Smithsonian Scientists Discover That Traditional Agricultural Practices in the Amazon Helped Yield an Enduring Crop Clone

About 10,000 years ago, the ancient inhabitants of the southwestern Amazon took an interest in a leafy shrub with starchy tubers. While the uncooked plant’s roots were toxic, a bit of drying, boiling and cooking transformed them into an edible, energy-packed food source. Local Indigenous communities have been tending to the plants ever since.

Today, this shrub, commonly known as manioc, cassava, or yuca, is among the most important staple crops in the world. Hardy and versatile, the plant can thrive in warm environments across the tropics, even in nutrient-poor and acidic soils. Manioc is also very easy to grow: By simply cutting stems into foot-long sections and burying them, farmers can quickly grow an entire field of genetically identical clones.