Basic Species Information
Manioc (Manihot esculenta Crantz) is a woody shrub that is cultivated primarily for its tuberous roots that contain large amounts of carbohydrate in the form of starch. The crop originates in South America but is now widely grown throughout the wet tropics and has become the sixth most globally important crop for food (Clement et al. 2010). It is also grown for fodder (e.g., for pigs in the highlands of New Guinea). Cassava is adaptable to marginal environments, has a flexible growth cycle, and has relatively high energy yields per unit area of land (Lebot 2009).
Manioc is ordinarily reproduced vegetatively under cultivation, namely, a stem cutting is planted to generate a new clone of the parent. Even though it is generally regarded as an asexually reproduced plant, it has not lost its ability for sexual reproduction, namely, many vegetatively propagated varieties still produce viable seed (Rival & McKey 2008). Clement et al. (2010: 78) have highlighted the...
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Denham, T. (2014). Manioc: Origins and Development. In: Smith, C. (eds) Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-0465-2_2180
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