ratio of word probabilities predicted from brain for dog and carrot

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dog

carrot

top 10 words in brain distribution (in article):
animal horse species wear breed cat wolf human hunt male top 10 words in brain distribution (in article):
plant fruit produce seed grow leaf sugar flower variety type

top 10 words in brain distribution (not in article):
lion elephant century cell woman deer cattle forest hybrid saddle top 10 words in brain distribution (not in article):
light key tree lock switch machine water contain lamp tube

times more probable under dog 30 20 10 6 4 2.5 1.25 1 1.25 2.5 4 6 10 20 30 times more probable under carrot
(words not in the model)

The dog'" ("Canis lupus familiaris",) is a domesticated subspecies of the gray wolf, a member of the Canidae family of the order Carnivora. The term is used for both feral and pet varieties. The domestic dog has been one of the most widely kept working and companion animals in human history. The domestication of the gray wolf took place in a handful of events roughly 15,000 years ago in central Asia. The dog quickly became ubiquitous across culture in all parts of the world, and was extremely valuable to early human settlements. For instance, it is believed that the successful emigration across the Bering Strait might not have been possible without sled dogs. As a result of the domestication process, the dog developed a sophisticated intelligence that includes unparalleled social cognition and a simple theory of mind that is important to their interaction with humans. These social skills have helped the dog to perform in myriad roles, such as hunting, herding, protection, and, more recently, assisting handicapped individuals. Currently, there are estimated to be 400 million dogs in the world. Over the 15,000 year span that the dog had been domesticated, it diverged into only a handful of landraces, groups of similar animals whose morphology and behavior have been shaped by environmental factors and functional roles. Humans did not take an active, intentional role in this process until the last few hundred years. As the modern understanding of genetics developed, humans began to intentionally breed dogs for a wide range of specific traits. Through this process, the dog has developed into hundreds of varied breeds, and shows more behavioral and morphological variation than any other land mammal. For example, height measured to the withers ranges from a few inches in the Chihuahua to a few feet in the Irish Wolfhound; color varies from white through grays (usually called "blue'") to black, and browns from light (tan) to dark ("red" or "chocolate") in a wide variation of patterns; coats can be short or long, coarse-haired to wool-like, straight, curly, or smooth. It is common for most breeds to shed this coat, but non-shedding breeds are also popular. Etymology and related terminology. "Dog" is the common use term that refers to members of the subspecies "Canis lupus familiaris". The term is sometimes used to refer to a wider range of species: it can be used to refer to any mammal belonging to the family Canidae, which includes wolves, foxes, jackals, and coyotes; it can be used to refer to the subfamily of Caninae, or the genus Canis, also often called the "true dogs". Some members of the family have "dog" in their common names, such as the raccoon dog and the African wild dog. A few animals have "dog" in their common names but are not canids, such as the prairie dog and the dog fish. The English word "dog" can be traced back to the Old English "docga", a "powerful breed of canine". The term may derive from Proto-Germanic "*dukkōn", represented in Old English "finger-docce" ("finger-muscle"). Due to the linguistically archaic structure of the word, the term "dog" may ultimately derive from the earliest layer of Proto-Indo-European vocabulary, reflecting the role of the dog as the earliest domesticated animal. The English word "hound", which refers to a specific breed group in English, means "dog" in general in other Germanic languages; it is cognate to German "hund", Dutch "hond", common Scandinavian "hund", and Icelandic "hundur". "Hound" itself is derived from the Proto-Indo-European "*kwon-", which is also the direct root of the Greek κυων (kuōn) and the indirect root of the Latin "canis" through the variant form "*kani-". In breeding circles, a male canine is referred to as a "dog", while a female is called a "bitch". A group of offspring is a "litter". The father of a litter is called the "sire", and the mother is called the "dam". Offspring are generally called "pups" or "puppies" until they are about a year old. The process of birth is "whelping". Taxonomy and evolution. The domestic dog was originally classified as "Canis familiaris" and "Canis familiarus domesticus" by Linnaeus in 1758, and is currently classified as "Canis lupus familiaris", a subspecies of the gray wolf "Canis lupus", by the Smithsonian Institution and the American Society of