Anarchaeophyte is aplant species which is non-native to a geographical region, but which was anintroduced species in "ancient" times, rather than being a modern introduction. Those arriving after are calledneophytes.[2]
The cut-off date is usually the beginning of theearly modern period (turn of the 15th or 16th century). In Britain, archaeophytes are considered to be those species first introduced prior to the year 1492, whenChristopher Columbus arrived in theNew World and theColumbian Exchange began.
Archaeophytes include numerousweed species the seeds of which have been found in archaeological excavations – to which they had been brought by people (anthropochory), animals (zoochory) or the wind (anemochory).
In some cases, introduced species, whether archaeophytes or neophytes, may have been native species before theice ages, which extirpated vast numbers of plant species.[3][4] Central European archaeophytes almost all come from theMediterranean region and the neighboring areas ofWestern Asia, as they were introduced intoCentral Europe with the beginning of agriculture and increasingly since Roman times. They therefore include many familiar plants such as cultivated apples, pears, plums,cereals such aswheat andbarley as well as flowers and medicinal plants such aspoppy, cornflower, realchamomile and corn.
Australia's collision with theEurasian Plate led to additionalSouth-east Asian plants entering theAustralian flora like theLepidium andChenopodioideae.[5] Moreover,Aboriginal Australian andNew Guinean contact prior to rising sea levels that isolated Australia fromNew Guinea in theearly Holocene may explain the presence of New Guinea domesticates such as taro (Colocasia esculenta) and bananas (Musa acuminata) in northern Australia.Assisted migrations may also be the reason why some rainforest plants from New Guinea entered northern Australia more than 10,000 years ago.[6]
Archaeophytes are often cultivated species, transported deliberately by humans, but are also often weeds of cultivation, spread accidentally with grain. Archaeophytes in the United Kingdom includesweet chestnut,wheat,field poppy,flixweed,red valerian,ground elders,soapwort,small toadflax,good king henry andcornflower.[7]
Other examples include: