[rsyring]

TFA says it's probably Agave. They also say:

> However, it may not be so healthy. “Agave has lots of alkaloids. It can be poisonous if eaten in large quantities. Maybe that’s why they sell thin slices,” Dr. Yadav, now retired, warns.

[boomboomsubban]

There are over 270 species of agave, that doesn't really answer anything.

[nathanvanfleet]

If you read the article they say the specific Agave that they linked to using DNA analysis.

[kortex]

Species doesn't mean as much in the plant world. Cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, Brussels sprouts, collard greens, kohlrabi, and gai lan are all Brassica oleracea. You can have specimens that are even technically the same cultivar but wildly different alimentary character.

[danwills]

Hooray!! I totally love the way 'Brassica' vegetables provide such a vivid illustration of the amazing variety that some selection-pressure can yield on the development of essentially a single type of input organism. Makes you wonder what might happen when these types of selection-pressures start affecting humankind more!

[galangalalgol]

Brassica and domesticated dogs diversified because of controlled breeding. Unless you get a bunch of totalitarian eugenicists with differing goals, I dont know how this could happen with people.

[PhasmaFelis]

I could imagine it happening if interstellar colonization ever becomes a thing, maybe.

[MattGaiser]

TIL that the vegetable aisle has half the species I thought it did.

[kortex]

Oh yeah. Brassica rapa has your turnip, napa cabbage, bok choy and rapini/rabes. Brassica napus gives canola oil, swedish turnip, and rutabaga. Mustard comes from B. juncea, B. nigra and B. hirta.

Also those species names aren't really even guaranteed to be accurate because biologists, botanists, geneticists, etc, can't even really agree on where to draw the line.

There's a whole genre of Brassica memes and it's fantastic.

https://mobile.twitter.com/faineg/status/1386522223901618177...

[Ericson2314]

I think napa cabbage and a few others are also all the "other" brassica.

[boomboomsubban]

From the paper

> The similarity search showed 89% identity with the partial sequence of the plastid locus maturase of Agave sisalana

[treis]

89% isn't very similar though.

[garmaine]

The DNA analysis didn’t identify the exact variety.