Mammalogists. Overwhelming evidence from behavior, vocalizations, morphology, and molecular biology led to the contemporary scientific understanding that a single species, the gray wolf, is the common ancestor for all breeds of domestic dogs, however the timeframe and mechanisms by which dogs diverged are controversial. The current consensus among biologists and archaeologists is that no one can be sure when dogs were domesticated. There is conclusive evidence that dogs genetically diverged from their wolf ancestors at least 15,000 years ago but most believe domestication to have occurred much earlier. The evidence cited for an earlier divergence comes from archaeological findings and mitochondrial DNA studies, both of which are inconclusive. The archaeological evidence demonstrates that the domestication of dogs occurred prior to 15,000 years ago. Some genetic evidence indicates that the domestication of dogs from their wolf ancestors began in the late Upper Paleolithic close to the Pleistocene Holocene boundary, between 17,000 and 14,000 years ago. The earliest dog fossils, two large skulls from Russia and a mandible from Germany, date from roughly 14,000 years ago. Their likely ancestor is the large Eurasian wolf ("Canis lupus lupus"). Remains of smaller dogs from Natufian cave deposits in the Middle East have been dated to around 10,000 to 12,000 years ago. There is a great deal of archealogical evidence for dogs throughout Europe and Asia around this period and through the next two thousand years (roughly 8,000 to 10,000 years ago), with fossils uncovered in Germany, the French Alps, and Iraq, and cave paintings in Turkey. DNA studies have provided a wider range of possible divergence dates, from 15,000 to 40,000 years ago, to as much as 100,000 to 140,000 years ago. This evidence depends on a number of assumptions that others claim are violated. Genetic studies are based in comparisons of genetic diversity between species, and depend on a calibration date, such as the wolf-coyote divergence date, which is estimated to be roughly 1 million years ago. If this divergence date is closer to 750,000 or 2 million years ago, then genetic analyses would be interpreted very differently. Furthermore, it is believed that the genetic diversity of wolves has been in decline for the last 200 years, and that the genetic diversity of dogs has been reduced by selective breeding, which could bias DNA analyses to support an earlier divergence. The genetic evidence for the domestication event occurring in East Asia is also subject to violations of assumptions. These conclusions are based on the location of maximal genetic divergence, assumes that hybridization does not occur, and that breeds remain geographically localized. Although these assumptions hold for many species, there is good reason to believe that they do not hold for canines. Genetic analyses indicate all dogs are likely descended from a handful of domestication events with a small number of founding females, although there is evidence that domesticated dogs interbred with local populations of wild wolves on several occasions. Data suggests that dogs first diverged from wolves in East Asia, and that these domesticated dogs then quickly migrated throughout the world, reaching the North American continent around 8000 B.C. The oldest groups of dogs, which show the greatest genetic variability and are the most similar to their wolf ancestors, are primarily Asian and African breeds, including the Basenji, Saluki, Afghan Hound, Tibetan Terrier, Lhasa Apso, Chow Chow, Pekingese, Shar-Pei, Shi Tzu, Akita, Shiba Inu, Alaskan Malamute, Siberian Husky, and Samoyed. Some breeds that were thought to be very old, such as the Pharaoh Hound, Ibizan Hound, and Norwegian Elkhound, are now known to have been recreated more recently. There is a great deal of controversy surrounding the evolutionary framework for the domestication of dogs. At least three early species of the "Homo" genus began spreading out of Africa roughly 400,000 years ago, and thus lived for a considerable period in contact The carrot'" ("Daucus carota" subsp. "sativus", Etymology: Middle French "carotte", from Late Latin "carōta", from Greek "karōton", originally from the Indoeuropean root "ker-" (horn), due to its horn-like shape) is a root vegetable, usually orange or white, or red-white blend in colour, with a crisp texture when fresh. The edible part of a carrot is a taproot. It is a domesticated form of the wild carrot "Daucus carota", native to Europe and southwestern Asia. It has been bred for its greatly enlarged and more palatable, less woody-textured edible taproot, but is still the same species. It is a biennial plant which grows a rosette of leaves in the spring and summer, while building up the stout taproot, which stores large amounts of sugars for the plant to flower in the second year. The flowering stem grows to about 1 metre (3 ft) tall, with an umbel of white flowers that produce a fruit called a mericarp by botanists, which is a type of