Abstract
Cultivation reflects an intense relationship between human and plants. Therefore, the number of cultivated plant species is of general interest. The number of cultivated crop species amounts to about 7,000 (“Mansfeld’s approach”). Amenity horticulture is a quickly developing area comprising ornamentals and other plants connected with gardening and landscaping. 28,000 plant species have been estimated to belong to this group. Cultivated forest plants are partly included in the first group and mostly in the second group. Thus, we propose that the total number of cultivated plants amounts to 35,000 species, i.e. about 14% of the number of higher plant species of the world.
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Khoshbakht, K., Hammer, K. How many plant species are cultivated?. Genet Resour Crop Evol 55, 925–928 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10722-008-9368-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10722-008-9368-0