List of food plants native to the Americas

Last updated

Northern highbush blueberry Vaccinium corymbosum(01).jpg
Northern highbush blueberry

A number of popular and commercially important food plants are native to the Americas. Some are endemic, meaning they occur naturally only in the Americas and nowhere else, while others occur naturally both in the Americas and on other continents as well.

Contents

When complete, the list below will include all food plants native to the Americas (genera marked with a dagger are endemic), regardless of when or where they were first used as a food source. For a list of food plants and other crops which were only introduced to Old World cultures as a result of the Columbian Exchange touched off by the arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1492, see New World crops. [1]

Grains

Quinoa is native only to a relatively small region of the Andes mountains in South America Quinoa growing on Isla del Sol, Lake Titicaca.jpg
Quinoa is native only to a relatively small region of the Andes mountains in South America

Legumes

Nightshades

A variety of tomato cultivars Heirlooms.jpg
A variety of tomato cultivars
Cubanelle peppers Cubanelle Peppers.jpg
Cubanelle peppers

Fruits

Apple guavas Guava ID.jpg
Apple guavas

Nuts

Root Vegetable

Other

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peanut</span> Legume cultivated as a grain and oil crop

The peanut, also known as the groundnut, goober (US), goober pea, pindar (US) or monkey nut (UK), is a legume crop grown mainly for its edible seeds. It is widely grown in the tropics and subtropics by small and large commercial producers, both as grain legume and as an oil crop. Atypically among legumes, peanut pods develop underground leading botanist Carl Linnaeus to name peanuts hypogaea, which means "under the earth".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Apricot</span> Cultivated fruit

An apricot is a fruit, or the tree that bears the fruit, of several species in the genus Prunus.

<i>Vaccinium vitis-idaea</i> Species of shrub with edible fruit

Vaccinium vitis-idaea is a small evergreen shrub in the heath family Ericaceae, known colloquially as the lingonberry, partridgeberry, foxberry, mountain cranberry, or cowberry. It is native to boreal forest and Arctic tundra throughout the Northern Hemisphere, including Eurasia and North America. Commercially cultivated in the United States Pacific Northwest and the Netherlands, the edible berries are also picked in the wild and used in various dishes, especially in Nordic cuisine.

<i>Rubus spectabilis</i> Plant species

Rubus spectabilis, the salmonberry, is a species of bramble in the rose family Rosaceae, native to the west coast of North America from west-central Alaska to California, inland as far as Idaho. Like many other species in the genus Rubus, the salmonberry plant bears edible fruit, typically yellow-orange or red in color, resembling raspberries in appearance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Custard apple</span> Index of plants with the same common name

Custard apple is a common name for several fruits and may refer to Annonaceae, the custard apple family, which includes the following species referred to as custard apples:

<i>Rubus phoenicolasius</i> Berry and plant

Rubus phoenicolasius is an Asian species of raspberry in the rose family, native to China, Japan, and Korea.

<i>Juglans cinerea</i> Species of tree

Juglans cinerea, commonly known as butternut or white walnut, is a species of walnut native to the eastern United States and southeast Canada.

<i>Juglans regia</i> Species of tree (walnut)

Juglans regia, the common walnut or Persian walnut amongst other regional names, is a species of walnut. It is native to Eurasia in at least southwest and central Asia and southeast Europe, but its exact natural area is obscure due to its long history of cultivation.

<i>Prunus maritima</i> Species of tree

Prunus maritima, the beach plum, is a species of plum native to the East Coast of the United States. It is a choice wild edible and its few pests and salt tolerance make it a resilient fruit crop for degraded lands and urban soils.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peavy Arboretum</span> Arboretum in Corvallis, Oregon

Peavy Arboretum is an arboretum operated by Oregon State University and located on Arboretum Road, Corvallis, Oregon. It is open to the public daily without charge.

<i>Vaccinium parvifolium</i> Berry and plant

Vaccinium parvifolium, the red huckleberry, is a species of Vaccinium native to western North America.

<i>Rollinia</i> Genus of flowering plants

Rollinia is a genus of plants in the family Annonaceae. While it is widely recognised as a distinct genus a monograph published in 2006 advocates its inclusion in Annona, which also contains custard apples and soursops.

<i>Rubus ursinus</i> Berry and plant

Rubus ursinus is a North American species of blackberry or dewberry, known by the common names California blackberry, California dewberry, Douglas berry, Pacific blackberry, Pacific dewberry and trailing blackberry.

<i>Rubus rosifolius</i> Berry and plant

Rubus rosifolius,, also known as roseleaf bramble, Mauritius raspberry, thimbleberry,Vanuatu raspberry and bramble of the Cape is a prickly subshrub native to rainforest and tall open forest of the Himalayas, East Asia, and eastern Australia. Its double-flowered variety is named Rubus rosifolius var. coronarius.

<i>Archips argyrospila</i> Species of moth

Archips argyrospila, the fruit-tree leafroller moth, is a moth of the family Tortricidae. It is found in most of the United States and southern Canada.

<i>Vaccinium oxycoccos</i> Species of flowering plant

Vaccinium oxycoccos is a species of flowering plant in the heath family. It is known as small cranberry, marshberry, bog cranberry, swamp cranberry, or, particularly in Britain, just cranberry. It is widespread throughout the cool temperate northern hemisphere, including northern Europe, northern Asia and northern North America.

<i>Phaseolus polystachios</i> Species of legume

Phaseolus polystachios, also known as the thicket bean or wild kidney bean, is a perennial, herbaceous vine that is native to North America. It is unique among the Phaseolus in that its native range extends across the eastern temperate United States to southeast Canada, while most Phaseolus are tropical or subtropical. It is the namesake for the Polystachios group clade, which is the most species-rich within Phaseolus. In spite of its common name, it is more closely related to the lima bean, and it holds potential as a crop wild relative due to its resistance to white mold.

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