Sturtevants Notes on Edible Plants, Vol.2

State of

New York

Department of Agriculture

Twenty-seventh Annual Report

^tuf^--Vo

^

.

Vol. 2

Part

II

l^vAs

III

*

5TURTEVANT'5

NOTES ON EDIBLE PLANTS EDITED BY U. p.

Report

of the

New

York

HEDRICK

Agricultural Experiment Station for the

II

J.

B.

ALBANY LYON COMPANY, STATE PRINTERS 1919

Year 1919

To

the

Board

of Control of the

Gentlemen.

New

me

York Agricultural Experiment Station:

transmit to you for publication a manuscript prepared from notes by Dr. E. Lewis Sturtevant, the distinguished first Director of this Station, the publication to

be

known

as

"

It gives

Stiortevant's

pecioliar pleasure to

Notes on Edible Plants."

Dr. Sturtevant was one of that group of men who early espoused the cause of agricultural science in the United States, a field in which he

became

distinguished, his studies in economic

notable

achievements.

When

botany being one

he retired in 1887

as

of his

Director of this

him a voluminous manuscript consisting of a compilation of existing knowledge on the edible food plants of the world, a piece of work involving a laborious and extended research in botanical literature. F.or twenty years this manuscript remained untouched, when Dr. U. P. Hedrick undertook its editing, a difficult and arduous task, well Station, he left behind

performed, in order that so valuable a collection of knowledge might become available to botanists and to students of food economics. It is especially appropriate that

time.

Food problems

such a volume should be issued at this

are becoming

more and more acute

as the

demand

overshadows the supply. Primitive peoples depended upon food resources which are now neglected. Other sources of possible human nutrition have doubtless remained untouched, and the time may

for food increasingly

come when a comprehensive

human

sustenance.

utilization of food plants will be essential to

It is believed, therefore,

that the information so ably

brought together by Dr. Sturtevant cannot

fail

to become increasingly

useful.

Very

respectfully,

W. H.

New York

Agricultural Experiment Station

Geneva, N. Y. June I,

1919.

JORDAN Director

PREFACE

^ who have attempted

All

plants

to study the origin

and history

must have been struck with the paucity and inaccuracy

of cultivated

of information

on the subject. For nearly nineteen hundred years, to be written in Pliny was proof sufficient; yet much of Pliny's history is inaccurate though still repeated in periodicals and poptilar works. Linnaeus, the great systematizer, gave the origin of most of the plants he described; but of these,

De CandoUe, by

long odds the best plant historian, says,

four of Linnaeus' indications of the original

De CandoUe,

incomplete or incorrect."

home

"

three out of

of cultivated plants are

in his turn, usually accurate,

exceedingly scant, giving the origin of but 249 cultivated plants, not edible, while Sturtevant, in the text in

hand, puts

is

all

down 2897 which may be

used for food, most of which are cultivated.

The query at once comes to mind as to the respects in which Sturtevant adds new knowledge on an old subject. New knowledge may be found on the following subjects: (i) The original home of many esculents given for the

is

first

time.

plants are pointed out. esculents.

(4)

(3)

New

(2)

An

landmarks in the

effort is

Though the book contains

made to mention all cultivated much new information as to the

history of the food plants of the Old World, in the discussion of the esculents of the

much new by

histories of edible

it is

especially full

New World.

(5)

and

acctirate

Sturtevant presents

information on the variations that have been produced in plants

cultivation.

contributes

(6)

His book adds

much data

for the

much

to geographical botany.

(7)

He

study of acclimatization.

It is pertinent to inquire as to the qualifications

may have had to illuminate To answer this query, and for

and opportunities

Stvirtevant

so vast a subject as that of edible

plants.

the added reason that a book can

be used with greatest profit only when of Sturtevant follows this Preface.

its

author

Sturtevant' s Notes on Edible Plants is

is

known, a

brief

biography

a compilation from four sources,

the first seven reports of the New York State Agricultural Experinamely ment Station; a manuscript of 1600 closely written imperial octavo sheets :

PREFACE

VI entitled,

by the author; a

Notes on Edible Plants, left at this Station

series

American Naturalist on the history of garden vegetables, four years beginning with 1887; and between forty and fifty

of articles in the

running for thousand card index notes which belong in part to this Station and in part The material used was written previous to the Missouri Botanical Garden. to 1892, the author having spent at least a quarter-century in its preparation.

The

editor

must now

state

what

his task has been.

With so great a wealth of material much has had to be discarded. A great mass of cultural notes has not been used. Descriptions of many Vernacular names in many varieties of many species were discarded. languages and dialects were omitted. Botanical synonyms have had to be left out. Sturtevant's discussions of edible ftingi, while full for the time the light of recent research, so scant and fragmentary that the editor, unable to revise or add to them, has with many regrets excluded them. The unused material amoimts to several in

which they were written,

are, in

times that used. After sorting the material, the next task was to arrange

This work

fell

it

for publication.

into four well-defined divisions of labor:

some standard of botanical nomenclature had to be adopted that the many botanical names from the several hundred authors quoted by First,

Sturtevant could be

made

to conform as far as possible to one standard.

Index Kewensis was taken as the authority best suited for the work in hand this standard has seldom been departed from even though departure seemed

;

most necessary in the light of later botanical studies to have begim making departures would have entailed too great a task. ;

Second, Sturtevant's citations to literature, except in the series of articles in the American Naturalist, usually consist only of the name of the book and the author.

without

Since a book such as this

full citations, these,

is

almost worthless

as far as possible, have been completed

a task requiring borrowed books from a dozen or more and the labor of several persons for months. Even after great

verified,

insure fullness

and

correctness,

and

libraries effort to

no doubt many mistakes have crept into

the citations. Third,

given in detail, since to cite a worthless procedure. It seems a simple task to

bibliographical information

unknown authors

is

catalog a collection of books. of early books, were found to be cross-references,

is

But the many.

difficulties, especially in

Anonymous

borrowed material, numerous

noms de plume, works of com-

writers,

editions,

the case

PREFACE

Vil

mentators and editors bearing the names of original authors,

and make the task

of the bibliographer

complex and

Fourth, the material had to be arranged. of vegetables in the reports

of this

all

confuse

difficult.

Sturtevant in his discussions

Station, in his card index of edible

plants ana in his History of Gardeti Vegetables in the American Naturalist,

arranges the plants in accordance with the English vernacular names;

but in his partly completed manuscript, undoubtedly written with the expectation of publishing, the plants are arranged alphabetically according The last plan seemed to suit the present work best and was to genera.

adopted.

The

natural order of the genera

betically arranged

is

given; species are alpha-

under each genera; while, to make them as prominent as

names are printed in capitals after the species. The vernacular names are those used by the authorities quoted or are possible, English vernacular

taken from standard botanical text-books.

While the changes and omissions made by the editor leave that which remains substantially as written by Dr. Sturtevant, yet there has been so

much

cutting and fitting that

sible for infelicities that

may

it

would be unjust to hold Sturtevant respon-

appear.

Despite the editor's efforts to retain

the diction, style and individuality of Dr. Sturtevant, the quality of the

work

is

no doubt marred by passing through hands other than those

of the

author.

The

following acknowledgments

must be recorded:

The

editor

is

grateful to Dr. Sturtevant's children for permission to publish their father's

work; and to his associates in the Horticultural Department of this Station for assistance in reading the manuscript and proof of the book, especially to

W. Wellington who has had

charge of standardizing botanical names, verifying references and preparing the bibliography.

J.

U. P. Horticulturist,

New

HEDRICK,

York Agricultural Experiment Station.

EDWARD LEWIS STURTEVANT Edward Lewis was one

Sturtevant, farmer, botanist, physician and author,

of the giants of his time in the science of agriculture.

Through

natural endowment, industry and rare mental attainments, he accomplished

more than most men

in scientific research

by

own efforts.

his

But, possibly,

he achieved even more through his influence on his fellow-workmen than by his own endeavors. Rare, indeed, are the men in any field of attainment

who have

furnished so freely as he from an inexhaustible store of information The happy unfailing aid and inspiration to those who worked with him.

combination of these two

qualities,

work and

ability to help others work,

enough to make him one of the honor the United States. From this brief and incommen-

led Sturtevant to success significant

men

of agriculture in

siorate tribute,

we

pass to a sketch of Sturtevant's active

As to genealogy, the

life.

line of descent runs from Samuel, the

first

Sturte-

vant in America, who landed in Plymouth in 1642, through generations

Plympton and Wareham, Massachusetts, to Consider Sturtevant who purchased a farm at Winthrop, Maine, in 1810. Here Dr. Sttirtevant's father was bom but later moved to Boston, the birthplace of Dr. Sturtevant. His mother was Mary Haight Leggett from a family of fighting Quakers who settled at West Farm, New York, about 1700. Bom in Boston, January 23, 1842, Sturtevant, as a child, was taken living in

and

time intervening, his father and mother died. Young Sturtevant's aunt, a Mrs. Benson, became his guardian, and with her the lad moved to Winthrop, Maine, the birth-

by

his parents to Philadelphia

here,

with

little

His early school days were spent in New Jersey, though His preliminary edulater he prepared for college at Blue Hill, Maifie. cation finished, Sturtevant, in 1859, entered Bowdoin College, to remain place of his father.

86 1, when, at the urgent call of the country for college in the civil strife then raging, he enlisted in the Union army. imtil

1

To Few

to serve

Bowdoin, Sturtevant owed much for his ability to write. who have written so much and so rapidly, have written

classical

scientists

as well.

men

His English

is

not ornate but

is

vivid, terse, logical,

happy

in

sturtevant's notes on edible plants

i

phrasing and seldom at loss for the proper word. To classical Bowdoin, Greek, too, Sturtevant owes his remarkable ability to use languages. Latin, French

and German

form were familiar to him, and

in the written

he was able to read, more or

less well, scientific treatises in several

other of

Though he was not graduated with his class at Bowdoin, the college later gave him her degree of Bachelor of Arts and still later further honored him with her Master of Arts. the European languages.

Sturtevant entered the Union

army

in

September,

1861,

as

First

74th Regiment of Maine Volvinteers. It speaks well for the youth of barely twenty-one that the following January he became Captain of his company. Company G was a part of the 19th Army

Lieutenant of

Company G,

was stationed on the lower Mississippi where, possibly, its most important work was the siege A part of Sturtevant's time in the army was spent on of Port Hudson. Corps which, during Captain Sturtevant's service in

it,

the staff of General Nickerson, 3d Brigade, 2d Division, serving with the

rank of Captain.

Possibilities of ftirther service, higher

the other hand, death or

woimds on the

battle

field,

promotion, were cut short

or,

on

by an

attack of typhoid malaria which so incapacitated him that he returned home in 1863, his career in the army ended.

The next landmark

in Sttirtevant's

life is

a course in the Harvard

Medical School from which he received a degree in 1866. But, possessed of a degree from one of the leading medical colleges in the country, he did not begin the practice of medicine, and, in fact, never followed the profession.

We may

assume, however, that the training in a medical school txomed his attention to science, for, possibly, the best science in American insti-

was to be found in a few leading schools of medicine. The year following the completion of the medical course was spent with his

tutions at this time

brother

Thomas

in Boston.

In 1867, E. Lewis, Joseph N. and Thomas L. Sturtevant purchased land at South Framingham, Massachusetts. The farm soon became famous,

under the name

"

Waushakum Farm,"

for a series of brilliant experiments

models in experimental acumen and conscientious execution. Here, almost at once, E. Lewis Sturtevant began the foundation of a great agricultural and botanical library, one possibly in agriculttire

which are

not surpassed in these

still

fields

of science

by any other private

was eventually developed, for Prelinnean works passed by any other American library. Here, too, almost while, as

it

vant started the studies of cultivated plants recorded in

collection,

it is still

unsur-

at once, Stvirte-

this

volume.

