XVI International Botanical Congess

The entire range of stages in annual and perennial plant domestication can still be witnessed in the Sonoran Desert, among the indigenous cultures of Aridoamerica. These stages range from columnar cactus translocation and tending among the Seri or Comcaac, selection of superior clones of wild agaves for cultivation by the Pima and their neighbor, genetic selection and full domestication of devil's claw by the Tohono O'odham and their relatives, and genetic erosion and feral persistence of formerly-cultivated annuals and perennials such as Sonoran panicgrass, agaves, and minor root crops. The forces driving incipient domestication as well as genetic erosion can be better understand in the binational Sonoran Desert than nearly anywhere else in the Americas. Recent domestication attempts at jojoba and boffalogourds will also be addressed.