Two very old broccoli varieties from the 1800s and 1950s are the genetic ancestors of almost all modern broccoli hybrids sold today.
Scientific Claim
Two historical open-pollinated broccoli cultivars, 'DeCicco' (1890) and 'Waltham 29' (1950), are genetically closely related to modern hybrid broccoli and likely served as foundational germplasm.
Original Statement
“Two historically important commercial open-pollinated accessions, B261.DeCicco (1890) and B191.Waltham29 (1950), were partially admixed in structure analysis with modern hybrid Calabrese broccoli, and this relationship was confirmed by principal component analysis.”
Evidence Quality Assessment
Claim Status
appropriately stated
Study Design Support
Design supports claim
Appropriate Language Strength
association
Can only show association/correlation
Assessment Explanation
The claim describes genetic proximity inferred from clustering, not direct descent. 'Likely served' appropriately reflects probabilistic inference.
Evidence from Studies
Supporting (1)
Scientists found that today’s broccoli comes from just a couple of old varieties, meaning the old ones like 'DeCicco' and 'Waltham 29' were probably the original parents.