Should Bromus secalinus (rye brome) be considered a crop?: Analysis of Bromus rich assemblages from protohistoric and historic sites in northern France and textual references

Vegetation History and Archaeobotany - Several hundred archaeobotanical studies now provide a broad overview of plant husbandry practices in northern France from the Bronze Age to the medieval...     

New insights into agriculture in northwestern France from the Bronze Age to the Late Iron Age: a weed ecological approach

Vegetation History and Archaeobotany - New plant macrofossil studies in northwestern France enable a better insight into agriculture through the Bronze and Iron Age. Most of the previous analyses,...     

A brief history of plants in north-eastern France: 6,000 years of crop introduction in the Plain of Troyes,Champagne

Vegetation History and Archaeobotany - The amount and strength of archaeobotanical and archaeological data available for the territory of the Plain of Troyes, in Champagne (north-eastern France),...     

Botany,agronomy and biotechnology of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Pelargonium</Emphasis> used for essential oil production

Pelargonium is one of the seven genera belonging to the Geraniaceae family, and includes almost 280 species mainly coming from South Africa. Some of these species have a strong rose scent mostly due to geraniol and citronellol. For a long time, hybrids between P. graveolens or P. radens and P. capitatum, have been used for essential oil (EO) production. Nowadays, EOs of Pelargonium species are produced mainly in China and Egypt. Hybrids are male sterile and propagated through cuttings. Their adaptability to different soils and climates (tropical, semi-tropical, mediterranean, or arid) is remarkable, even if cultivation parameters still have to be improved. Methods for genetic transformation of Pelargonium are available and, due to the growing knowledge of biosynthetic pathways and the cloning of terpene synthase genes in angiosperms, new strategies to improve EO yield or to modify EO composition could be imagined. For example, new crossings driven by biotechnological tools, creation of genetically modified Pelargonium with strong promoters upstream of terpene synthase genes, and batch production of Pelargonium terpenoids through recombinant yeasts or bacteria, are very promising approaches to develop EOs.