EDWARD LEWIS STURTEVANT The immediate concern

3

of the Sturtevant brothers,

however, was

the development of a model dairy farm of Ayrshire cattle. Waushakum Farm soon became the home of this breed. Several scientific aspects of this

work with Ayrshires are worth

and

of individual animals, covering

still

Milk records

noting.

of the

herd

milking periods, were kept and constitute, according to dairymen of our day, a most valuable con-

many

As an outcome of their researches with this breed, a monograph of 252 pages was published on Ayrshire cattle by the brothers in 1875. Out of their work with Ayrshires came the North American Ayrshire Register published by E. Lewis and Joseph N. Sturtevant in tribution to dairying.

These books are

annual voltimes.

several

still

in use

by breeders

Ayrshires and are of permanent value as records of the breed.

of

E. Lewis

Sturtevant in particular gave attention to the physiology of milk and His studies of fat globules in milk of different breeds milk secretion.

cows attracted much attention in the agricultural press, and he was soon in great demand as a speaker before agricultural and dairy associations. of

But even

in these

did not occupy

all

first

days on Waushakiim Farm, the Ayrshires

One

of his time.

is

amazed

in looking through the

and early seventies at the number Sturtevant still in his twenties. These early

agricultural papers of the late sixties of articles signed articles

show

scientific

industry.

by E.

L.

originality,

imagination,

These

intense curiosity in regard to everything new,

a mind

first articles

fertile

in fruitful ideas

in the press, too,

and tremendous

show that he

early possessed

which he retained throughout his scientific life. In all of initiative, his work it was seldom that he had to seek ideas or suggestions from others, though he was possessed of a mind which appreciated new trains of a

trait

thought, and

many

interest in the

work

there were of his

day who

coiild

speak of

his kindly

of others.

Indian corn attracted Sttortevant from the

first.

No

sooner had he

on Waushakum Farm than he began a botanical and cultural study maize which he continued to the time of his death. The first fruits his work with corn was the introduction of an improved variety of Yellow

settled of

of

new

"

Waushakum."

This variety was wonderfvilly productive, yields of 125 bushels of shelled com to the acre being common. Breeding this new variety was a piece of practical work that Flint, the

sort being called

brought the head of Waushaktim Farm more prominence in agriculture " " scientific farming at that time not than any of his scientific work, being in high repute with

tillers of

the

soil.

STURTEVANT

4

Sturtevant wrote

on

its

much on

scientific

many

of its

Indian com, contributing

and

culture on the farm

classification

NOTES ON EDIBLE PLANTS

S

several long treatises

varieties.

its

botany and the

Perhaps the most notable of the

are in the Bulletin of the

articles

on

many short articles

Torrey Botanical Society for

August, 1894, and Bulletin 57 on Varieties of Corn from the United States Department of Agriculture. The last-named work is a monograph on

maize which

permanent

is

tide

still

the best authority on this valuable plant

mark, as

it

were, to

show Sturtevant's

ability in

and a working

Besides setting forth the botany

up the history of cultivated plants. of com, this bulletin describes 800 varieties,

synonyms and The varieties are

gives their

establishes a scientific nomenclatiire for Indian com.

placed in groups in accordance with their relationship, thvis giving to scientist and farmer a classification of this immensely variable plant.

To

given the credit of having bmlt the first lysimeter This instrument, to measure the percolation of water through

Sttirtevant

in America.

is

a certain depth of soil, was put in on the Waushakum Farm in 1875. It covered five-thousandths of an acre and meastired water percolations to the depth of twenty-five inches. Records from the apparatus were kept a little more than four full from late in 1875 to the beginning of 1880

The

presented in papers at several scientific meetings, and freely discussed in the agricultural press, gave him high standing among agricvdtviral experimenters in America. years.

results,

In spite of duties that must have claimed much of his time on Waushakum Farm, Sturtevant foimd time to imdertake investigations in many diverse

fields

of

and more energy

agriculture.

in the

rapidly growing

until finally experimentation

eminence in research nities to

As the years advanced, field

of

came to claim most

he

put more

agricultviral

of his attention.

on Waushakum Farm brought him many

speak and write on

agricultural affairs, in

research

which work

His

opportuhis facile

an experimenter. pen and ready speech greatly enhanced A natural outcome of his growth in the work he had chosen was that his services shotild be sought in scientific institutions having to do with agrihis reputation as

culture.

In 1882, the Board of Control of the

Experiment Station, located at Geneva, of the Station,

New

New York

State Agricialtural

York, selected him Director

an institution just created by the State Legislature, and

asked him to organize the work. Perhaps Sturtevant was the more ready to give up Waushaktim Farm and devote his whole time to scientific research for the reason that in 1879,

EDWARD LEWIS STURTEVANT

5

the trio that had for twelve years made the farm famous was broken by the death of one of the three brothers, Joseph N. Sturtevant. The association of these

written

by E.

two brothers had been so

L. Stiutevant for the Scientific Farmer,

in this biography.

We

publish

"Joseph N. Sturtevant,

Member

close that the obituary of Joseph,

it

in full:

bom

of the Massachusetts State

record of a short but useful

life.

April

i,

Board

And

died Jan.

1844;

yet this

A

brief

life,

by ill of the few well moments, and has made an impress upon even

1879.

19,

of Agriculture 1873-5.

which struggled with health from birth, made the most

the difficulties brought about

which

becomes of interest

agricultural thought

the originator be unrecognized and forgotten. Honest in thought as in action, caring nothing for applause, a true philanshall continue

thropist in

all

if

that constitutes the word, a careful thinker, considerate

towards the opinions of others, and yet possessing a positiveness of character which came through conviction, his advice was often sought and seldom

Without personal vanity, as

unheeded.

the rights of others, a

mind trained

to goodness for

believed in good because of the good,

the future

life

was

and hated

woman

as

a

its

own

evil

towards

sake, one

who

because of the

evil,

and there was nothing addibecause he was true religion itself in every

lost sight of in the present,

tional that religion coiold bring, fibre of

delicate

body and movement

of

mind.

His creed,

What is excellent, As God lives in permanent.'

And

and creed were as on; and he was one who held familiar converse with self, and was trustful of man's power to do the right as well his life

and looked upon wrong as the mar which came through rather than others, and in purity of thought sought that purity

as to think

the

self

of life "

it,

which distinguished him.

He

has appeared before the public as one of the authors of The Dairy Cow, Ayrshire, as one of the editors of the North American Ayrshire In the Register, and as contributor to our various agricultural papers.

without signature, some signed J. N. S., others signed Zelco, and a few imder his own name. He commenced writing for the Country Gentleman in 1868, using the nom de Scientific

Farmer he has contributed

many

plume of Zelco, and although this was connection with the Scientific Farmer

articles

paper before the close arose, yet he wrote occasionally

his favorite

Ploughman, New England Farmer, Stock Journal, and other papers, but usually upon request.

for the

Massachusetts

National Live

The

series of

,

STURTEVANT

6

S

NOTES ON EDIBLE PLANTS

In and Out Papers,' written under the nom de plume of Alex. B., in the Scientific Farmer, commencing with the May number for 1876, and con'

tinuing

till

the farewell in the April number for 1878,

when

his health

broke

down, has received marked attention, and showed the possibilities of a literary career, had only the health which admitted of close and continuous application been granted. " The trio at Waushakum

Farm

now

is

broken.

Three brothers

purchased the farm and formed one life in 1 866, and for twelve years there and now have been harmonious thought and action, and now a

wearying sense of desolation."

up work in New York was accepted and Dr. Stvirtevant moved at once to Geneva to become, in his new work in agriThe splendid cultural research, an explorer in an almost virgin field. institutions we now have, created by the Hatch Act of Congress, did not come into existence imtil 1888. But six other States had planned to begin experimental work in agriculture, four of which had made modest starts, but

The

invitation to take

as yet not

much had been

accomplished.

There were but few models in

the Old World, and these were established in very different environment. The financial support was meager, and encouragement from those the Station

sought to serve was correspondingly small. The new Director had to deal with the fundamentals of agrictdtural research at a time when few men cotild see the

need of such research, and almost no one could be fovmd to

help carry the work forward.

Under many

and discour3,gements. Dr. Sttirtevant began His plan was more comprehensive than any

difficvilties

to develop the Station. other yet conceived in America.

All

phases of agricultiire as carried

New York

were to be recognized. Horticulture, live-stock and crop departments were organized with chemical and botanical departments as handmaids. A notable group of men was brought to form the new staff

on in

and within a few

years,

gauged by the time and opportimity, the Station

One needs only to name the staff, everymake a high name for himself in his field of endeavor, to

was doing epoch-making work. one destined to

measvtre the high standard Sturtevant set.

Thus, in the Third Annual

Report of the Station, the Director has as his staff: C. S. Plumb, Assistant to the Director; Emmett S. Goff, Horticulturist; J. C. Arthur, Botanist; These S. Moulton Babcock, Chemist; and E. F. Ladd, Assistant Chemist.

men

helped to lay broad and deep the foundation of the Station. Dr. Sturtevant was Director of the New York Station from July,

EDWARD LEWIS STURTEVANT

7

not quite five years. Much of his time must have March, 1887 been taken up with executive work incidental to a new institution. Yet 1882, to

the six reports of the Station show

much

real research material,

and much

extension work, more needed then than now, that speak well for the initiative and industry of the Director and his small staff. Be it remembered that in these early days there were no laboratories and but scant equipment,

with only the small salaries

sum

of $20,000 annually available for maintenance,

The Board

and improvements.

of Control confessedly did not

clear ideas of the function of the Station,

in the press,

One

and even on the farms, who

of the best

measures of the

of the Station as determined

prevailed as to the

work

by

of

man

He saw

and there were many opponents lost no opportunities to criticise. can be foimd in the

Dr. Sturtevant.

such institutions.

that the fimction of a Station was to

have

initial policy

Widely divergent opinions Dr. Sturtevant asserted

" discover, verify

and disseminate."

from the very first the need of well-established fundamental in agriculttire and set his staff at the work of discovering principles.

clearly

principles

work on Waushakum Farm had taught him that there were many possible errors in prevailing experimental work, and he at once set about determining their source and the best means of minimizing them. His

scientific

During

his stay at the

New York

Station, in several reports he urged the

importance of learning how to experiment, how to interpret results and pointed out errors in certain kinds of experimentation. He believed that

management and responsibility for a station should rest with the Director alone as the only way in which unity and continuity of direction could be secured. Those conversant with experiment stations must see how generally these views of Dr. Sturtevant now prevail and must give him credit for the

very materially helping to fotmd the splendid system of present-day experi-

ment

stations.

These

five years at

Geneva added

greatly to Dr. Stvirtevant's store

During the time he was Director, all the varieties of cultivated esctilents that could be obtained were grown on the grounds of the Station. The early volumes of the reports of this of knowledge of cultivated plants.

Station are

filled

on the groimds.

with descriptions of varieties of ciiltivated plants grown Now, it is certain that if additions are to be made to the

knowledge of the origin of cultivated plants, such additions must come largely from experimental observations of the plants themselves to ascertain the stages through which they have come from the wild to the cultivated form.

The remarkable

collection of plants

grown under Dr. Sturtevant's

sturtevant's notes on edible plants

8

an unsurpassed opporto study plants in the steps they have taken from first cultivation

direction gave, as this text tiinity

shows on

many

pages,

to their present forms. Dr. Sturtevant's opportiinities for research in books during this directorship was hardly less remarkable. The Sturtevant Prelinnean Library, now in the Missouri Botanical Garden, nimibers over 500 titles in several

These, with most of the more

languages.

him

sources

plants, for

of

many

modem

texts

on plants, gave

then possessed by few other students of of the rarer books were inaccessible to Americans of Sturteinformation

In this great library, the patience and erudition of Dr. Sturtevant became priceless. Here, he sought historical mention of edible plants; vant's time.

travelers' descriptions of

them; the names of the

many

esculents used

by

various peoples; their geographical distributions; their various uses; culttiral

treatments the connections of food plants with great migrations of mankind both in ancient and modem times. He studied selection as affected by the ;

and

likes

dislikes of various peoples,

and gave

partictilar attention to the

studies of archaeologists on the material remains of plants.

