A strong east–west Mediterranean divergence supports a new phylogeographic history of the carob tree (Ceratonia siliqua, Leguminosae) and multiple domestications from native populations

Phylogeography of fruit trees is challenging due to the recurrent exchanges between domesticated and wild populations. Here we tested the eastern refugium hypothesis (ERH) for the carob tree, Ceratonia siliqua, which supports its natural and domestication origins in the Eastern Mediterranean and a feral origin in the West. .