The Triumph of Seeds (44 page)

Fertile Crescent,
22
,
29
,
32
,
37

Fig,
187

Finches, Galapagos,
124–125
,
124 (fig.)
,
201

Fire

seed germination and,
91–92

use in food preparation,
26

Firewood,
22–23

Fleas, plague and,
30–31

Flowering plants.
See
Angiosperms

Food.
See
Human diet

Food digestibility,
26

Food preservation, spices and,
140–141

Food riots,
31–32

Fossils

coal and,
51–52
,
56–58
,
58 (photo)

horsetails,
57–58
,
58 (photo)
,
60

preservation bias,
60

seed plants,
57–58
,
58 (photo)
,
61

seeds,
56
,
60–61
,
64
,
114

Fracking,
50–51

Franklin, Benjamin (founding father),
39
,
154

Fruit,
68

affordability of production,
185–186

almendro,
180

analogs in early seed plants,
188

in culture and language,
186–187

diversity,
188–189

evolution,
184
,
185 (fig.)

seed dispersal and,
180–192
,
185 (fig.)

Fruit bat,
179–181
,
187
,
189

Fungal seed pathogen,
137

Galapagos Islands,
124–125
,
193–194
,
200–201

Gametophyte,
63
,
66
,
71

Gandhi, Mahatma (Indian leader),
203

Garbanzos,
37

Garden of Eden,
182–183
,
187

Gastroliths,
123–124

Genetically modified seeds,
213

Genetics, Mendel and,
70–80

Germination,
8–16

avocado,
8–16

caffeine prevention of,
14
,
148

definitions,
12–13

environmental conditions and,
91

exposure of seed to space and,
100
,
101 (photo)

fire and,
91–92

fruit seeds,
190

grasses,
23

imbibition,
91–92
,
148
,
190

resistance to,
91–92

of seed bank samples,
103

seed longevity,
88–95

spores,
66

water and,
12–14

See also
Dormancy

Ginkgo tree,
66–67
,
188

Glucose,
25

Goat grass,
28

Goodall, Jane (biologist),
26

Gore, Al (vice president),
36

Gorilla,
125
,
169
,
186

Gorse,
91

Gould, John (ornithologist),
124
,
124 (fig.)

Grain elevators,
21

Grain Law of Gaius Gracchus,
29

Grains

commerce,
21
,
32–36

cooked,
28

in human diet,
22

legume synergy with,
37–38

Palouse Prairie ecosystem and,
20

plague and,
30–31

political power of,
35–36

revolts and uprisings linked to,
31–32

rodent consumption/contamination of,
113

role in founding civilizations,
22

in Roman Republic,
29–30

See also
Grasses

Grand Canal, China,
36

Grape,
186

Grass seed

author’s dissection of,
24–25

dormancy,
24

germination,
23

starch in,
25
,
38

Grasses

civilization development and,
29

diversity,
20–21

Palouse Prairie,
20–21
,
21 (photo)

revolts and uprisings linked to,
31–32

ubiquity,
24

Great Fire of London,
94

Great Green Macaw,
6
,
123

Great Revolt,
84

Guar gum,
49–51

Guaraná,
147

Gymnosperms,
67
,
188

Hairy panic,
27

Halliburton Corporation,
50–51

Handling time,
117

Harden, Blaine (journalist),
35

Hargreaves, James (inventor),
203

Hawkweeds,
73
,
78

Heirloom vegetables,
107

Hemlock,
164

Henbane seeds,
165

Henrici, Christian Friedrich (librettist),
143

Heraclitus (philosopher),
211

Heredity, Mendel and,
70–80

Herod the Great (king),
84
,
86

Hesiod (poet),
187

Homo erectus
,
28

Honeybees,
148–149

Hooker, Joseph (botanist),
194

Horse chestnut,
170

Horse-eyes,
167

Horsetails,
56–58
,
58 (photo)
,
59 (fig.)
,
60

Hui of Jin (Chinese emperor),
31

Human ancestors,
125–126
,
169

Human diet

complete proteins,
37–38

cooking as critical innovation,
26

grains/grasses in,
22
,
25–33

importance of seeds in,
18

Hunter-gatherers,
27
,
169

Hydraulic fracturing,
50–51

Hyena,
191

Hypocotyl,
17

Imbibition,
12
,
14
,
91–92
,
148
,
190

India

guar gum from,
49–51

peppercorns from,
131

printed fabrics from,
203

Industrial Revolution,
51
,
202–204

Inheritance, Mendel and,
70–80

Insecticide, caffeine as,
147

International Space Station, seed experiment on,
100
,
101 (photo)

Isabella (queen),
129

Java,
144

Javan cucumber,
206–210
,
207 (fig.)

Jefferson, Thomas (president),
204

John Paul II (pope),
181–182