In 1887, Dr. Sturtevant gave up his charge of the Station at Geneva and returned to the old home at South Framingham. But the opportunity for experimental work on Waushakum Farm had passed. The city had encroached upon the country, and where had been pastvires and farm fields

were now town

and dwellings. The inclination for research had animated Sturtevant, now took the turn,

lots

which throughout his life more than ever, of research in books.

moved with

Near the

old home, into which he

he housed his library in a small building and set to work. Always diligent with the pen, and his favorite subject the history of plants, there is no question but that he now determined to put in permanent form the many articles he had printed here and there on the origin, his family,

and variations in cioltivated plants. His manuscripts, notes and the articles in American Naturalist indicate such a determination. Had history

not

health and untimely death intervened,

probable that Stttrtevant would have put forth the volume which now, a quarter-century later, comes from the hands of an editor. ill

The

it is

came to Dr. Sturtevant work in fact must have

idea of writing a history of food plants

long before his retirement from active professional been in his mind from college days. His books were well under

much had been accomplished

way and

as early as 1880, for in April of that year he

wrote to the Country Gentleman asking

its

readers to give

him information

EDWARD LEWIS STURTEVANT on the introduction for reports

or curious esculents,

of agricultural Indians, stating the purpose of these "

questions as follows: Dielica, or

new

of food plants, for seeds of

on the foods

9

am

I

collecting the material for writing a Flora

a history of food plants, with especial reference to the

bution and variation of cultivated plants.

My

inquiries thus far

distri-

embrace

and (including probably some synonyms) 3,087 species of food plants." Then follow numerous questions, after which he further 1,185 genera, "

Geographical botany, acclimatization through variations, the increase of varieties with the increase of knowledge and the spread of states:

what man has done and what man can hope to do in modifying is a subject of great interest vegetable growth to his use and support as well as importance; and it seems desirable that information which can

civilization,

be obtained now, while our country is not yet wholly occupied, should be put upon record against the time when the ascertaining of these facts will be more

difficiilt."

The manuscripts

at the disposal of the editor

to have been an omnivorous reader.

A

show Dr. Sturtevant

glance at the foot-note citations

to literature in this text shows the remarkable range of his readings in agriculture, botany, science, history, travel

mass

from which

and general

literature.

Besides the

been taken, there is in the possession of the Geneva Station the manuscript of an Encyclopedia of Agriof material

culture

March

and Allied

Subjects,

this text has

work

at which, as the title page says, began

This encyclopedia, imfortunately for all engaged in Its 1200, closely written, agriculture, was completed only to the letter M. 3,

1879.

they go, a

large-size pages form, as far as

In addition to the manuscripts cultural, botanical

and

full

dictionary on agriculture.

left at this Station,

are card notes on agri-

historical matters, while another set,

with but few

duplicates of cards, are in the possession of the Missouri Botanical Garden.

much

the better of the two, was put in shape and presented to the Missouri Botanical Garden only a few weeks before Dr. Sturtevant's

This

set,

death.

In addition to his experimental and executive work, his Notes on Edible Plants and the Encyclopedia of Agriculture, Sturtevant found time to contribute himdreds of articles, long scientific press.

follows,

Those

of

short, to the agricultural

most note are recorded

but the total output of

gaged as to quantity by a

and

his thirty years of literary

series of

preserved his pen contributions.

in the bibliography

work

is

and

which better

scrapbooks in which he systematically

There are twelve volumes

of these scrap-

STURTEVANT

lO

S

NOTES ON EDIBLE PLANTS

with newspaper and magazine articles, the earliest written being dated November 2, 1867, and the last October 6, 1896. Besides

books

filled

these,

there are

two voltunes containing

pamphlets most of

sixty-fovtr

which are named in the accompanying bibliography. Thtis roughly to state the qtiantity of a man's work may seem to indicate only the prod-

So to judge Dr. Sturtevant does him a great injustice, for everything to which he set his pen is thoughtful, lucid and logical even if not always adorned by grace of expression. There is often in his writings igality of his pen.

a happy turn of phrase, and the inevitable word usually turns up at the right place

The newspapers of the two States in which he lived furnished the medium through which Dr. Sturtevant reached the general reader, and for the farmer he had at his command the agricultural press of the whole Contributions of scientific character were published in American Naturalist, Botanical Gazette, Garden and Forest, Torrey Botanical Club

coimtry.

Bulletin

and

Science.

The indexes

of the magazines,

dviring the time

of Stiirtevant's active work, furnish sufficient clues to his contributions.

For a

little

more than two

was associated with

years, Dr. Sturtevant

E. H. Libby, as editor of the Scientific Farmer, after which, for nearly a year

and a half, he was sole editor. The joint editorship began in March, 1876, and ended in May, 1878, the magazine being discontinued in October, The Scientific Farmer was in all matters pertaining to agriciolture 1879. abreast of the times

withstanding which

in

it

most matters

was not a

in

advance

of the times

not-

becoming too heavy The magazine was pub-

financial success, and,

owner's pocket, was discontinued. lished before the days of experiment station btilletins and contains the

a drain on

its

gist of the agricultural investigations

then being carried on, most of

it

being reported by the investigators themselves. As editor. Dr. Sturtevant asstuned the role of analyst of the scientific work in the agriculture of the times, using, as all

must

agree, singularly

good judgment and

dis-

crimination in his discussions of the work of others.

One

of the great pleasures of Dr. Sturtevant's life

seems to have been

active participation in the several scientific societies to which he belonged.

He was

long a Fellow in the American Association for the Advancement of Science; he was one of the founders of the Society foi the Promotion of Agricultural Science, serving as its

first

secretary

and fourth president;

while in Massachusetts, he was active in the Massachusetts Horticultural Society;

and during

his directorship of the

New York

Station was one of

EDWARD LEWIS STURTEVANT

New York

the leaders in the Western too, at various times, a

member

II

He

Horticulttiral Society.

of several general agricultural

was,

and dairy-

men's organizations. He was never a passive member in any of the societies in which he was interested and to those named, in particular, presented papers, while the minutes of the meetings record that his voice

many

heard in

all

was

important discussions.

began in 1864 when he married Mary Elizabeth Mann. To this happy union were born fovir children, two sons and two daughters, the wife and mother dying in 1875. In 1883, he again Dr. Sturtevant's wedded

life

married, taking as his wife Hattie

Mann,

sister to the first wife.

By

this

marriage there was one son. Dr. Sturtevant's colleagues at Geneva, to several of whom the writer is indebted for much information, speak of the devotion of the husband and father to his family and say that he rarely sought companionship outside the home circle and that, on their part,

mother and children were devoted to the head

him

of the household

and con-

The eldest daughter, Grace Sturtevant, talented with pencil and brush, made the drawings and colored sketches to illustrate her father's writings on peppers and sweet potatoes, while those of maize, published in the Report of the New York stantly gave

substantial help in his

Station for 1884, were done

by Mrs.

work.

Stxirtevant.

In 1893, Dr. Sturtevant was a victim of one of the epidemics of grippe which each returning winter ravaged the coimtry. He never fully recovered

from

this attack

and

his health

began to

that tuberculosis had secured firm hold.

fail tintil

shortly

it

was found

With the hope that the

disease

might be thrown off, three winters were passed in California with temporary but not permanent relief. July 30, 1898, he passed away. It was a fitting death he passed qmetly to sleep in the old home on Waushakvim Farm ;

to which his

work had given distinguished name.

A BIBLIOGRAPHY OF STURTEVANT'S WRITINGS The

bibliography of Dr. Sturtevant's principal writings discloses a

lasting basis for his high place

among

For

agrictdtural experimenters.

Plumb

this

of the

Ohio

State University, assistant to Dr. Sturtevant while Director of the

New

bibliography the reader

is

indebted to Professor C.

S.

York Experiment Station, an intimate friend, and one who best knew his work. The bibliography was prepared for the Missouri Botanical Garden and was printed in the Tenth Annual Report of that institution.

Why

Cow

the Ayrshire

should be the Dairyman's Choice.

Trans. Vermont Dairymen's

Association, 1872, pp. 150-159.

Cost of a Crop of Com to the Massachusetts Fanner. part

II,

Agriculture of Massachusetts, 1872-73,

pp. 80-89.

Ayrshire Points.

Ohio Agricultural Report, 1872, pp. 261-270.

Mark Lane

Reprinted in

3, 1873; in Farmers' Magazine, London, May, 1873, the North British and in Agriculturist, Edinburgh, Scotland, July 16, 1873. p. 230; The Claims of the Ayrshire Cow upon the Dairy Farmer. Trans. N. Y. State Agr. Society,

Express, London, Eng., Feb.

1872-76,

England,

pp.

266-279.

May

3,

Milk:

Physiological

Gazette,

1873, p. 624.

Food, Physiology and Force. July, 1879, p. 89,

Copied in Gardeners' Chronicle and Agricultural

H. Agriculture, 1874, p. 157. Also in and Scientific American Supplement, No. 186. A^.

and Miscellaneous.

A

Transactions

Prize Essay.

Scientific

New

Farmer,

York State

Agricultural Society, 1872-76, pp. 91-124, plates III.

Milk:

Some

Considerations

concerning

its

Morphology.

Report

Massachusetts

State

Board of Agriculture, 1873-74, pp. 374-388. Milk:

Its t>-pal Relations, etc.

Jan. 21, 1874.

A

lecture before the

Vermont Dairymen's

Printed for the author, 1874, pp. 20,

figs.

3.

Association,

Also in gth Report

American Dairymen's Association. Physiological Considerations concerning Feeding for Butter and Cheese.

Board of Agriculture, 1874, pp. 67, figs. 4. American Dairymen's Association Report, 1874,

Report Con-

necticut

Cream.

p.

39.

Also in

New

England

Farmer, Jan. 23, 1875. Associate Dairying.

The appendix

to Flints' Milch Cows and Dairy Farming.

No name

signed.

The Wild

Cattle of Scotland, or White Forest Breed.

March, 1874, pp. 135-14513

American Naturalist,

vol, VIII,

STURTEVANT

14

The Law

NOTES ON EDIBLE PLANTS

S

Twenty-second Annual Report

of Inheritance; or the Philosophy of Breeding.

Massachusetts State Board of Agriculture, 1875, pp. 48.

Com

Chemical

Trans. Middlesex South Agricultural Society, 1875, pp. 11-32.

Growing.

The Dairy Cow. A Monograph of the Ayrshire Breed of Cattle. By E. Lewis Sttirtevant, M. D., and Joseph N. Sturtevant, of Waushakum Farm, South Framingham, Mass. With an appendix on Ayrshire. Dutch Milks;

Jersey and

&

their

Formation and

Cloth, 12 mo., pp. 252.

Co., 1875.

The Dairy Cow

What

she

is

Boston, Mass.

Peculiarities.

A.Williams

Illustrated.

and whence she came.

Report

Maine

State

Board of Agri-

culture, 1875-76, pp. 112-125.

Plant Food and Agriculture:

Report Connecticut Board of Agriculture, 1876, pp.

American Agricultural Literature.

Annual Session National Agr.

Proc. Fifth

14.

Congress,

Philadelphia, Sept. 12-14, 1876, pp. 30-37.

Report Massachusetts State Commissioners

Agriculture.

the

to

Centennial Exhibition at

Philadelphia, 1876, pp. 49-53.