schizocarp. Uses and nutrition. Carrots can be eaten in a variety of ways. The simplest way is raw as carrots are perfectly digestible without requiring cooking. Alternatively they may be chopped and boiled, fried or steamed, and cooked in soups and stews, as well as baby and pet foods. A well known dish is "carrots julienne". Grated carrots are used in carrot cakes, as well as carrot puddings, an old English dish thought to have originated in the early 1800s. The greens are edible as a leaf vegetable, but are rarely eaten by humans, as they are mildly toxic. Together with onion and celery, carrots are one of the primary vegetables used in a "mirepoix" to make various broths. Ever since the late 1980s, baby carrots or mini-carrots (carrots that have been peeled and cut into uniform cylinders) have been a popular ready-to-eat snack food available in many supermarkets. Carrot juice is also widely marketed, especially as a health drink, either stand-alone or blended with fruits and other vegetables. The carrot gets its characteristic and bright orange colour from β-carotene, which is metabolised into vitamin A in humans when bile salts are present in the intestines. Massive overconsumption of carrots can cause hypercarotenemia, a condition in which the skin turns orange (although hypercarotenemia is not itself dangerous unlike overdose of vitamin A, which can cause liver damage). Carrots are also rich in dietary fibre, antioxidants, and minerals. Lack of Vitamin A can cause poor vision, including night vision, and vision can be restored by adding Vitamin A back into the diet. The urban legend that says eating large amounts of carrots will allow one to see in the dark developed from stories of British gunners in World War II who were able to shoot down German planes in the darkness of night. The legend arose during the Battle of Britain when the RAF circulated a story about their pilots' carrot consumption as an attempt to cover up the discovery and effective use of radar technologies in engaging enemy planes. It reinforced existing German folklore and helped to encourage Britons—looking to improve their night vision during the blackouts—to grow and eat the vegetable. Ethnomedically, the roots are used to treat digestive problems, intestinal parasites, and tonsillitis or constipation. History. The wild ancestors of the carrot are likely to have come from Afghanistan, which remains the centre of diversity of "D. carota", the wild carrot. Selective breeding over the centuries of a naturally-occurring subspecies of the wild carrot, "Daucus carota" subsp. "sativus" reducing bitterness, increasing sweetness and minimizing the woody core, has produced the familiar garden vegetable. In early use, carrots were grown for their aromatic leaves and seeds, not their roots. Some relatives of the carrot are still grown for these, such as parsley, fennel, dill and cumin. The first mention of the root in classical sources is in the 1st century CE. The modern carrot appears to have been introduced to Europe in the 8-10th centuries; Ibn al-Awam, in Andalusia, describes both red and yellow carrots; Simeon Seth also mentions both colours in the 11th century. Orange-coloured carrots appeared in the Netherlands in the 17th century. These, the modern carrots, were intended by the antiquary John Aubrey (1626-1697) when he noted in his memoranda "Carrots were first sown at Beckington in Somersetshire Some very old Man there [in 1668] did remember their first bringing hither." In addition to wild carrot, these alternative (mostly historical) names are recorded for "Daucus carota": Bee's-nest, Bee's-nest plant, Bird's-nest, Bird's-nest plant, Bird's-nest root, Carota, Carotte (French), Carrot, Common carrot, Crow's-nest, Daucon, Dawke, Devil's-plague, Fiddle, Gallicam, Garden carrot, Gelbe Rübe (German), Gingidium, Hill-trot, Laceflower, Mirrot, Möhre (German), Parsnip (misapplied), Queen Anne's lace, Rantipole, Staphylinos, and Zanahoria. The parsnip is a close relative of the carrot, as is parsley. Cultivars. Carrot cultivars can be grouped into two broad classes, eastern carrots'" and "'western carrots'". More recently, a number of novelty cultivars have been bred for particular characteristics. The world's largest carrot was grown in Palmer, Alaska by John Evans in 1998, weighing 8.6 kg (19 lb). The city of Holtville, California promotes itself as "Carrot Capital of the World", and holds an annual festival devoted entirely to the carrot. Eastern carrots. Eastern carrots were domesticated in Central Asia, probably in modern-day Afghanistan in the 10th century, or possibly earlier. Specimens of the eastern carrot that survive to the present day are commonly purple or yellow, and often have branched roots. The purple colour common in these carrots comes from anthocyanin pigments. Western carrots. The western carrot emerged in the Netherlands in the 17th century, its orange colour making it popular in those countries as an emblem of the House of Orange and the struggle for Dutch independence. The