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VAVILOV, N. I. Origin and geography of cultivated plants . (Translated by Doris Löve)

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Freek Vrugtman at Royal Botanic Gardens
Freek Vrugtman
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Vavilov, Origin & Geography - Book Revi
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Vavilov, Origin & Geography - Book Revi
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... Obviously, plants can have more than one center of origin or diversity. In 1926, Nikolai Vavilov published his theories in a book called Origin of Cultivated Plants (Vavilov, 1926), which demonstrated eight different primary areas of origin and diversity – finally reduced to seven (Dorofeyev & Filatenko, 1992; Vavilov, 1997), which soon became known as Vavilov's Centers of Diversity or simply the Centers of Vavilov. Andean strawberry, potato, tomato, pumpkin, peppers Source: Vavilov, 1997 In 1971, North American Jack Harlan (1917 Harlan ( -1998) proposed modifying the concept of Vavilov's Centers, advancing the theory that there are, in fact, three world regions in which the domestication of plants originated, each identifiable with a Center of Origin, and a Non Center, i.e., a non central area that is more dispersed, which interacts with the main center. ...
... It was the genetic aspect of crops that motivated Vavilov to search for those centers where agriculture had originated, and where farming had subsequently spread. Probably for this reason, the number of centers listed in his various published works grew over a relatively short period of time, from three in 1924, to five in 1926-27, then six in 192930, seven in 1931 and eight in 1934-35, this was then reduced to seven in 1940 (Dorofeyev & Filatenko, 1992 ). His entire plan of research allowed him to surmise that agriculture has had an independent origin in diverse geographic areas, with the subsequent accumulation of dominant genes in each zone. ...
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