Trans. American Dairymen's Association, 1876, pp. 90.

Philosophy of Dairying.

Report Connecticut State Board of Agriculture, 1877-78, pp. 42.

Inter Cultural Tillage. vs.

Fertilizer

Laws.

Com

Culture.

1878, pp. 252-256.

Ibid.,

Report Connecticut Board of Agriculture, 1878, pp. 149-187.

Monthly Journal of Seed Com.

Com

Trans. Vermont Dairymen's Association, 1876, pp. 60.

Agriculture of Pennsylvania, 1877, pp. 108.

Seed Breeding.

Fertility.

Bulls.

Thoroughbred

Dairying

Science, Aug., 1879.

Report Maine

State

Board of Agriculture, 1878-79, pp. 30-47.

Journal American Agricultural Association, vol.

Culture at Waushakimi Farm.

New

Trans.

i.

York State Agricultural

Society, vol.

1872-76, pp. 170-176.

32,

Indian

Reprinted in

Com.

New

Trans.

York State Agricultural

Some Thoughts and Facts concerning the Food

Society, 1872-76, pp. 37-74.

of

Man.

Report Connecticut Board of

Agriculture, 1880, pp. 114-155.

Trans. Mass. Horticultural Society, part

Seedless Fruits.

Deerfoot

Farm

pp. 629-65

Second

1

Centrifugal Dairy. ,

plates III.

Series, vol.

Thoughts on

Report

I,

1880, pp. 29.

United States Commissioner of Agriculture,

Reprinted in Journal of Royal Agricultural Society of England,

XVIII, 1882, pp. 475-495.

Agrictiltural

Education.

Connecticut State

Report

Board of Agriculture,

1881, pp. 19.

The Growing

of

Com.

Twenty-eighth

Annual Report of

the Massachusetts State

Board of

Agriculture, 1881, pp. 77-130.

Lysimeter Records.

Proc. American Assoc, for Advancement of Science, 1881, pp. 37-39-

Experimental Observations on the Potato.

Trans.

N.

Y.

State

Agricultural Society,

1877-82, pp. 261-265.

The Need

of a Better Seed Supply.

Ibid., pp.

Conditions Necessary to Success in Dairying. ciation, 1883, pp. 56-60.

286-289.

Report

New

York State Dairymen's

.Asso-

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1

Relations between Seeding and Quality in certain Vegetables and Fruits.

Promotion of Agr. Science,

for the Different

Modes

vol.

Proc. Society

109-118.

1883, pp.

I,

of Cutting Potatoes for Planting.

Ibid., pp. 77-78.

Proc. Society for the Promotion of Agri. Science, 1883, p.

Agricultural Botany.

5

Also

7.

Trans: American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1883, pp. 293-295, Abstract.

History of Cereal Plants.

An Attempt

Maize:

Sibley's

at

Grain and Farm Seeds Annual, 1883, pp. 5-14.

Classification.

Rochester,

N. Y.,

1884,

pp.

Illustrated.

9.

Printed for private distribution only.

American Naturalist, June, 1884, pp. 573-577, fig. 3. Trans. N. Y. State Agricultural Society, vol. 33, 1877-82, pp. 208-220.

Agricultural Botany.

Hungarian Grass.

Experiment Stations.

The Feeding

Ibid., pp.

235-243.

of Spoiled Brewer's Grains.

Report

New

York State Dairymen's Association,

1884, pp. 46-64.

Influence of Isolation of Science,

Proc. American Association for the Advancement

upon Vegetation.

1884.

Dairy Interests in General.

Report

New

York State Dairymen's Association, 1884, pp.

102-108.

The Work

Ninth Annual Report

of the Station.

New

York State Dairymen's Association,

1885, pp. 25-29.

A

List of Edible Fungi.

An

Trans. Mass. Horticultural Society, 1881, pp. 322-348. Proc. Amer. Assn. for the Advancement of Science, 1885, pp. 287-291.

Germination Studies.

Observation on the Hybridization and Cross Breeding of Plants. for Adv. of Science, vol. 34, 1885, pp. 283-287.

Germination Studies.

Ibid.,

pp. 287-291.

Lowest Germination of Maize. Cultivated Food Plants.

Proc. Amer. Assn.

Botanical Gazette, April, 1885, pp. 259-261.

Proc. Society for the Promotion of Agricultural

Science,

1885,

pp. 59-72.

Indian

Com

and the Indian.

American Naturalist, March,

Kitchen Garden Esctolents of American Origin. pp. 444-457-

n, June,

Horticultviral Botany.

A A

Study

1885, pp. 542-552-

Proc. Western

of the Dandelion.

American

New

1885, pp. 225-234.

American

Naturalist,

I,

May,

1885,

HI, July, 1885, pp. 658-669.

York Hort. Society for 1886, pp. 25-32.

Naturalist, Jan. 1886, pp. 5-9.

Illustrated.

Study of Garden Lettuce. American Naturalist, March, 1886, pp. 230-233. History of Celery. American Naturalist, July, 1886, pp. 599-606, figs. 3. History of Garden Vegetables.

American Naturalist, 1887,

321-333:433-444; 701-712; 826-833; 903-912; 975-985-

The Dandelion and the 3,

Lettuce.

49-59; 125-133;

1888, vol. 22, pp.

pp. 40-44.

Study in Agricultural Botany. Ibid., 1886, vol. Atavism the Result of Cross Breeding in Lettuce. History of the Cturant.

A

420-433;

Proc. Society for Promotion of Agricultural Science,

A

Seed Germination

21, pp.

1890, vol. 24, pp. 30-48; 143-157; 629-646; 719-744.

802-808; 979-987.

1886, vol.

vol.

Proc. Western

Study.

New

4,

pp. 68-73.

Ibid., 1886, vol. 4, pp. 73-74.

York Hort.

Society, 1887.

Agricultural Science, Feb., 1887.

1

STURTEVANT'S NOTES ON EDIBLE PLANTS

6

Capsicum umbilicatum.

Bull.

Torrey Botanical Club, April, 1888.

Capsicum fasiculatum. Ibid., May, 188H. Notes on the History of the Strawberry.

Trans. Mass. Horticultural Society, 1888, pp.

191-204.

Memoirs Torrey Botanical

Seedless Fruits.

Club, vol.

Ensilage Experiments in 1884-1885 at the Trans.

Station.

New

York State Agr.

Maize and Sorghum.

Forage Crops:

Agricultural Botany.

Ibid., pp.

Edible Plants of the World.

The Tomato.

Society,

part

4,

1890.

State Agricultural Experiment

1889, pp. 116-120.

Ibid., pp. 135-143.

335-338.

Agricultural Science, vol.

3,

no.

7,

1889, pp. 174-178.

Station, 1889, p. 18.

Report Maryland Experiment

Huckleberries and Blueberries.

i,

New York

Trans. Mass. Hort. Society, 1890, pp. 17-38.

Concerning some names for Cucurbitae. Bull. Torrey Botanical Club, October, 1891. Notes on Maize. Bull. Torrey Botanical Club, vol. 21, 1894, pp. 319-343; 503-523. Paramount Fertilizers. Report Mass. State Board of Agriculture, 1888, pp. 37-55.

Report of the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station, 1882-1887, first umes. The following are the special topics reported on by Dr. Sturtevant:

six vol-

Experiments with wheat, barley and oats. with potatoes. Forage crops. Experiments Botanical notes. Studies on Maize. Station-grown seeds. Weight of Organization of Station work.

1882.

Studies on Maize. 1883.

Relation of feed to milk.

seeds.

corn.

Experiments with

1884.

Experiments with potatoes.

Experiments with

grasses.

Feeding experiments and milk analysis.

Wheat improvement.

Study

Experiments with Germination of seeds.

of milk.

Experiments with corn. Study of maize, including sweet, pop and dent corn. Starch waste as cattle food. Ensilage and forage crops. Studies on com. 1885. Tests on germinatien of maize and other seeds. The sweet Fertilizers on potatoes.

potatoes.

corns.

1886.

Cattle feeding experiments.

influenced 1887.

by

age.

Feeding

Temperature and crops.

Vitality of seeds as

Experiments with cabbage. Studies of Indian corn. Experiments with potatoes. Seed germinations.

for beef.

NOTES ON EDBLE PLANTS &

Aberia caffra Harv.

Sond.

kau apple,

kai apple,

Bixineae.

kei apple.

r

The

South Africa.

They fresh

a golden- yellow

fruits are of

by that the Dutch

settlers

Abronia arenaria Menzies.

prepare

them

about the

The Chinook Indians

common

plant

The beauty

The

eat

root

is

stout

and

fusiform, often several

it.'

love pea.

red-bead

and for necklaces, and their nourishing qualities, The seeds are used in Egypt as a pulse, but Don *

of the seeds, their use as beads plant.*

says they are the hardest and most indigestible of is

when

within the tropics in the Old World, principally upon the shores.

have combined to scatter the

root

a small apple.

for their tables, as a pickle, without vinegar.*

Abrus precatorius Linn. Leguminosae. coral-bead plant, VINE. rosary-pea TREE. WILD LICORICE.

A

size of

Nyctagineae.

Seashore of Oregon and California. feet long.^

color,

the natives for making a preserve and are so exceedingly acid

are used

a poor substitute

Abutilon esculentum A. St. Hil.

The

Brazil.

all

the pea tribe.

Brandis

says the

for licorice.

Malvaceae.

Brazilians eat the corolla of this native plant cooked as a vegetable.''

A. indicum Sweet

Old World

tropics.

The raw

are eaten in Arabia.'

flowers

The

leaves contain

a large quantity of mucilage. Acacia Leguminosae.

From

various acacias comes

Dimng

trious article of food.

gum

man

'

Jackson,

'

Brewer and Watson

'

Brown, R.

*

De CandoUe, Don, G.

J.

R.

upon

Bol. Col. 2:4.

Gwg.

Brandis, D.

Forest Fl. 139.

Saint Hilaire, A.

'

Forskal

F/.

Fl.

Gum

(A. latifolia)

1855.

1832.

1876.

Bras. Merid. 1:160.

^eg. ^ra6. XCIII.

hotirs.

gum

1775.

1825.

{Hibiscus esculeiUus)

17

by some

to be a highly nutri-

harvest in Barbary, the

Moors

claimed that six ounces are sufficient for

1868.

Bo/. 2:769.

Hist. Dichl. Pis. 2:342.

It is

stated

1876. 1880.

Sot. Soc. Edinb. 9:381.

'

it.

during twenty-four

Treas. Bol. 2:1255.

A.

is

the whole time of the

of the desert live almost entirely

the support of a

arable which

arable

is

also used as food

by the

sturtevant's notes on edible plants

i'8

Hottentots of southern Africa, and Sparmann states that, in the absence of other pro-

Bushmen manna by the

on

visions, the

live

called

natives, produces

and

this,

for

it

days together.*

Drummond,' forms an important

says

At Swan

a large quantity of

an

acacia,

gum

arabic,

River, Australia,

gum

resembling

article of native food.

The experiment

showed that dogs could not support life on gum, and Dr. Hammond * from having any value as an alimentary substance, it is positively

of Magendie,' however,

believes that, so far injiuious.

A. abyssinica Hochst.

Hildebrant mentions that

Abyssinia.

North and central Africa and southwest quality.'

The

is

collected

gum arabic tree,

babool-bark.

A. arabica Willd.

gum

Asia.

from

this species.'

suntwood.

It furnishes

a gvim arabic of superior in India,' and

groimd and mixed with flour sesame, is an article of food with the

bark, in times of scarcity,

the gum, mixed with the seeds of

is

natives.*

The

serves for nourishment, says Himiboldt,' to several African tribes in their passages

gum

through the dessert.

In Barbary, the tree

is

called atteleh.