orange colour results from abundant carotenes in these cultivars. While orange carrots are the norm in the West, other colours do exist, including white, yellow, red, and purple. These other colours of carrot are raised primarily as novelty crops. The Vegetable Improvement Center at Texas A&M University has developed a purple-skinned, orange-fleshed carrot, the "BetaSweet" (also known as the Maroon Carrot), with substances to prevent cancer, which has recently entered very limited commercial distribution, through J&D Produce of Edinburg TX. This variety of carrot is also known to be high in β-carotene which is an essential nutrient. The high concentrations of this nutrient give the carrot its maroon shade. Western carrot cultivars are commonly classified by their root shape: While any carrot can be harvested before reaching its full size as a more tender "baby" carrot, some fast-maturing cultivars have been bred to produce smaller roots. The most extreme examples produce round roots about 2.5 centimetres (1 in) in diameter. These small cultivars are also more tolerant of heavy or stony soil than long-rooted cultivars such as 'Nantes' or 'Imperator'. The "baby carrots" sold ready-to-eat in supermarkets are, however, often not from a smaller cultivar of carrot, but are simply full-sized carrots that have been sliced and peeled to make carrot sticks of a uniform shape and size. Carrot flowers are pollinated primarily by bees. Seed growers use honeybees or mason bees for their pollination needs. Carrots are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species, including Common Swift, Garden Dart, Ghost Moth, Large Yellow Underwing and Setaceous Hebrew Character. Novelty carrots. Food enthusiasts and researchers have developed other varieties of carrots through traditional breeding methods. Novelty carrots are also grown throughout Western Europe in flower pots and are noted for their distinctly minty flavour. One particular variety lacks the usual orange pigment from carotenes, owing its white colour to a recessive gene for tocopherol (Vitamin E). Derived from "Daucus carota" L. and patented (US patent #6,437,222) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the variety is intended to supplement the dietary intake of Vitamin E. Production trends. In 2005, China was the largest producer of carrots and turnips, according to the FAO. China accounted for at least one third of the global output, followed by Russia and the United States. In 2005, a poll of 2,000 people revealed that the carrot was Britain's third favourite culinary vegetable.

dog	carrot
top 10 words in brain distribution (in article): animal horse species wear breed cat wolf human hunt male	top 10 words in brain distribution (in article): plant fruit produce seed grow leaf sugar flower variety type
top 10 words in brain distribution (not in article): lion elephant century cell woman deer cattle forest hybrid saddle	top 10 words in brain distribution (not in article): light key tree lock switch machine water contain lamp tube
times more probable under dog 30 20 10 6 4 2.5 1.25 1 1.25 2.5 4 6 10 20 30 times more probable under carrot (words not in the model)
The dog'" ("Canis lupus familiaris",) is a domesticated subspecies of the gray wolf, a member of the Canidae family of the order Carnivora. The term is used for both feral and pet varieties. The domestic dog has been one of the most widely kept working and companion animals in human history. The domestication of the gray wolf took place in a handful of events roughly 15,000 years ago in central Asia. The dog quickly became ubiquitous across culture in all parts of the world, and was extremely valuable to early human settlements. For instance, it is believed that the successful emigration across the Bering Strait might not have been possible without sled dogs. As a result of the domestication process, the dog developed a sophisticated intelligence that includes unparalleled social cognition and a simple theory of mind that is important to their interaction with humans. These social skills have helped the dog to perform in myriad roles, such as hunting, herding, protection, and, more recently, assisting handicapped individuals. Currently, there are estimated to be 400 million dogs in the world. Over the 15,000 year span that the dog had been domesticated, it diverged into only a handful of landraces, groups of similar animals whose morphology and behavior have been shaped by environmental factors and functional roles. Humans did not take an active, intentional role in this process until the last few hundred years. As the modern understanding of genetics developed, humans began to intentionally breed dogs for a wide range of specific traits. Through this process, the dog has developed into hundreds of varied breeds, and shows more behavioral and morphological variation than any other land mammal. For example, height measured to the withers ranges from a few inches in the Chihuahua to a few feet in the Irish Wolfhound; color varies from white