Spice spices. Spices were among the most demanded and expensive products available in Europe in the Middle Ages, the most common being black pepper, cinnamon (and the cheaper alternative cassia), cumin, nutmeg, ginger and cloves. Given medieval medicine's main theory of humorism, spices and herbs were indispensable to balance "humors" in food, a daily basis for good health at a time of recurrent pandemics. In addition to being desired by those using medieval medicine, the European elite also craved spices in the Middle Ages. An example of the European aristocracy's demand for spice comes from the King of Aragon, who invested
Cassia crossbill a small area and on a singular food source is due to the lack of squirrels, the usual primary seed dispersal of the lodgepole pine. As a result, serotinous cones are especially abundant in this region, which allows cones with seeds to accumulate in high quantities that will last for decades. This has led to a coevolutionary arms race between the crossbill and lodgepole pine, as the Cassia crossbill is the primary selective agent. In result, the lodgepole pine are creating cones with thick-scaled cones, whilst the crossbills have evolved deeper bills to counter this. The seeds of younger serotinous