A. bidwilli Benth.

The

Australia.

roots of

young

catechu,

A. catechu Willd.

trees are roasted for food after peeling.*'

wadalee-gum tree.

khair.

Furnishes catechu, which

East Indies.

is

used for chewing in India as an

chiefly

ingredient of the packet of betel leaf.**

A. concinna

DC.

soap-pod.

The

Tropical Asia.

leaves are acid

as a substitute for tamarinds.

and are used

in cookery

by the natives of India The beans are about

It is the fei-tsau-tau of the Chinese.

one-half to three-fourths inch in diameter

and are

edible after roasting.**

A. decora Reichb.

The gum

Australia.

A. decuirens Willd. Australia.

'

' ' <

W. Hooker, W. Stille,

Hist. Veg. King. 557.

1855.

Journ. Bot. 2:359.

1840.

J.

1874.

Ibid.

and Hanbury Pharm.

U. S. Disp.

6.

Forest Fl. 182.

Dutt, U. C.

Smith, F. P.

" Palmer, E. " Mueller, F.

1879.

1874.

Useful Pis. Ind. 5.

Humboldt, A. Palmer, E.

234.

1865.

Brandis, D.

Drury, H.

>

green wattle,

Polii.

1858.

New Spain 2:423. 1811. Soc. New So. Wales 17:93. 1884.

Essay

Journ. Roy.

Mat. Med. Hindus 158. Contrib. Mat.

1877.

Med. China

Journ. Roy. Soc. Sel. Pis. 4.

silver wattle.

a gimi not dissimilar to gtmi arabic.**

Therap. Mat. Med. 1:113.

A.

Fltickiger

'

gathered and eaten by Queensland natives.*'

black wattle,

It yields

Rhind,

is

New

1891.

l.

1871.

So, Wales 17:94.

1884.

STURTEVANT A. ehrenbergiana

S

NOTES ON EDIBLE PLANTS

Hayne

Desert regions of Libya, Nubia, Dongola. A. famesiana Willd.

New It

This species

which

gam

cultivated

is

all

over India and

and Mexico, to Buenos Aires and

Orleans, Texas

exudes a

gum

arabic.^

opopanax.

huisache.

plant,

cassie-oil

a

It yields

popinac.

sponge

WEST INDIAN BLACKTHORN.

TftEE.

Tropics.

19

DC. The bark

The

collected in Sind.*

is

indigenous in America from

is

Chile,

and

is

sometimes cultivated.

flowers distil a delicious perfume.

A. ferruginea India.

palms

steeped in

"

as an intoxicating liquor.

is distilled

"

jaggery water

fresh,

sweet sap from any of several

It is very astringent.'

A. flexicaulis Benth.

Texas.

The

woody pods contain roimd

thick,

and

boiled, are palatable

seeds the size of peas which,

when

nutritious.*

A. glaucophylla Steud.

This species fiunishes

Tropical Africa.

barbary-gum.

A. gummifera Willd.

North

Africa.

gum

It yields

morocco-gum.

arable in northern Africa.'

gum

in Australia.'

dornboom.

cape-gum tree,

A. horrida Willd.

South Africa.

This

and

is

the dornboom plant which exudes a good kind of gum.'

kuteera-gum.

A. leucophloea Willd.

Southern India.

arable^

myall-wood, violet- wood.

A. homalophylla A. Cunn.

This species yields

gum

The bark

largely used in the preparation of spirit

is

also used in times of scarcity,

ground and mixed with

and

palm-juice,

The

pods are used as a vegetable, and the seeds are ground and mixed with

Sydney golden wattle.

A. longifolia Willd. Australia.

it is

The Tasmanians

roast the pods

and eat the starchy

A. pallida F. Muell. Australia.

The

'

U. S. Disp. 6.

'

Brandis, D.

Drury, H.

roots of the

yotmg

trees are roasted

1865. Forest Fl. 180.

Useful Pis. Ind.

1876. 8.

1858

1885.

Illustr. Bot.

*

Smith, F. P.

Forest Fl. 250.

Contrib. Mat.

1882.

(Acacia julibrissin)

Med. China

Hist. Pis. 2: $6.

Useful Pis. Ind. 9.

Palmer, E.

Journ. Roy. Soc. Hist. Pis. 2:58. Forest Fl. 176.

" Thunberg, C. P.

2.

1820.

1872.

Drury, H.

"Baillon, H. " Brandis, D.

1839.

1874.

Hist. Dichl. Pis. 2:420.

H.

mixed with

says the succulent stalk, which

chewed by the Hottentots and other

thirst.

^

is

flour.'*

Liliaceae.

In Kaffraria, Thunberg

South Africa. mucilaginous,

In times of scarcity, the bark

1871.

(Acacia nemu)

{Acacia lucida)

1858.

New

So. Wales 17:94.

1872.

1874.

Traw. 1:146.

1795.

1884.

travellers

by way

of

is

rather

quenching

STURTEVANT

30 Aletris

farinosa

NOTES ON EDIBLE PLANTS

S

ague-root,

Haemodoraceae.

Linn.

colic-root,

crow-corn,

star

unicorn-root.

GRASS.

This plant, says Masters,'

North America.

is

one of the most intense bitters known,

but, according to Rafinesque,^ the Indians eat its bulbs.

Aleurites triloba Forst.

candlenut tree,

Euphorhiaceae.

country walnut,

otaheite

walnut. Tropical Asia and Pacific Islands.

of the

kernels of

is

a large tree

ctaltivated in tropical countries

It is native to the eastern islands of the

for the sake of its nuts.

and

This

Malayan Archipelago Samoan grbup. In the Hawaiian Islands, it occurs in extensive forests. The the nut when dried and stuck on a reed are used by the Polynesians as a sub-

stitute for candles

and as an

and

walnut-oil

New

Georgia.

also used as

a dr3ang

food in

article of

a large proportion of pure, palatable

oil,

When oil

pressed they yield

for paint

and known as

artist 's-oil.'

Alhagi camelorum Fisch.

The Orient and

Legwminosae.

central

camelsthorn.

This indigenous

Asia.

manna-plant. shrub

furnishes

a manna by

exudation.^ A.

maurorum Medic.

Persian manna-plant.

Near Kandahar and Herat, manna

North Africa to Hindustan.

is

found and

lected on the bushes of this desert plant at flowering time after the spring rains.'

manna is supposed by some

to have been the

marma of Scripture but

others refer the

col-

This

manna

of Scripture to one of the lichens.

Alisma plantago Linn.

mad-dog weed,

Alismaceae.

water-plantain.

North temperate zone and Australia. The solid part of the root contains farinaceous matter and, when deprived of its acrid properties by drjdng, is eaten by the Calmucks.* Allium akaka Gmel. Persia.

of wolag.

and

is

It

Liliaceae.

This plant appears in the bazar in Teheren as a vegetable ' under the name also grows in the Alps. The whole of the yovmg plant is considered a delicacy

used as an addition to rice in a pilau.*

great-headed garlic levant garlic wild leek. and the Orient. This is a hardy perennial, remarkable for the size of the Europe bulbs. The leaves and stems somewhat resemble those of the leek.' The peasants in A. ampeloprasum Linn,

/

(y.^''^ ,

*,

certain parts of Southern '

Masters,

M.

T.

Treas. Bot. 1:35.

'Rafinesque, C. S.

'Black, A. A.

Don, G.

>

La. 18.

Forest Fl. 145.

it

1870. 1832.

1876.

Treas. Bol. 1:38.

1870.

Ibid.

'Burr, F.

Field, Card. Veg. 12^.

1882.

this is its only

1870.

U. S. Pat. Off. Rpt. 356.

" Bon Jard. 414.

raw and

1817.

Treas. Bot. 1:36.

Johns, C. A.

Unger, F.

Fl.

Hisl. Dichl. Pis. 2:310.

Brandis, D.

,'

Europe eat

1863.

1859.

{A. latifoUum)

known

use.'"

sturtevant's notes on edible plants A. angulosum Linn,

mouse garlic.

Called on the upper Yenisei mischei-tschesnok, mouse

Siberia.

31

garlic,

and from

early

times collected and salted for winter use.' A. ascalonicum Linn,

shallot.

The Askolonion krommoon

Cultivated everywhere.

of Theophrastus

and the Cepa

ascolonia of Pliny, are supposed to be our shallot but this identity can scarcely be claimed as assured. It is not established that the shallot occurs in a wild and De Candolle state,

is

inclined to believe

nearly

all

Amatus to

show

a form of A.

the early .botanies, and

Ascalon, a says that

it is

town in

cepa, the onion.^

many

It is

mentioned and

repeat the statement of Pliny that

it

figiu-ed in

came from

whence the name.

Michaud, in his History oj the Crusades, gardens owe to the holy wars shallots, which take their name from Ascalon.^

oiir

Syria,

and German names, which go In England, shallots are said to have been

Lusitanus,* 1554, gives Spanish, Italian, French its

early cultitre in these coimtries.

but Mcintosh' says they were introduced in 1548; they do not seem to have been known to Gerarde in 1597. In 1633, Worlidge ^ says " eschalots art ciiltivated in

1633,*

now from France become an

English condiment."

Shallots are enumerated for Ameri-

'

can gardens in 1806.* Vilmorin mentions one variety with seven sub- varieties. The bulbs are compound, separating into what are called cloves, hke those of

and are

of milder flavor

than other cultivated

seasoner in stews and soups, as also in a

raw

ailiimis.

They

garlic,

are used in cookery as a

state; the cloves, cut into small sections,

form

an ingredient in French salads and are also sprinkled over steaks and chops. They make an excellent pickle. In China, the shallot is grown but is not valued as highly as is A. uliginosum.^"

A. canadense Linn,

North America.

tree onion, There

is

Loudon "

to this wild onion.

wild garlic.

some

hesitation in referring the tree onion of the garden " the tree, or bulb-bearing, onion, syn. ^gyp-

refers to it as

tian onion, A. cepa, var. vimparium; the stem produces bulbs instead of flowers

and when

these bulbs are planted they produce underground onions of considerable size and, being

much

stronger flavored than those of

any other variety, they go farther in cookery." Booth says, the bulb-bearing tree onion was introduced into England from Canada in 1820 and is considered to be a vivaparous variety of the common onion, which it resembles "

'^

It differs in its flower-stems being

in appearance. .'

'

Pickering, C.

De

Chron. Hist. Pis. 813.

Candolle, A.

Michaud

Hist. Crusades 3:329.

Dioscorides,

'

Miller Card. Dtc/.

'

Worlidge,

Syst. Hart. 193.

J.

McMahon,

B.

VilmorinLei

"Loudon,

J.

C.

"Booth, W.B.

Amer. Card.

1554.

Contrib. Mat.

Horl. 661.

1855. 1683.

Cal. 190.

Pis. Polag. 200.

" Smith, F. P.

287.

1807.

Book Card. 2:27.

Mcintosh, C.

1885.

1853.

Amatus Lusitanus Ed.

*

'

1879.

Orig. Pis. Cult. 70.

1806.

1883.

Med. China i860.

Treas. Bol. i-.^o.

1870.

7.

1871.

svirmounted by a cluster of small green

STURTEVant's NOTES ON EDIBLE PLANTS

32

btdbs instead of bearing flowers and seed."

It is

bears a head of bulbs in the place of flowers;

out northern United States and Canada.

Brown

for pickles of superior flavor.

1674,

when Marquette

'

and

^

a peculiarity of A. canadense that

its flavor is

Mueller

'

very strong;

says

its

often used

the plant in their broths for flavoring.

by some

much sought Indians.

from Green Bay to the present

Chicago, these onions formed almost the entire source of food.