through grays (usually called "blue'") to black, and browns from light (tan) to dark ("red" or "chocolate") in a wide variation of patterns; coats can be short or long, coarse-haired to wool-like, straight, curly, or smooth. It is common for most breeds to shed this coat, but non-shedding breeds are also popular. Etymology and related terminology. "Dog" is the common use term that refers to members of the subspecies "Canis lupus familiaris". The term is sometimes used to refer to a wider range of species: it can be used to refer to any mammal belonging to the family Canidae, which includes wolves, foxes, jackals, and coyotes; it can be used to refer to the subfamily of Caninae, or the genus Canis, also often called the "true dogs". Some members of the family have "dog" in their common names, such as the raccoon dog and the African wild dog. A few animals have "dog" in their common names but are not canids, such as the prairie dog and the dog fish. The English word "dog" can be traced back to the Old English "docga", a "powerful breed of canine". The term may derive from Proto-Germanic "dukkōn", represented in Old English "finger-docce" ("finger-muscle"). Due to the linguistically archaic structure of the word, the term "dog" may ultimately derive from the earliest layer of Proto-Indo-European vocabulary, reflecting the role of the dog as the earliest domesticated animal. The English word "hound", which refers to a specific breed group in English, means "dog" in general in other Germanic languages; it is cognate to German "hund", Dutch "hond", common Scandinavian "hund", and Icelandic "hundur". "Hound" itself is derived from the Proto-Indo-European "kwon-", which is also the direct root of the Greek κυων (kuōn) and the indirect root of the Latin "canis" through the variant form "*kani-". In breeding circles, a male canine is referred to as a "dog", while a female is called a "bitch". A group of offspring is a "litter". The father of a litter is called the "sire", and the mother is called the "dam". Offspring are generally called "pups" or "puppies" until they are about a year old. The process of birth is "whelping". Taxonomy and evolution. The domestic dog was originally classified as "Canis familiaris" and "Canis familiarus domesticus" by Linnaeus in 1758, and is currently classified as "Canis lupus familiaris", a subspecies of the gray wolf "Canis lupus", by the Smithsonian Institution and the American Society of Mammalogists. Overwhelming evidence from behavior, vocalizations, morphology, and molecular biology led to the contemporary scientific understanding that a single species, the gray wolf, is the common ancestor for all breeds of domestic dogs, however the timeframe and mechanisms by which dogs diverged are controversial. The current consensus among biologists and archaeologists is that no one can be sure when dogs were domesticated. There is conclusive evidence that dogs genetically diverged from their wolf ancestors at least 15,000 years ago but most believe domestication to have occurred much earlier. The evidence cited for an earlier divergence comes from archaeological findings and mitochondrial DNA studies, both of which are inconclusive. The archaeological evidence demonstrates that the domestication of dogs occurred prior to 15,000 years ago. Some genetic evidence indicates that the domestication of dogs from their wolf ancestors began in the late Upper Paleolithic close to the Pleistocene Holocene boundary, between 17,000 and 14,000 years ago. The earliest dog fossils, two large skulls from Russia and a mandible from Germany, date from roughly 14,000 years ago. Their likely ancestor is the large Eurasian wolf ("Canis lupus lupus"). Remains of smaller dogs from Natufian cave deposits in the Middle East have been dated to around 10,000 to 12,000 years ago. There is a great deal of archealogical evidence for dogs throughout Europe and Asia around this period and through the next two thousand years (roughly 8,000 to 10,000 years ago), with fossils uncovered in Germany, the French Alps, and Iraq, and cave paintings in Turkey. DNA studies have provided a wider range of possible divergence dates, from 15,000 to 40,000 years ago, to as much as 100,000 to 140,000 years ago. This evidence depends on a number of assumptions that others claim are violated. Genetic studies are based in comparisons of genetic diversity between species, and depend on a calibration date, such as the wolf-coyote divergence date, which is estimated to be roughly 1 million years ago. If this divergence date is closer to 750,000 or 2 million years ago, then genetic analyses would be interpreted very differently. Furthermore, it is believed that the genetic diversity of wolves has been in decline for the last 200 years, and that the genetic diversity of dogs has been reduced by selective breeding, which could bias DNA analyses to support an earlier divergence. The genetic evidence for the domestication event occurring in East Asia is also subject to violations of assumptions. These