A Historical Review of the Scientific and Common Nomenclature Associated with Chia: From Salvia hispanica to Salvia mexicana and Chian to Salba

Abstract

This review presents an in-depth perspective on the history of scientific nomenclature and common name change of the well-known ancient oilseed crop, Chia. Prior to the 16 th century, the chia crop was given the name: a.Chian by the Mexica culture. Later in mid-18 th century. b.The botanist Pehr Löfling scientifically called Chia Salvia hispanica, which was later published by Carl Linnaeus in his Species Plantarum book. By 1832, this scientific name became well-accepted among the Spanish Language Academy. c. Effectively replacing the Nahua term Chian by the new Spanish word Chia. During the same era in Mexico, Pablo de la Llave d. Called it Salvia chian; and confirmed that chia did not grow in the production areas of Spain. In the 20 th century.e. Salvia chia was assigned by the botanist Merritt L. Fernald while Nicholas I. Vavilov used this exact Latin binomial name to demonstrate that the region passing through southern Mexico and into Guatemala was the geographical origin of the chia plant. In 2006, the company Agrisalba SA in Peru bred the white chia seed phenotype using conventional methods and called it Salba. Furthermore, finally in 2012. f.The International Plant Name Index assigned the common name Chia to the Salvia mexicana species which corrected all inconsistencies assigned to this Mexican chia ecotype since Linnaeus's work nearly 265 years ago. This internationally accepted nomenclature pays tribute to this Mexican crop with deep ancestral roots and was by consensus a means to restore its identity which without a doubt is in-line with its original significance: "A Mexican plant to cure or save."