How did the origin and spread of peach plants develop?

Peach is native to China and western China (Gansu, Xinjiang, Tibet, Shaanxi, etc.). ) is the origin center of peach. In China, the history of peach cultivation has been more than 3000 years, and the history of nectarine and flat peach has been at least 2000 years, but the origin of peach has not been clear. Archaeologists in China found wild peach stones 6000-7000 years ago at the Neolithic site in Hemudu, Zhejiang, China. Two identical peach stones were unearthed from the Shang Dynasty site in Taixi Village, Gaocheng County, Hebei Province (BC 16-BC 1 1 century). This shows that the cultivation history of peach has reached more than 3000 years, and the origin period of peach (wild peach) is more than 6000 to 7000 years.

However, for a long time before the19th century, due to the lack of archaeological and historical data and in-depth research on the origin of peach, some European and American scholars only made the conclusion that "peach originated in Persia and then spread to Europe from there" based on linguistic inference. Even in the middle of19th century, Knight (1862) and others thought that peaches came from Europe. Some scholars clarified this historical fact on the basis of on-the-spot investigation, textual research of historical documents and archaeological research, and proved that peach originated in China and was introduced to Persia and other places.

spread

The spread of (1) in China

Common peaches, Gansu peaches, Shanmao peaches, Tibetan peaches and Xinjiang peaches in the genus Peach are all native to China. Among them, common peach has many types of variation, the highest degree of evolution, the most cultivated varieties and the widest spread in the country; There are some cultivated peach varieties in Xinjiang, which are mainly distributed in a few areas of Xinjiang and Gansu. The other three species are mainly used as rootstocks, most of which are confined to the range of origin and in the wild.

The spread of common peach is centered on its origin in Gansu and Shaanxi, and spread in different directions: ① spread westward to Xinjiang, mainly in the mild climate area of southern Xinjiang; (2) It spread northward to a few areas with warmer climate conditions such as Ningxia and Inner Mongolia, and its scope was very small, limited to a few areas with better climate; (3) It spread to Sichuan and Yunnan in the southwest, but it was not widely distributed; (4) eastward spread to North China, such as Shanxi, Henan, Hebei, Shandong and other Yellow River basins. The climate in this area is suitable, widely distributed and mass-produced, forming the ecological variety group in North China and forming the first sub-center; (5) spread northward to a few areas in Liaoning and Jilin through the first secondary center; ⑥ It spread southward to Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui, Hubei, Hunan, Sichuan and other central China regions, forming a central China ecotype variety group that adapts to warm and humid climate conditions and is widely cultivated, becoming a sub-center; ⑦ Spread southward from the sub-center to Fujian, Taiwan Province, Guangdong, Guangxi and other places in South China, forming a variety type with less low temperature demand and early maturity. In this way, except in extremely cold areas, peaches are cultivated in Yining and Kashgar in Xinjiang in the west, Lhasa in Tibet in the southwest, Taiwan Province and Guangdong in the south and Yanbian in Jilin in the north.

(2) Cultivation and spread of peach in the world.

As early as 2000 years ago, peaches from China spread westward from Central Asia to Persia from Gansu and Xinjiang along the Silk Road. From there, it was introduced to Greece, Rome, France, Spain and other Mediterranean countries through Armenia. From the Natural History of ancient Rome, we can know that there are records of peaches, which were introduced to Rome in 1 century BC. The Romans spread peaches throughout Roman territory and countries along the Mediterranean Sea.

The earliest record of France's introduction of peaches from Italy was in 530 AD, and by the beginning of the 7th century, 12 peach varieties had been recorded. Britain introduced peach varieties from France in the first half of13rd century, and by 1629, 2 1 peach and nectarine varieties have been cultivated. Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and other countries were also introduced from France in the13rd century. It was not until the17th century that European countries paid more attention to peach varieties and bred many new varieties. Since then, the production of European peaches has developed greatly.

Around 1 1 century, Arabs directly introduced peach trees from Persia and Asia Minor and improved them, thus forming a special ecological so-called Spanish systematic variety group.

Peach cultivation in the United States began in 1530, when it was brought to Mexico by the Spanish, and peach was introduced to Florida by the Spanish in 1565. In addition, the Portuguese also introduced peaches to the east coast of South America in the early days. Immigrants from Britain and France also brought peaches to the eastern United States, and later Indians spread peaches to a wider area for planting.

There are three ways to introduce peaches into the United States: ① local seedlings and seeds in Mexico and southeast China; ② Cultivated varieties and seeds from England; ③ Offspring of China variety "Shanghai Peach". Early North American peach trees were almost entirely cultivated with saplings. Grafting was only used to breed varieties before and after the American Revolution. At that time, new varieties mainly came from seedling selection. Until the beginning of the 20th century, a lot of breeding work was carried out, and many excellent new varieties were bred, and remarkable achievements were made.

From the end of heian period (784- 1 192) to Kamakura (1 193- 1333), peaches have been listed as one of the important non-staple foods in the daily life of nobles. In the sixth year of Meiji (1872), Japan introduced seven varieties from European and American countries, and in the eighth year of Meiji, it introduced three varieties of Tianjin peach, Shanghai peach and flat peach from China, which were popular because of their excellent meat quality and unique flavor. In the 30th year of Meiji, some peach varieties were introduced from Europe and America, which were cultivated all over Japan. Thirty years after Meiji, Japan began to carry out breeding by accident and in a planned way, and gradually formed a variety group cultivated in Japan at present.

With regard to the spread of peaches, Qingchuan pointed out that in the 2nd century BC, peaches spread from China to Persia, from Persia to Armenia, from Armenia to Greece, and then to Rome and the Mediterranean region. It was introduced to France in 530 AD, and then to Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and other countries. 1 1 century spread to Spain. It was introduced to Britain in the13rd century. 16th century spread to the United States and so on (Figure 3-3- 1).

Fig. 3-3- 1 Schematic diagram of the origin and spread of peach

(Quoted from Qin Xing, Qing Chuan, translated by Duan Chuande, Origin and Spread of Cultivated Plants, Henan Science and Technology Press)