conclusions are based on the location of maximal genetic divergence, assumes that hybridization does not occur, and that breeds remain geographically localized. Although these assumptions hold for many species, there is good reason to believe that they do not hold for canines. Genetic analyses indicate all dogs are likely descended from a handful of domestication events with a small number of founding females, although there is evidence that domesticated dogs interbred with local populations of wild wolves on several occasions. Data suggests that dogs first diverged from wolves in East Asia, and that these domesticated dogs then quickly migrated throughout the world, reaching the North American continent around 8000 B.C. The oldest groups of dogs, which show the greatest genetic variability and are the most similar to their wolf ancestors, are primarily Asian and African breeds, including the Basenji, Saluki, Afghan Hound, Tibetan Terrier, Lhasa Apso, Chow Chow, Pekingese, Shar-Pei, Shi Tzu, Akita, Shiba Inu, Alaskan Malamute, Siberian Husky, and Samoyed. Some breeds that were thought to be very old, such as the Pharaoh Hound, Ibizan Hound, and Norwegian Elkhound, are now known to have been recreated more recently. There is a great deal of controversy surrounding the evolutionary framework for the domestication of dogs. At least three early species of the "Homo" genus began spreading out of Africa roughly 400,000 years ago, and thus lived for a considerable period in contact	The carrot'" ("Daucus carota" subsp. "sativus", Etymology: Middle French "carotte", from Late Latin "carōta", from Greek "karōton", originally from the Indoeuropean root "ker-" (horn), due to its horn-like shape) is a root vegetable, usually orange or white, or red-white blend in colour, with a crisp texture when fresh. The edible part of a carrot is a taproot. It is a domesticated form of the wild carrot "Daucus carota", native to Europe and southwestern Asia. It has been bred for its greatly enlarged and more palatable, less woody-textured edible taproot, but is still the same species. It is a biennial plant which grows a rosette of leaves in the spring and summer, while building up the stout taproot, which stores large amounts of sugars for the plant to flower in the second year. The flowering stem grows to about 1 metre (3 ft) tall, with an umbel of white flowers that produce a fruit called a mericarp by botanists, which is a type of schizocarp. Uses and nutrition. Carrots can be eaten in a variety of ways. The simplest way is raw as carrots are perfectly digestible without requiring cooking. Alternatively they may be chopped and boiled, fried or steamed, and cooked in soups and stews, as well as baby and pet foods. A well known dish is "carrots julienne". Grated carrots are used in carrot cakes, as well as carrot puddings, an old English dish thought to have originated in the early 1800s. The greens are edible as a leaf vegetable, but are rarely eaten by humans, as they are mildly toxic. Together with onion and celery, carrots are one of the primary vegetables used in a "mirepoix" to make various broths. Ever since the late 1980s, baby carrots or mini-carrots (carrots that have been peeled and cut into uniform cylinders) have been a popular ready-to-eat snack food available in many supermarkets. Carrot juice is also widely marketed, especially as a health drink, either stand-alone or blended with fruits and other vegetables. The carrot gets its characteristic and bright orange colour from β-carotene, which is metabolised into vitamin A in humans when bile salts are present in the intestines. Massive overconsumption of carrots can cause hypercarotenemia, a condition in which the skin turns orange (although hypercarotenemia is not itself dangerous unlike overdose of vitamin A, which can cause liver damage). Carrots are also rich in dietary fibre, antioxidants, and minerals. Lack of Vitamin A can cause poor vision, including night vision, and vision can be restored by adding Vitamin A back into the diet. The urban legend that says eating large amounts of carrots will allow one to see in the dark developed from stories of British gunners in World War II who were able to shoot down German planes in the darkness of night. The legend arose during the Battle of Britain when the RAF circulated a story about their pilots' carrot consumption as an attempt to cover up the discovery and effective use of radar technologies in engaging enemy planes. It reinforced existing German folklore and helped to encourage Britons—looking to improve their night vision during the blackouts—to grow and eat the vegetable. Ethnomedically, the roots are used to treat digestive problems, intestinal parasites, and tonsillitis or constipation. History. The wild ancestors of the carrot are likely to have come from Afghanistan, which remains the centre of diversity of "D. carota", the wild carrot. Selective breeding over the centuries of a naturally-occurring subspecies of the wild carrot, "Daucus carota" subsp. "sativus" reducing