01716naa a2200145 a 450000100080000000500110000800800410001910000170006024500910007726000090016830000090017750001060018652012370029277300410152916453991997-11-11       1997    bl uuuu     u00u1 u    #d1 aALLEM, A. C.  aA reappraisal of the geographical origin of cassava (Manihot esculenta, euphorbiaceae)  c1997  ap.86  aIn: Simposio Latino Americano de Recursos Geneticos Vegetais. Programas e Resumos. Campinas, SP: 1997  aThere exists quite a number of views about the geographical origin of cassava. The subject has been controversial on account of the fact that the botanical origin of the crop species was unknown until recently. Authors postulated the cradle of the manioc to be South America, central America, and North America (Mexico). The author's 1994 view that cassava has an existing wild progenitor narrowed down considerably the choice of places where the domestication process took place first. The reasoning is that domestication happened along the distribution range of the living wild ancestor. Because the wild progenitor does not occur either in North America or Central America, these two geographical units are discarded as places of origin. In South America, a number of Amazon countries show up as likely cradles of demestication since the wild ancestor occurs in suvh areas (e.g. Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, Bolivia, the Guyanas). However, on the basis of data gathered from extensive collecting missions carried out since 1986, Brazil is increasingly regarded as the most likely cradle of the initial domestication of cassava. The density of the stands showed by the progenitor along roadsides and in forests strenghten this view.  tCampinas: IAC/Embrapa-CENARGEN, 1997