Select African Diaspora Plant Inventory (Part 3)

Welcome to the third installment of our Select African Diaspora Plant Inventory. We have assembled more than 100 plants from various sources - books, publications, prototype gardens and conferences in order to identify plants that inextricably connected to the descendants of the Middle Passage and the peoples of West Africa.

The enslavement of West Africans to provide labor for the economic engine for European nations and the colonization of the Americas and the Caribbean. Africans who landed on these shores adapted their agricultural knowledge to newfound conditions - on large-scale agricultural productions on plantations, on plantation subsistence gardens they created to supplement their own food needs and in villages of freed slaves who fled from their captors and created their own agricultural economies to sustain their maroon communities.

Our select African Diaspora plant inventory is currently North American and Caribbean-centric.  We will eventually add more plants from the gardening scene in West Africa, the Caribbean and South America.

Select African Diaspora Plant Inventory - Part 3 (H - P)

Abidjan, Ivory Coast – Local vendors with their products in the commune of Adjamé, Abidjan.

PLANT	CLASS	BACKGROUND / ORIGINS	SOURCE
Hibiscus (Sorrel): Doc's North, Florida, Roselle, Red	Hibiscus sabdariffa	Roselle, Hibiscus, Bissau	NYBG-African-American; In the Shadow of Slavery - 2009 (J. Carney); NYBG-Caribbean; Truelove Seeds
Hibiscus (Sorrel):   Shoeblack Hibiscus	Hibiscus rosa-sinensis	Choeblack;  rose cayenne	NYBG-Caribbean
Hibiscus (Sorrel):  White	Hibiscus albus	Senegal	Farming While Black  - 2018 (L. Penniman);  In the Shadow of Slavery - 2009 (J. Carney)
Jamaican vervain	Stachytarpheta jamaicensis	Grows in Caribbean and  Central America;  commonly used for medicinal purposes and tea	NYBG-Caribbean
Jute Mallow:  ewedu	Corchorus Olitorius	West Africa;  Leafy green vegetable (soups/sauces)	Ujamaa Cooperative Farming Alliance
Melon:  Georgia Rattlesnake Watermelon	Citrullus lanatus	West Africa	Truelove Seeds;  NYBG-African-American;  Farming While Black - 2018 (L. Penniman)
Melon:  Muskmelon	Cucumis melo L.	West Africa	In the Shadow of Slavery - 2009 (J. Carney)
Melon:  Egusi melon	Cucumeropsis edulis (cucurbitaceous)	West Africa	In the Shadow of Slavery - 2009 (J. Carney);   Colonial Williamsburg Sankofa Heritage Garden
Millet:   Dragon’s Claw	Eleusine coracana	Finger Millet	NYBG-African-American;  Farming While Black - (L. Penniman);  Colonial Williamsburg Sankofa Heritage Garden
Millet:  Pearl Millet; Guinea Millet	Pennisetum glaucum; Cenchrus americanus;  Brachiaria deflexa		NYBG-African-American; In the Shadow of Slavery - 2009 (J. Carney); Colonial Williamsburg Sankofa Heritage Garden
Nut:  Peanut (Goober nut), Carolina Runner, Peanut Black Runner;  Black Pindar Peanut	Arachis hypogaea	Native to South America	NYBG-African-American; Farming While Black - 2018 (L. Penniman); NYBG-Caribbean; 100 Vegetables - 2000 (W.W. Weaver);  Colonial Williamsburg Sankofa Heritage Garden
Nut:  Bambara Groundnut, Goober pea, Zimbabwe Red Bambara	Vigna subterranea (formerly Voandzia subterranean)	Africa - Ethiopia, Mali Angola, Northern Nigeria/Caneroon; Bambara nut, Pindar	NYBG-African-American; Farming While Black - (L. Penniman); In the Shadow of Slavery - 2009 (J. Carney);  Ujamaa Cooperative Farming Alliance;  Colonial Williamsburg Sankofa Heritage Garden
Nut:  Kola nut	Cola nitida;  Cola acuminata	West Africa	In the Shadow of Slavery - 2009 (J. Carney)
Okra:  Alabama Red, Burgundy, Cowtown, Hill Country Red, Puerto Rico Everblush, Sea Island Red, White Velvet; Catawba Freedman Okra	Abelmoschus esculentus;  Hibiscus esculentus	Sea Island Red (Gullah Geechee community);  White Velvet (variety provided to William Woys Weaver in the. Mid-1990s)	NYBG-African-American;  Farming While Black - (L. Penniman);  Truelove Seeds;  Sistah Seeds;  The Whole Okra - 2019 (Chris Smith);  In the Shadow of Slavery - 2009 (J. Carney);  Heirloom Vegetable Gardening - 2018 (W.W. Weaver);  Ujamaa Cooperative Farming Alliance
Okra:  Moody Family Okra	Abelmoschus caillei	West Africa	Sistah Seeds
Onion:  Alisa Craig, New York Early, Red Wethersfield, Figaro Rodriguez	Allium cepa;  Allium cepa var. Aggregatum		NYBG-African-American; NYBG-Caribbean
Onion:  Chives	Allium schoenoprasum		NYBG-African-American
Onion (Scallions):   Evergreen White Bunching	Allium fistulosum		NYBG-Caribbean;  Heirloom Vegetable Gardening - 2018 (W.W. Weaver)
Palm:  Coconut Palm	Cocos nucifera		NYBG-Caribbean
Palm:  Oil Palm	Elaeis guineensis	Guinea, West and Southwest Africa	In the Shadow of Slavery - 2009 (J. Carney)