Schriften zu Genetischen Ressourcen - Genres

E.N. SINSKAYA’S inventory of plant taxa
E.N. SINSKAYA’S inventory of plant taxa in the basic and dependent
areas of the historical development of the flora of cultivated plants
A.A. FILATENKO 1 , K. PISTRICK 2 , H. KNÜPFFER 3 and K. HAMMER 4
Abstract
The theory of centres of origin of domesticated plants was established and developed
by N.I. VAVILOV, based on many years of systematic study of cultivated plants
by the staff of the N.I. Vavilov Institute of Plant Production (VIR), involving hundreds
of cultivated plant species collected from all over the globe. This theory was methodically
verified.
The boundaries of these centres or areas and the geographical ranges of the crops
grown in them were continually updated by N.I. VAVILOV to gain precision, with the
help of infraspecific (‘differential’) systematics. SINSKAYA (1969), in her basic work
“Historical geography of the cultivated flora (at the dawn of agriculture)”, performed a
‘differential’ analysis of the composition of cultivated plant resources on the specific
and infraspecific levels. She also traced the distribution and endemism of genera,
thus expanding the methods for defining centres of origin, and thereby drew our attention
to the fact that VAVILOV’S concept of a centre of origin was increasingly associated
with wide geographic areas. SINSKAYA described the African area of historical
development of the flora of cultivated plants for the first time and introduced the term
‘dependent area’. The documentation of domesticated plants by the methods of
SINSKAYA gives new inspiration for further research on the evolution of the flora of
cultivated plants.
Introduction
1 13-Linija 12, kv. 7
St. Petersburg 199 034, Russia
2
Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK)
Taxonomy Department
Corrensstraße 3
D-06466 Gatersleben, Germany
3
Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK)
Genebank Department
Corrensstraße 3
D-06466 Gatersleben, Germany
4 Universität Kassel
Fachbereich 11, Fachgebiet Agrarbiodiversität
Steinstr. 19
D-37213 Witzenhausen, Germany
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