On

often

found through-

top bulbs are

says its roots are eaten

his party journeyed

it is

it

The Ivmibermen

In

site of

Maine

of

the East Branch of the Penobscot,

and are bulb-producing on their stalks. They grow in even with the scant soil attain a foot in height. In the lack of the clefts of ledges and definite information, it may be allowable to suggest that the tree onion may be a hybrid variety from this wild species, or possibly the wild species improved by cultivation. The these onions occur in abundance

name, Egyptian onion, origination in

Canada

of food

against this surmise, while, on the other hand,

its

apparent

is in its favor, as is also the appearance of the growing plants.

onion.

A. cepa Linn, Persia

is

The onion has been known and

and Beluchistan.

from the

Its native

earliest period of history.

cultivated as an article

country

is

At the

unknown.

no longer foimd growing wild, but all authors ascribe to it an eastern origin. Perhaps it is indigenous from Palestine to India, whence it has extended to China, Cochin China, Japan, Europe, North and South Africa and America. It is mentioned

present time

it is

in the Bible as one of the things for which the Israelites longed in the wilderness

and com-

plained about to Moses. Herodotus says, in his time there was an inscription on the Great Pyramid stating the simi expended for onions, radishes and garlic, which had been

consumed by the laborers during the progress of its erection, as 1600 talents. A variety was cultivated, so excellent that it received worship as a divinity, to the great amusement of the priests,

*

to be trusted.

Onions were prohibited to the Egyptian who abstained from most kinds of pulse, but they were not excluded from the

Romans,

if

Juvenal

altars of the gods.

is

Wilkinson

his hand, or covering

an

^

says paintings frequently show a priest holding

a bundle of their leaves and

altar with

roots.

them

They were

in

intro-

duced at private as well as public festivals and brought to table. The onions of Egjrpt were mild and of an excellent flavor and were eaten raw as well as cooked by persons of all classes.

B.

Hippocrates* says that onions were commonly eaten 430 B. C. Theophrastus,' 322 C, names a number of varieties, the Sardian, Cnidian, Samothracian and Setanison,

all

named from the

places where grown.

Mueller, F.

Brown, R. '

Sel. Pis.

28 B. 1891.

Card. Chron. 1320.

1868.

Case Bol. Index 34. 1880. De Candolle, A. Geog. Bot. 828. Wilkinson, J. G.

Anc. Egypt,

i

:

1855. 168.

Hippocrates Opera Comarius Ed. 113. '

Dioscorides,* 60 A. D., speaks of the onion as

Colimiella,' 42 A. D., speaks of the Marsicam,

long or round, yellow or white.

1854. 1546.

Theophrastus Hist. PI. Bodaeus Ed. 761, 785. Dioscorides Ruellius Ed. 135.

Columella

lib. 12, c. 10.

1529.

1644.

which

STURTEVANT the country people

call

the French ognon.

round onion

is

NOTES ON EDIBLE PLANTS

33

unionem, and this word seems to be the origin of our word, onion,

Pliny,i 79 A. D., devotes considerable space to cepa,

and says the

the best, and that red onions are more highly flavored than the white.

Palladius,^ 210 A. D., gives

number

S

minute directions for culture.

Apicius,' 230 A. D., gives a

of r^ipes for the use of the onion in cookery but its uses

are rather as a seasoner than as an edible. describes the onion but does not include

it

by this epicurean writer In the thirteenth century, Albertus Magnus * in his list of garden plants where he speaks of

by which we would infer, what indeed seems to have been the case with the ancients, that it was in less esteem than these, now minor, vegetables. In the the leek and gariic,

sixteenth etables

centiuy,

Amatus Lusitanus^

and occurs in red and white

says the onion

varieties,

strong, and yet others intermediate as large and small, long, round and

one of the commonest of veg-

and of various

in savor. flat, red,

is

qualities,

some

sweet, others

In 1570, Matthiolus* refers to varieties bluish, green

and white.

Laurembergius,'

1632, says onions differ in form, some being round, others, oblong; in color, some white,

others dark red; in

He

size,

says the

some

Roman

large, others small; in their origin, as

German, Danish,

colonies during the time of

Agrippa grew in the gardens a sort which of the monasteries Russian attained sometimes the weight of eight pounds. Spanish.

He

calls

and

size

the Spanish onion oblong, white and large, excelling

and says

is

it

grown

abundance in Holland.

in large

brings the highest price in the markets

all

other sorts in sweetness

At Rome, the

sort

which

the Caieta; at Amsterdam, the St. Omer.

is

a tradition in the East, as Glasspoole * writes, that when Satan stepped out of the Garden of Eden after the fall of man, onions sprang up from the spot where he There

is

placed his right foot and garlic from that where his Targioni-Tozzetti

*

left foot

touched.

thinks the onion wiU probably prove identical with A. fistulosum

Linn., a species having a rather extended range in the mountains of South Russia and whose southwestern limits are as yet unascertained. of British gardens, says Mcintosh, '" as long as they " Wei loved he garleek, Chaucer," about 1340, mentions them:

The onion has been an inmate deserve the appellation.

onyons and ek leekes." Hiunboldt '^ says that the primitive Americans were acquainted with the onion and that it was called in Mexican xonacatl. Cortez," in speaking of the edibles which they '

Pliny

lib. 19, c.

Palladius

32.

lib. 3, c.

24.

Apicjus Opson. 1709.

Albertus

Magnus Veg. Jessen Ed. 487. Amatus Lusitanus Ed. 273.

Dioscorides

Matthiolus Comment 389. '

1867.

1554.

1570.

Laurembergius Apparat. Plant. 27. 1632. Ohio State Bd. Agr. Rpt. 29:422. Glasspoole, H. G. Targioni-Tozzetti Journ. Hort. Soc. Land. 9: 147.

" Mcintosh,

C. Book Card. 2:31. " Chaucer Prologue V 634. 1340.

De CandoUe, A. "Ibid.

2

Geog. Bo/. 2:829.

1855.

1855.

1874.

1855.

STURTEVant's NOTES ON EDIBLE PLANTS

-34

found on the march to Tenochtitlan,

cites onions, leeks

and

garlic.

De

Candolle

'

does

names apply to the species cultivated in Europe. Sloane,' in the seventeenth century, had seen the onion only in Jamaica in gardens. The word xonacatl * is not in Hernandez,' and Acosta says expressly that the onions and garlics of Peru came not think that these

from Europe.

originally

by Columbus Peter Martyr

were among the garden herbs sown

It is probable that onions

at Isabela Island in 1494, although they are not specifically mentioned. " " ' speaks of onyons in Mexico and this must refer to a period before 1526,

the year of his death, seven years after the discovery of Mexico.

It is possible that onions,

introduced by the Spaniards to the West Indies, had already found admittance to

first

Mexico, a rapidity of adaptation scarcely impossible to that civilized Aztec race, yet apparently improbable at

first

Onions are mentioned

thought.

Wm.

by

Wood,^ 1629-33, as cultivated in Massachusetts; in and were grown at Mobile, Ala., in 1775.* In

1648, they were cultivated in Virginia;'

1779, onions were

N. Y.

among

the Indian crops destroyed by Gen. Sullivan

McMahon

In 1806,

*"

mentions six varieties in his

of

list

'

near Geneva,

American

esculents.

1828, the potato onion, A. cepa, var. aggregatum G. Don,

a

"

is mentioned by Thorbum Burr ^ describes fourteen varieties.

vegetable of late introduction into our country." '

Vilmorin

describes sixty varieties,

which are not noted by him.

and there are a number

In form, these

In " as

may

of varieties

be described as

form, spherical, spherical-flattened, pear-shaped, long.

This

last

grown in France

flat,

flattened, disc-

form seems to attain an

exaggerated length in Japan, where they often equal a foot in length. In 1886, Kizo " Otur onions do not have large, Tamari," a Japanese commissioner to this country, says, globular bulbs.

are

They

just like celery

grown

and have

long, white, slender stalks."

In addition to the forms mentioned above, are the top onion and the potato onion. The onion is described in many colors, such as white, dull white, silvery white, pearly white, yellowish-green,

coppery-yellow,

salmon-yellow,

greenish-yellow,

bright

yellow,

pale

salmon, salmon-pink, coppery-pink, chamois, red, bright red, blood-red, dark red, purplish. But few of oiir modem forms are noticed in the early botanies. The following

synonymy

includes

of the figures

'

De

all

that are noted, but in establishing

upon which

Candolle, A.

founded are

it is

Geog. Bot. 2:829.

qtiite distinct:

1855.

Ibid. '

Ibid.

Ibid.

Eden '

''

Hist. Trav. 1577.

New

Wood, W.

Eng. Prosp. 2:7.

Perf. Desc. Va. 4.

'Romans ">

S.

McMahon, B. " Thorbum Cat.

1775.

Early Hist. Geneva 47.

Amer. Card.

Col. 582.

1828.

Field, Gard.

" Vilmorin Les

1634.

Force Coll. Tracts 2:1838.

Nat. Hist. Fla. 1:115.

Conover, G.

" Burr, F.

1649.

Veg. 129.

Pis. Potag. 51.

^*Amer. Hort. Sept

lo, 1886.

1863.

1883.

1879.

1806.

.

it,

it

must be noted that many

sturtevant's notes on edible plants

35

I.

Btdb Fuchsius, 430.

Cepa.

at bottom, tapering towards stem.

flat

1542.

Cepa rotunda. Bodaeus, 787, 1644. Caepe sive Cepa rubra ei alba. Bauhin, Geani de Rocca.

Vilm. 387.

2: S49.

J.

1651.

1883.

Mammoth Pompeii. American Seedsmen. Golden Queen. American Seedsmen. Paris Silverskin. American Seedsmen. Silver

The

White Etna.

American Seedsmen.

difference at first sight

varieties is great,

between the crude

figure of Fuchsius

but ordinary experience indicates that the changes are no greater than

can be observed under

selection. II.

Bulb round at bottom, tapering towards stem. Roeszl. 121.

Zwiblen.

Cepa.

Trag. 737.

1550.

1552.

1586. Caepa. Cam. Epit. 324. Blanc hatij de Valence. Vihn. 378. 1883. Neapolitan Marzajola. American Seedsmen.

Round White

American Seedsmen. American Seedsmen.

Silverskin.

White Portugal.

III.

Bulb roundish, flattened above and below. Matth. 276, 1558; Pin. 215. 1561. Caepa capitata. Matth. 388. 1570. Cepa. Cepe.

Loh. Obs. 73. 1576; 7cw. 1:150. Get. 134. 1597.

1591.

rubra.

Cepa Cepa rotunda. Dod. 687. 1616. Rouge gros-plat d'ltalie. Vilm. 387. 1883. Bermuda. American Seedsmen. Large Flat Madeira. American Seedsmen. American Seedsmen. ether sfield Large Red.

W

IV.

Bulb rounded below, flattened above. Cepa.

Pictorius 82.

1581.

Philadelphia Yellow Dutch, or Strasburg.

American Seedsmen.

V.

Bulb Cepa. Cepe.

Cepe

spherical, or nearly so.

Trag. 737. 1552. Lauremb. 26. Lob. Obs. 73. 1576; Icon. 1:150. alba.

and the modern

Ger. 134.

1597.

Caepa capitata. Matth. 419. 1598. Juane de Danvers. Vilm. 380. 1883. Danvers. American Seedsmen.

1632. 1591.

sturtevant's notes on edible plants

36

VI Bulb concave on the bottom. Bodaeus 786. 1644. American Seedsmen.

Cepa rotunda.

Extra Early Red.

VII.

Bulb oblong.

Cam.

Caepa.

Epit. 324.

1586.

Lob. /com. 1:150.

Cepae Hispanica ohlonga. Cepa oblonga. Dod. 687. Vilm. 388.

Piriform.

1591.

1616; Bodaeus 787.

1644.

.

1883.

VIII.

