Edible flowers commercialized in local markets of Pachuca de Soto, Hidalgo, Mexico

Background: Edible flowers are important food resources due to their high content of nutrients and bioactive compounds. In Mexico these resources have been part of the diet of indigenous and mestizo, and are also important sources of income for the families that cultivate, gather and sell them. Questions: What are the species of edible flower commercialized in local markets in Pachuca de Soto, Hidalgo, Mexico? How are they prepared? What are their nutritional contents and conservation risk categories according to literature? Studied species: Agave salmiana, A. mapisaga, Aloe vera, Arbutus xalapensis, Chenopodium berlandieri subsp.nuttalliae, Cucurbita pepo ssp. pepo, C. moschata, Dasylirion acrotrichum, Erythrina americana, Euphorbia radians, Myrtillocactus geometrizans, Phaseolus coccineus, Yucca filamentosa. Study site and dates: Local markets of Pachuca de Soto, Hidalgo, Mexico. January 2019 to March 2020. Methods: Interview-purchase with sellers and direct observations in markets. Bibliographic review of the nutritional contents of the recorded species and their conservation status. Results: We recorded 13 species of edible flowers and eight preparation methods. Five species are cultivated, five are gathered from the pine-oak forest or xerophilous scrub ecosystems and three are obtained from crops and natural ecosystems. The gualumbos (Agave salmiana and A. mapisaga) are the most commercialized flowers and had the most forms of preparation (six). Seven of the species traded are placed in a conservation risk category. Conclusions: The diversity of edible flowers used, and their preparation methods exemplify the traditional knowledge of the groups that handle them and their importance as food and economic sustenance.

AN EARLY WOODLAND DOMESTICATED CHENOPOD (CHENOPODIUM BERLANDIERISUBSP.JONESIANUM) CACHE FROM THE TUTELA HEIGHTS SITE, ONTARIO, CANADA

A cache of charred, domesticated chenopod (Chenopodium berlandierisubsp.jonesianum) seeds is reported from the Early Woodland (930–915 cal BC) Tutela Heights site (AgHb-446) in Brantford, Ontario, Canada. This is the northernmost report of the crop, approximately 800 km northeast of Kentucky where the previous northernmost occurrences contemporary with Tutela Heights are reported. The Tutela Heights chenopod dates to about 1,500 years before the earliest maize is reported in Ontario and is the earliest Eastern Agricultural Complex crop in Canada. The chenopod may represent a crop that was not grown locally. In this scenario, the crop was strictly an exchange item that was circulating in an interregional exchange system that extended south to the US Midwest region and east to the Maritime provinces. Another possibility, although less likely given our current understanding of Early Woodland plant use in Ontario, is that chenopod was introduced to Southern Ontario in this exchange network and subsequently became a crop in a low-level food producing economy during the Ontario Early Woodland. However, no ecological indicators of cultivation have been found at Tutela Heights, and continuity of domesticated chenopod utilization from the Early Woodland period in the province has not yet been documented.

Anatomía de la semilla de Chenopodium berlandieri ssp. nuttalliae (Chenopodiaceae) "huauzontle"

The seed of huauzontle (Chenopodium berlandieri ssp. nuttalliae) was studied by light microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. When the outer integument arises around the young ovule, instead of covering the inner integument and the nucellus, it grows backwards and partially surrounds the funiculus . When the pericarp is removed from the mature fruit, the seed is straw colored, because only the tegmen covers the seed. The chalaza of this seed has the form of a truncate cone, with the elliptical base towards the nucellus. In this zone of contact between the chalaza and the nucellus. a cuticle is deposited that surrounds some cells and makes a three dimensional network. This chalazal network is in contact with a smooth nucellar cuticle that fom1s part of the seed coat. The inversion of the inner integument could represent a selected mutation during the process of domestication.

Genetic variation of the granule-bound starch synthase I (GBSSI) genes in waxy and non-waxy accessions of Chenopodium berlandieri ssp. nuttalliae from Central Mexico

Huauzontle (Chenopodium berlandieri ssp. nuttalliae) is a locally important vegetable crop native to the highland valleys of Central Mexico and a potential source of genes for improving its Andean sister crop, quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa). A previous work involving two huauzontle lines identified one waxy genotype that lacked amylose due to mutations in granule-bound starch synthase I (GBSSI), major amylose-synthesis genes with two constituent subgenomes, A and B. We conducted this study to determine the extent of waxy genotypes and cryptic GBSSI mutations in 11 huauzontle accessions or landrace populations extending from Puebla in the southeast to Jalisco in the northwest. This represents one of the first published studies of genetic variation in C. berlandieri ssp. nuttalliae. Accessions were phenotyped for opaque versus translucent seed morphology and their seed starches were stained with Lugol's Stain. In addition, complete or partial GBSSI genes from their A and B genomes were polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-amplified, cloned and sequenced. Seven accessions were either wholly or partially non-waxy while six were either entirely or partially waxy. All waxy accessions carried the same putatively null alleles, designated gbssIa-tp (A-genome) and gbssIb-del (B-genome). The identification of publicly available genotypes carrying gbssIa-tp and their potential use in breeding waxy grain quinoa is discussed.