Re: SUNFLOWERS DOMESTICATED IN MEXICO 2000 YEARS AGO

michaelruggeri@xxxxxxx wrote:
Listeros,

A new study claims that sunflowers were grown as a domesticated crop
in Mexico more than 2000 years ago. This contradicts the idea that
sunflower farming began in the US East and moved south to Mexico.
Plant remains were found in a cave in Morelos with cultivated large
seeds from 300 BCE.
....

I was totally unaware this was an issue with anyone however ... As always my three cents.

What kind of sunflowers? Get a decent sized home gardener catalog and find two clearly distinct varieties, the 6+ foot and those around 3 feet. Just eyeballing them which I have not done in decades they struck me as two entirely different strains because there were variations within each size but not the same variations. The tall ones never had more than one flower. The smaller had single and many flower varieties. There were no 4.5 foot multiple flower varieties as though they did not cross-fertilize. This may be in error but this would not be the first time I have seen elementary oversights in such matters.

--
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.