Researchers from Washington University in St. Louis are reexamining the processes of plant domestication, drawing insights from nearly a decade of studies on erect knotweed, a plant related to buckwheat. Their work suggests that similar to animals, plants may be selected for domestication based on their “tamability” or responsiveness to human cultivation practices. Natalie Mueller, a paleoethnobotanist, emphasizes that while plants lack a term analogous to tameness, they can exhibit developmental plasticity, enabling them to respond beneficially to cultivation efforts, such as increased yields or easier germination.
Mueller’s research indicates that growing wild plants in low-density farming conditions can spontaneously trigger traits akin to domestication within a single growing season. This observation suggests a crucial role for plant behavior in the co-evolutionary relationship between early farmers and their crops. Mueller’s findings challenge traditional views on domestication, advocating for a focus on the developmental capacities of wild relatives of crops. Besides contributing to understanding the domestication process, this research opens pathways for the intentional domestication of new food crops from wild plants exhibiting desirable traits. The study highlights the importance of reciprocal relationships in domestication, recognizing plants as responsive entities worthy of deeper exploration.