bitterness, increasing sweetness and minimizing the woody core, has produced the familiar garden vegetable. In early use, carrots were grown for their aromatic leaves and seeds, not their roots. Some relatives of the carrot are still grown for these, such as parsley, fennel, dill and cumin. The first mention of the root in classical sources is in the 1st century CE. The modern carrot appears to have been introduced to Europe in the 8-10th centuries; Ibn al-Awam, in Andalusia, describes both red and yellow carrots; Simeon Seth also mentions both colours in the 11th century. Orange-coloured carrots appeared in the Netherlands in the 17th century. These, the modern carrots, were intended by the antiquary John Aubrey (1626-1697) when he noted in his memoranda "Carrots were first sown at Beckington in Somersetshire Some very old Man there [in 1668] did remember their first bringing hither." In addition to wild carrot, these alternative (mostly historical) names are recorded for "Daucus carota": Bee's-nest, Bee's-nest plant, Bird's-nest, Bird's-nest plant, Bird's-nest root, Carota, Carotte (French), Carrot, Common carrot, Crow's-nest, Daucon, Dawke, Devil's-plague, Fiddle, Gallicam, Garden carrot, Gelbe Rübe (German), Gingidium, Hill-trot, Laceflower, Mirrot, Möhre (German), Parsnip (misapplied), Queen Anne's lace, Rantipole, Staphylinos, and Zanahoria. The parsnip is a close relative of the carrot, as is parsley. Cultivars. Carrot cultivars can be grouped into two broad classes, eastern carrots'" and "'western carrots'". More recently, a number of novelty cultivars have been bred for particular characteristics. The world's largest carrot was grown in Palmer, Alaska by John Evans in 1998, weighing 8.6 kg (19 lb). The city of Holtville, California promotes itself as "Carrot Capital of the World", and holds an annual festival devoted entirely to the carrot. Eastern carrots. Eastern carrots were domesticated in Central Asia, probably in modern-day Afghanistan in the 10th century, or possibly earlier. Specimens of the eastern carrot that survive to the present day are commonly purple or yellow, and often have branched roots. The purple colour common in these carrots comes from anthocyanin pigments. Western carrots. The western carrot emerged in the Netherlands in the 17th century, its orange colour making it popular in those countries as an emblem of the House of Orange and the struggle for Dutch independence. The orange colour results from abundant carotenes in these cultivars. While orange carrots are the norm in the West, other colours do exist, including white, yellow, red, and purple. These other colours of carrot are raised primarily as novelty crops. The Vegetable Improvement Center at Texas A&M University has developed a purple-skinned, orange-fleshed carrot, the "BetaSweet" (also known as the Maroon Carrot), with substances to prevent cancer, which has recently entered very limited commercial distribution, through J&D Produce of Edinburg TX. This variety of carrot is also known to be high in β-carotene which is an essential nutrient. The high concentrations of this nutrient give the carrot its maroon shade. Western carrot cultivars are commonly classified by their root shape: While any carrot can be harvested before reaching its full size as a more tender "baby" carrot, some fast-maturing cultivars have been bred to produce smaller roots. The most extreme examples produce round roots about 2.5 centimetres (1 in) in diameter. These small cultivars are also more tolerant of heavy or stony soil than long-rooted cultivars such as 'Nantes' or 'Imperator'. The "baby carrots" sold ready-to-eat in supermarkets are, however, often not from a smaller cultivar of carrot, but are simply full-sized carrots that have been sliced and peeled to make carrot sticks of a uniform shape and size. Carrot flowers are pollinated primarily by bees. Seed growers use honeybees or mason bees for their pollination needs. Carrots are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species, including Common Swift, Garden Dart, Ghost Moth, Large Yellow Underwing and Setaceous Hebrew Character. Novelty carrots. Food enthusiasts and researchers have developed other varieties of carrots through traditional breeding methods. Novelty carrots are also grown throughout Western Europe in flower pots and are noted for their distinctly minty flavour. One particular variety lacks the usual orange pigment from carotenes, owing its white colour to a recessive gene for tocopherol (Vitamin E). Derived from "Daucus carota" L. and patented (US patent #6,437,222) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the variety is intended to supplement the dietary intake of Vitamin E. Production trends. In 2005, China was the largest producer of carrots and turnips, according to the FAO. China accounted for at least one third of the global output, followed by Russia and the United States. In 2005, a poll of 2,000 people revealed that the carrot was Britain's third favourite culinary vegetable.