Buckwheat - Rhubarb - Sorrell

February 26, 2016 1:57 PM

The Plant Food Tree of Life leads you through the major plant foods and their evolutionary relationships. It is a complement to the list view of the same information, in which each link takes you to a related article at the excellent blog, The Botanist in the Kitchen.
posted by Rumple (17 comments total)

I didn't know I needed The Botanist in the Kitchen in my life, so thank you!
posted by MonkeyToes at 2:10 PM on February 26, 2016 [1 favorite]

That's great!

My favourite plant food phylogeny fact is that cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, Brussels sprouts, collard greens, savoy, kohlrabi and kai-lan are all the same species.
posted by clawsoon at 2:30 PM on February 26, 2016 [3 favorites]

Botany of food is my dream course to teach, when and if I ever manage to find myself a faculty position. (Anybody looking for a plant ecologist? Also, I can cook!) Needless to say, I love this blog.
posted by pemberkins at 2:45 PM on February 26, 2016

Fungi are more closely related to animals than to plants? I told my partner this and she said "Yeah," as if everybody knew that. I guess I must have been sick that day in Biology class. Or Botany.
posted by kozad at 2:56 PM on February 26, 2016

I think of fungi as what animals would look like if they grew like plants.
posted by lucidium at 3:34 PM on February 26, 2016 [1 favorite]

Fungi capturing worm with lasso.
posted by clawsoon at 3:42 PM on February 26, 2016 [4 favorites]

> Fungi capturing worm with lasso

HOLY HELL.
posted by lucidium at 4:56 PM on February 26, 2016

Fantastic link, thanks Rumple.
posted by unliteral at 5:35 PM on February 26, 2016

My favourite plant food phylogeny fact is that cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, Brussels sprouts, collard greens, savoy, kohlrabi and kai-lan are all the same species.

Same genus (Brassica), not species :) Canola, too (Brassica napus)!
posted by waving at 6:15 PM on February 26, 2016

Many delicious brassicas are indeed various cultivars of the species Brassica oleracea. More details in this post from Botanist in the Kitchen!
posted by pemberkins at 7:07 PM on February 26, 2016 [1 favorite]

I really needed this! I've been hungering for some real food geekery after growing up with Alton Brown and then Seriouseats' The Food Lab. Yay!!!
posted by yueliang at 7:57 PM on February 26, 2016

ooooooooooooh
posted by maryr at 9:10 PM on February 26, 2016

Same genus (Brassica), not species :) Canola, too (Brassica napus)!

No, same species, brassica oleracea. Canola is a different species (probably why clawsoon left it off his list).
posted by ryanrs at 9:14 PM on February 26, 2016

Fungi are more closely related to animals than to plants? I told my partner this and she said "Yeah," as if everybody knew that. I guess I must have been sick that day in Biology class. Or Botany.

Yes, on a very basic cellular level. Plants have chloroplast - they can harness energy from light. Fungi and animals don't. That is very ancient and important difference. Also, I *think* only plants produce starches as energy storage, but I'm not 100% sure on that one.
posted by maryr at 9:29 PM on February 26, 2016

Brassica oleracea kooky cross kalettes ( along a stalk like Brussels sprouts).
posted by clew at 9:53 PM on February 26, 2016 [1 favorite]

No, same species, brassica oleracea. Canola is a different species (probably why clawsoon left it off his list).

Ah, that IS interesting.
posted by waving at 7:57 AM on February 28, 2016

I just realized that my favourite plant-breeding story also involves Brassica oleracea. A Soviet scientist crossed radishes and cabbage, hoping to get a plant with a cabbage head and radish roots. He got fertile offspring via allopolyploidy, in which the branches of the tree of life join back together. (Chromosomes from both parents have to be completely doubled in the same offspring for it to be fertile, otherwise meiosis breaks down.)

However, the plants he ended up with had cabbage roots and radish leaves - not quite the bonanza he was hoping for.
posted by clawsoon at 9:19 AM on February 29, 2016 [4 favorites]