The top In 1587, Dalechamp

'

onion.

records with great surprise an onion plant which bore small

bulbs in the place of seed. A.

cemuum

wild onion.

Roth,

Western

New York

to Wisconsin and southward.

almost the entire source of food for Marquette

Bay

to the present site of Chicago in the

A. fistulosum Linn,

German walsch

Mcintosh

and

is

*

says

England in

useful for pickling.

It is

fibers.^

has a small,

it

flat,

1629.'

This and A. canadense formed

his party

on

their journey

welsh onion.

The Welsh onion acquired

grown

for its leaves

common

the parent species of the onion.

its

name from

onion but has

which are used in

salads.

brownish-green bulb which ripens early and keeps well

very hardy and, as Targioiy-Tozzetti

It is

from Green

1674.

never forms a bulb like the

It

(foreign).^

and strong

long, tapering roots

fall of

and

two-bladed onion,

ciboul.

Siberia, introduced into

the

^

It is

mentioned by

McMahon

'

'

thinks, is probably

in 1806 as one of the

American garden esculents; by Randolph in Virginia before 181 8; and was cataloged sale by Thorburn in 1828, as at the present time. A. neapolitanum Cjt.

for

daffodil garlic.

Europe and the Orient.

According to Heldreich,'

it

yields roots

which are

edible.

A. obliquum Linn.

From

Siberia.

early times the plant has been cultivated on the Tobol as a substitute

for garlic.'"

'

'

Dalechamp, J, Case Bo/. /nie* Booth,

W.

B.

(Lugd.) 532.

Treas. Bot. 1:40.

1587.

1870.

1879.

B.

Treas. Bot. 1:40.

1870.

Mcintosh, C.

Book Card. 2:41.

1855.

Booth,

'

PL

1880.

Chron. Hist. Ph. 582.

Pickering, C.

W.

Hist. Gen. 34.

Targioni-Tozzetti Journ. Hort. Soc. Land. 9:147.

McMahon,

B.

MueUer, F. "Pickering,

C

Amer. Card.

Set. Pis. 19.

Col. 582.

1806.

1880.

Chron. Hist. Pis.

8i:s.

1879.

1855.

STURTEVANT A.

odorum

NOTES ON EDIBLE PLANTS

37

fragrant-flowered garlic.

Linn,

This onion

Siberia.

S

A. oleraceum Linn,

is

eaten as a vegetable in Japan.*

field garlic.

The young leaves are used in Sweden to flavor stews and soups or fried Evirope. with other herbs and are sometimes so employed in Britain but are inferior to those of the cultivated garlic.^ A.

leek.

porrum Linn.

Found growing wild

been cultivated from the

It has

land.

in Algiers but the

Bon

Jardinier

earliest times.

'

says

it is

a native of Switzer-

This vegetable was the prason

porrum of the Romans, who distinguished two kinds, the capiand the sectile, or chives, although Colimiella,* Pliny,' and Palladius,'

of the ancient Greeks, the

tatum, or leek,

same plant brought about through difference of culture, the form chive-like being produced by thick planting. In Europe, the leek was generally known throughout the Middle Ages, and in the earlier botanies some of the figtires of the indicate these as forms of the

leek represent the

Townsend

1726,

The

'

two kinds

says that

"

complained to

Israelites

of planting alluded to

writers.

leeks are mightily used in the kitchen for broths

Moses

wanderings in the wilderness.

their

by the Roman

In England,

and sauces."

from the leeks of Egypt during that in his time the best leeks were

of the deprivation

Pliny

*

states,

brought from Egypt, and names Aricia in Italy as celebrated

Leeks were brought into great notice by the fondness for them of the Emperor Nero who used to eat them for several days in every month to clear his voice, which practice led the people to nickname for them.

him Porrophagus. The date of its introduction into England is given as 1562, but it certainly was cultivated there earlier, for it has been considered from time immemorial as

who won a

the badge of Welshmen,

victory in the sixth century over the Saxons which

by the order of St. David to distinguish them in the battle. It is referred to by Tusser and Gerarde" as if in common use in their day. The leek may vary considerably by culture and often attain a large size; one with the they attributed to the leeks they wore

blanched portion a foot long and nine inches in circumference and the leaf fifteen inches and three feet in length has been recorded."* Vilmorin " described eight varieties

in breadth

in

1883 but

varieties

some

of these are

'

Card. Chron. 25:458.

'

Johnson, C. P.

'

Columella Pliny

'

1882.

34.

lib. 3, c.

24.

Townsend Seedsman Mcintosh, C. Gerarde,

J.

37.

1726.

Book Card. 2:44. Herb. 139.

'"Card. Chron. 26:599.

1855.

1597.

1886.

" Vilmorin Les Pis. Potag. 416. 1883. " McMahon, B. Anter. Card. Cat. 581.

" Romans Nat.

Hist. Fla. 1:115.

1

775-

1806.

In 1806,

McMahon" named

Leeks are mentioned by

1886.

lib. 2, c. 8.

lib. 19, c.

Palladius

esculents.

Useful Pis. of Gt. Brit. 270.

'Bon. Jard. 550. .*

scarcely distinct.

among American garden

1862.

Romans

'^

three

as grow-

sturtevant's notes on edible plants

38

ing at Mobile, Ala., in 1775 and as ciiltivated

by Cortez

to leeks is

is

the part generally eaten, and this

Buist

*

names

by the Choctaw

noticed under A. cepa, the onion.

The

Indians.

The

reference

lower, or blanched, portion

used in soups or boiled and served as asparagus.' The blanched stems are much used in French cookery.

six varieties.

is

A. reticulatum Fras.

North America. A.

roseum Linn,

This

a wild onion whose root

is

eaten by the Indians.'

rosy-flowered garlic.

Mediterranean countries. A.

is

According to Heldreich,* this plant yields edible

roots.

rotundum Linn.

The

Europe and Asia Minor.

leaves are eaten

by the Greeks

of Crimea.^

A. rubellum Bieb.

The bulbs

Europe, Siberia and the Orient.

are eaten

by the

hill

people of India

and the leaves are dried and preserved as a condiment.* clown's treacle,

A. sativum Linn,

garlic.

Europe. This plant, well known to the ancients, appears to be native to the plains of western Tartary ' and at a very early period was transported thence over the whole

and Europe. It is believed to be the skorodon hemeron of Dioscorides and the allium of Pliny. It was ranked by the Egyptians among of Asia (excepting Japan), north Africa

The want of garlics was lamented to Moses Homer' makes garlic a part of the entertainment Machaon. The Romans are said to have disliked it on

gods in taking an oath, according to Pliny.

by the

Israelites in the wilderness.

which Nestor served to

his guest,

account of the strong scent but fed soldiers to excite courage.

Tusser

'"

notice

Garlic

it.

was

it

to their laborers to strengthen

them and

to their

' England prior to 1548 and both Tvimer and said to have been introduced in China 140-86 B. C." and to

It is

in use in

be found noticed in various Chinese treatises of the fifteenth, sixteenth, seventeenth and centuries.''' Loureiro " found it under cultivation in Cochin China. eighteenth

The fed

on

first

it

mention of

In Peru,

in Mexico.

the roots of Europe." Burr, p. ,'

*

Mueller, F. Pallas, P. S.

'

'

J.

F.

28 B.

1851. 1879.

(A. descendens)

1803.

Himal. 1:393.

1839.

1879.

1870.

Miller Card. Diet. 1807.

"Mcintosh, C. "

Book Card. 2:29.

Bretschneider, E.

On

the

Study

" Bretschneider, E. Bot. Sin. " Loureiro i''/. CocWn. 201.

1855. 15.

1870.

59, 78, 83, 85.

1882.

1790.

"Eden

Hist. Trav. 1577.

" Acosta Nat. Mor.

Hist. Ind. 261.

1604.

Hakl.

states that Cortez

the Indians esteem garlike above

1891.

Pickering Chron. Hist. Pis. 145. Treas. Bot. 1:41.

"

1863.

84.

Trav. Russia 2:449. Illustr. Bot.

by Peter Martyr," who

says

Chron. Hist. Pis. 605. Sel. Pis.

is

was cultivated by the Choctaw Indians

Fam. Kitch. Card.

Pickering, C.

Royle,

It

Field, Card. Veg. 126.

Buist, R.

'

'

America Acosta "

garlic in

Soc Ed.

1880.

all

in gardens before

STURTEVANT '

177s

and

and

NOTES ON EDIBLE PLANTS

S

39

mentioned among garden escvilents by American writers on gardening in 1806 The plant has the well-known alliaceous odor which is strongly penetrating,

is

since.

especially at

midday.

of Eitrope.

In

It is

many

much used by

not as

northern people as

by those of the south brown bread with slices of

parts of Europe, the peasantry eat their

which imparts a flavor agreeable to them. In seed catalogs, the sets are seed is rarely offered. There are two varieties, the common and the pink. garlic

A. schoenoprasum Linn,

chive,

North temperate zone.

1806, included

plants are included at present

European

give.

This perennial plant seems to be grown in but few American

McMahon,^

gardens, although

listed while

it

in his

list

of

American

esculents.

Chive

the supplies offered in our best seed catalogs.

In

gardens, they are cultivated for the leaves which are used in salads, soups

and

much used

Chives are

for flavoring.

among

in

Scotch

families

and are considered next to

much more used on

indispensable in omelettes and hence are

the Continent of Europe,

In England, chives were described by Gerarde' as

particularly in Catholic countries.

"a

pleasant Sawce and good Pot-herb;" by Worlidge* in 1683; the chive was among seedsmen's supplies ' in 1726; and it is recorded as formerly in great request but now of little

by Bryant

regard,

The only The

in 1783.

indication of variety

and the

cive d'Angleterre soil.

*

plant

is

cive

found in Noisette,' who entimerates the

is

civette,

de Portugal but says these are the same, only modified

an humble one and

is

propagated by the bulbs;

for,

although

it

the

by

produces

flowers, these are invariably sterile according to Vilmorin.

rocambole,

A. scorodoprasum Linn,

sand leek.

Spanish garlic.

Europe, Caucasus region and Syria. This species grows wild in the Grecian Islands and probably elsewhere in the Mediterranean regions.* Loudon says it is a native of

Denmark, formerly cultivated in England Greek and

same purposes as

not of ancient culture as

It is

paratively neglected. of the ancient

for the

Roman

it

garlic

but

now com-

cannot be recognized in the plants

authors and finds no mention of garden cultivation

by

Scorodoprasum of Clusius,' 1601, and the Allii genus, dictum of J. Bauhin,^" 1651, but there is no indication of culture quibusdam, ophioscorodon in either case. Ray," 1688, does not refer to its cultivation in England. In 1726, how" " ^ " Townsend ever, mightly in request; in 1783, Bryant classes it with edibles. says it is It is the

the early botanists.

Romans

Nat. Hist. Fla. 1:84.

McMahon, Gerarde,

12,^.

Fl. Diet. 92.

Noisette

Man.

De CandoUe,

"Ray,

J.

J.

A.

Bryant

1683.

1726.

1783. 1829.

Geog. Bot. 2 : 83 1

Hii/. P/. 2:559.

Hist. PI. 2:1120.

Fl. Diet. 23.

.

1601.

" Townsend Seedsman "

25.

1806.

1597.

Jard. 353.

Clusius Hist. 190.

"Bauhin,

1775.

Cat. 581.

Syst. Hort. 194.

J.

Townsend Seedsman Bryant

'

Herb.

J.

Worlidge, '

Amer. Card.

B.

25.

1651. 1688.

1726.

1783.

1 855.

STURTEVANT

40 In France

it

NOTES ON EDIBLE PLANTS

S

mentioned by Gerarde as a cultivated bulbs are smaller than those of garlic, milder in taste and are pro-

was grown by Quintyne, Its

plant in 1596.

