J. F. 1972. Harvest selection and domestication in seed plants. Antiquity46: 203–209.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilkes, H. G. 1967. Teosinte: The closest relative of maize. Ph.D. thesis, Bussey Inst. Harvard Univ. Publ., Cambridge.

    Google Scholar 

  • —. 1970. Teosinte introgression in the maize of the Nobogame Valley. Bot. Mus. Leafl. Harvard Univ.22: 297–311.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Crop Evolution Laboratory, Department of Agronomy University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinos

    J. R. Harlan

Authors
  1. J. M. J. De Wet
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. J. R. Harlan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Additional information

Supported financially by the Illinois Agricultural Experiment Station, and grant GB-41088 from the National Science Foundation.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

De Wet, J.M.J., Harlan, J.R. Weeds and Domesticates: Evolution in the man-made habitat. Econ Bot 29, 99–108 (1975). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02863309

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02863309

Keywords

Search

Navigation