I need to pick a plant species and give examples of its uses now and prior to the 1800.?

Question

Can anyone give me the name of a plant species and lead me in the right direction. A web site would also be very help full. Thank you in advance

Every plant i look up i can find human uses for now but nothing documented prior to the 1800

Answer 1

Hemp Plant is one of them. You also call it Marijuana.It was used in making ropes for the ships,material for clothes and entertainment too ,I guess. But Hemp has been around a very long time and has been used it the textile Business almost as long. Good Luck,Byee

Answer 2

Most small grains (Oats, Wheat, Barley, Rye) have more than 200 years of cultivated history in Europe and the US.

Corn, Indigo, Cotton, Tobacco, and Potatoes are Western Hemisphere crops grown for the last 200 years as both subsistence (although it might be hard to argue Indigo and Tobacco as subsistence crops) and cash crops.

Tabasco (a pepper, and sold as Tabasco in the stores, still) has been a cash crop in Louisiana during that time period and should prove very interesting to research.

Alfalfa, white clover and Italian ryegrass are examples of forages (crops grown for livestock) planted and grown during the same time period.

If one digs, all of the above crops have a history of +500 years, but you gotta dig.  Try your local land grant college (part of the library of congress too) for real antique knowledge of these crops.

good luck