“…In the Near East center of domestication (the ''Fertile Crescent''), the wild ancestors of the crops upon which agriculture was founded are known (e.g., wheats, barley, pea, lentil, and chickpea) (12). The geographic distributions of these wild ancestors, together with biochemical and genetic data, have been used to suggest that emmer wheat, einkorn wheat, peas, chickpeas, and lentils were domesticated from wild progenitors just once or a few times in a single geographic region (12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18) In contrast to the Near East center, crops domesticated in the Mediterranean region and other parts of the world have been derived more than once from their wild progenitors [e.g., olives (19)(20)(21), rice (22,23), and breadfruit (24)]. Within the Mesoamerican center of domestication (Central Mexico to northwestern Costa Rica), at least 80 native species have been cultivated historically (2, 3 25-29).…”