Ever since the first agricultural revolution, ten thousand years ago, humans have adapted plants to their needs. This is especially true for the grains, most of which originated in the Middle East. Wheat, oats, barley, rye, and others that could become food for humans were altered from their original form by careful plant breeding. This is also true for the flowers that are the staple of the florists trade roses, chrysanthemums, begonias, and carnations are all adaptations of wild plants.
Tulips are widely known flowers that originated in Eurasia from Austria and Italy eastward to Japan, with two-thirds of them native to the eastern Mediterranean and the southeastern parts of Russia. The Dutch cultivated tulips beginning in the 1500's and made them into a staple export. The grape hyacinth is a European native, as is the full size hyacinth. Crocuses are natives of the Mediterranean basin.
Olive Trees
One native flowering plant of Europe deserves special mention: the olive tree. Having originated along the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, it has been cultivated and modified to increase the size of its fruit since ancient times. It remains an important agricultural resource for Mediterranean nations, especially Greece, Italy, France, and Spain. The Spanish conquerors of Central America carried the olive to the new world, and it was successfully introduced into California.
The Maquis
Uncultivated olive trees form part of the vegetation of the maquis, an area in France and Spain where the native olive grows with the carob, a small native tree like the olive, and the holm oak. Most of these trees are so stunted by the impoverished soil, heavily eroded over the centuries, that they are little more than bushes. There are also a variety of shrubs characteristics of the maquis, such as a clematis vine, the Mediterranean buckthorn, and the common myrtle. A local variety of grass covers the ground between the trees and shurbs. Similar communities can also be found in Greece, where they provide grazing for goats.
See also: Apple Trees
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