It is

1690.

duced at the points of the stem as well as at its base. Rocambole is mentioned among American garden esculents by McMahon,' 1806, by Gardiner and Hepburn,* i8i8, and

by Bridgeman,'

1832.

A. senescens Linn.

Europe and

This species

Siberia.

eaten as a vegetable in Japan.*

round-headed garlic.

A. sphaerocephalum Linn,

Europe and Lake Baikal.'

is

From early times this

Siberia.

species has

been eaten by the people about

A. stellatum Eras.

A.

North America.

"

ursinum

bear's

Linn,

Bulb oblong-ovate and eatable."

buckrams,

garlic,

'

gipsy

onion,

hog's

garlic

RAMSONS.

Europe and northern Asia. Gerarde,^ 1597, says the leaves were eaten in Holland. They were also valued formerly as a pot-herb in England, though very strong.* The bulbs were also used boiled and in salads.* In Kamchatka this plant is much prized.

The Russians

as well as the natives gather

it

for winter food.'*

crow garlic, field garlic stag's garlic Europe and now naturalized in northern America near the coast.

A. vineale Linn,

In England, the

leaves are used as are those of garlic."

AUophyllus cobbe Bltmie.

The

Eastern Asia.

Sapindaceae.

berries,

which are red in color and about the

size of peas, are

eaten by the natives.'* A. zeylanicus Linn.

The

Himalayas.

fruit is eaten."

Alocasia indica Schott.

Aroideae.

pai.

East Indies and south Asia, South Sea Islands and east Australia.

The underground The

stems constitute a valuable and important vegetable of the native dietary in India. '

McMahon,

'

Gardiner and Hepburn Amer. Card. 40.

'

Bridgeman Young Card.

B.

Amer. Card.

*Gari. CAron. 25:458. '

Pickering, C.

Wood, A. '

Gerarde, J.

"

Asst. 89.

Class

1886.

Book BoL^jw.

Herb. 142. Useful

Herb. 142.

Glasspoole, H. G.

181 8.

1857.

1879.

1855.

1597.

Ph.

Gt. Brit. 2-71.

1862.

1597.

Ohio State Bd. Agr. Rpt. 29:428.

" Johnson, C. P. Useful Pis. Gt. Brit. " Ainslie. W. Mat. Ind. 1826. 2:413. " F. U. S. Pat. Unger,

1806.

Chron. Hist. Pis. 753.

Johnson, C. P. Gerarde, J.

Cal. 190.

Off. Rpt. 343.

271.

1859.

1874.

1862.

(Scmidelia africana)

STURTEVANT

NOTES ON EDIBLE PLANTS

S

stems sometimes grow to an immense

size

hence they are of great importance in

For

in the bazar or jail-garden.' root, it is

the Polynetian islands

its

and

cultivated in Bengal its large

is

and can be preserved

jail

dietary

when

for a considerable time,

fresh vegetables

and

esculent stems

4I

eaten by people of

become

scarce

small, pendulous tubers of its all

tuberous roots are eaten.*

ranks in their

curries.

In

Wilkes' says the natives of

The

the Kingsmill group of islands cultivate this species with great care.

root

is

said

to grow to a very large size.

A. macrorhiza Schott.

taro.

ape.

The

Tropics of Asia, Australia and the islands of the Pacific. after being cooked, but it is inferior to that of A. esculentum.*

America as well as by the people of New Caledonia, ' of Jamaica and the tayoea of Brazil.'

in tropical

root

is

eaten in India,

The roots are also eaten who cultivate it.^ It fur-

nishes the roasting eddas

It is

the taro of

Holland, the roots of which, when roasted, afford a staple aliment to the natives.* states that this plant is the ape of the Tahitians

Aloe

sp.

Liliaceae.

The Banians

and

is

Wilkes

'

cultivated as a vegetable.

aloe.

of the African coast, according to Grant,'" cut the leaves of

into small pieces, soak

them

Alpinia galanga Willd.

them

in lime-juice, put

galangal.

Sdtamineae.

Tropical eastern Asia.

The

root

is

in the sim,

In Cochin China the fresh root

and a

pickle

is

an aloe

thus formed.

galingale.

used in place of ginger in Russia and in some

other countries for flavoring a liquor called nastoika. tea."

New

is

By

used to season

the Tartars, fish

and

it is

taken with

for other

economic

purposes.'*

A. globosa Horan.

The large, round China cardamons are supposed to be produced by The Mongol conquerors of China set great store on this fruit as a spice.'*

China. species."

amomum.

A. striata Hort.

This

East Indies.

is

cardamom.

probably the antomon of Dioscorides.

Java and other East Indian islands as of commerce.

far as

Mat. Med. Hindus 253.

1877.

'

EHitt,

U. C.

Seemann, B. Wilkes, C.

Chron. Hist. Pis. syo.

(Caladium glycyrrhiza)

1830.

U. S. Explor. Exped. 2:51.

Speke, J. H. Joitrn. Disc. Source Nile 583. " Fluckiger and Hanbury PAarm. 641. 1879. Pickering, C.

1799.

1750.

Bot. Misc. 1:25^, 261.

It is

found in Sumatra,

produces the round cardamoms

1826.

LaBillardi^e Voy. Recherche Perouse 2:236.

Schomburgkh

Burma and

1865-1873.

U.S. Explor. Exped.%:i.

Hughes, G.

this

1864.

1879.

" Masters, M. T. Treas. Bot. 1:52. 1870. {Amnmum globosum) "Smith, P.P. Contrib. Mat. Med. China li. iS-t.

STURTEV ant's NOTES ON EDIBLE PLANTS

42 A. uviformis Horan.

The

Tropical Asia.

be

fruit is said to

Alsodeia physiphora Mart.

edible.*

Violarieae.

Used as a spinach in Brazil.^ The green leaves are very mucilaginous, and Brazil. the negroes about Rio Janeiro eat them with their food.* Alsophila lunixlata R. Br.

The yovmg

Viti.

tree fern.

Cyatheaceae.

leaves are eaten in times of scarcity.*

A. spinulosa Hook.

This

who

the pugjik of the Lepchas

is

East Bengal and the peninsula

of India.

Alstroemeria haemantha Ruiz

&

The plant

Chile.

Pav.

eat the soft, watery pith.

herb

lily.

farina is obtained

from

Amaryllideae.

It is

abundant in

its roots.

It is called

ftimishes a farina from its roots.

A. ligtu Linn.

Chile

and the mountains

in Peru lintu, in Chile utat.^

&

A. revoluta Ruiz

A

of Peru.

Its roots furnish

a palatable starch.'

Pav.

Its roots furnish a farina.'

Chile.

A. versicolor Ruiz

A

Chile.

&

farina

Pav. is

obtained from

its roots.*

In France

it is

an inmate

of the flower

garden.

Althaea

Linn.

officinalis

The

plant

is

It is cultivated extensively in

Charlemagne' enjoined

812,

eaten

when

>

'

Masters,

M.

T.

Treas. Bot. 1:534.

Lindley Veg. King. 339.

1846.

Fl.VUi.Z3A-

Mueller, P. Pickering, C.

{Gonohoria loboloba)

1831.

1865-73.

Chron. Hist. Pis. 661. Stl. Pis. 33.

(Globba uviformis)

1870.

(Conohoria loboloba)

Hist. Dichl. Pis. 1:340.

Pickering, C.

1891.

1879.

(A. pallida)

Chron. Hist. Pis. 661.

1879.

Ibid.

Fluckiger and

"

leaves

may

In

be

hollyhock.



Carruthers,

W.

*

Mueller, F.

'

Unger, F.

Treas. Bot. I'.eS.

Sel. Pis. 225.

U. S. Pat.

Off.

XLIV.

Herndon, W.

and Gibbon, L.

Unger, F.

L.,

soursop.

1824.

1876.

Cat.

T.

edible fruit-bearing plants.

1870.

Rpt. 350.

Amer. Pom. Soc.

M.

among

1876.

Sabine, J.

Masters,

'

This tree grows wild in Barbados and Jamaica but in Surinam

2

'

sweetsop.

prickly custard apple,

corossol.

Treas. Bat. 1:67.

J.

generally

Masters says,* however, that Europeans

of the

anon,

Tropical America. 'Lindley,

delicious flavor.

it is

cherimoya to superiority among fruits, and the verdict by the scant mention by travellers and the hmited diffusion.

do not confirm the claims is

there quite twice as large as

it

1859.

1879.

Explor. Vail.

Treas. Bat. 1:70.

U. S. Pat. Off. Rpt. 350.

1870. 1859.

Amaz. 1:117.

1854.

sturtevant's notes on edible plants

52

has only escaped from gardens.

In Jamaica, the

fruit is

and

The

negroes.

plant has quite recently been fruits of Florida

included in the American Pomological Society's

is

taste of the fruit, flowers

The pulp

by

mentioned among the

It is not

carried to Sierra Leone.^ in 1867 but

odtivated in the whole of Brazil, Peru and Mexico.

It is

sought after only

by Atwood^ The smell

for 1879.

list

and whole plant resemble much those of the black currant. and of a sweetish taste, intermixed with

of the fruit, says Lunan,' is soft, white

oblong, dark colored seeds, and, according to Sloane, the unripe fruit dressed like turnips tastes like them.

Morelet

*

says the rind of the fruit

is thin,

covering a white, tmctuous

pulp of a peculiar, but delicious, taste, which leaves on the palate a flavor of perfimied cream. It has a peculiarly agreeable flavor although coupled with a biting wild taste.

Church' says

its

leaves form corossol tea.

A. paludosa Aubl.

Guiana, growing upon marshy meadows.

The

species bears elongated, yellow berries,

the size of a hen's egg, which have a juicy flesh.'

American and African as large as a bean,

cork-wood,

alligator apple,

A. palustris Linn,

lie

in

and

thing of the smell

The

tropics.

employ

it for

apple,

pond apple. fist.

The

seeds,

an orange-colored pulp of an unsavory taste but which has somean orange.'' The fruit is considered narcotic and even

relish of

we

poisonous in Jamaica but of the latter of the tree is so soft

monkey

plant bears fruit the size of the

have, says Lunan,* no certain proof.

and compressible that the people

of

call it

Jamaica

The wood

corkwood and

stoppers.

A. punctata Aubl.

The

Guiana. with

It

seeds.

plant bears a brown, oval, smooth fruit about three inches in diameter

reticulations

little

on

its surface.

has a good flavor and

anon,

A. reticulata Linn.

Tropical America.

The

flesh is reddish, gritty"

eaten with pleasure.'

is

bullock's heart,

It is the

corazon.

and

filled

with

little

pinaou of Guiana.

corossol.

custard apple.

Cultivated in Peru, Brazil, in Malabar and the East Indies.

produced in Florida in excellent perfection as far north as St. Augus*" tine; it is easily propagated from seed. Masters says its yellowish pulp is not so much or Lunan " in the fruit is much relished as that of the This delicious

fruit is

sotu^op

esteemed by some people. >

S.

D.A.

Lunan,

J.

Unger

^

Rpt. 144. Hort.

Church, A. H.

Jam. 2:180.

Food 203.

1

U. S. Pat. Off. Rpt. 350. Nat. Hist. Jam. 2:169.

'

Lunan,

'

" Lunan,

M.

J.

Unger, F.

Jam. i:ii.

1859. 1725.

T.

Hort.

Treas. Bot. 1:70.

Jam. 1:256.

(A.aquatica)

1814.

Trans. Hort. Soc. Land. 5:101.

Lindley, J.

Masters,

1859.

87 1.

Sloane, H.

1870.

1814.

U. S. Pat. Off. Rpt. 350.

1859.

Jamaica,

highly prized but he

1887.

Unger, F.

">

says,

1814.

'

Hort.

it is

1867.

Morelet Trav. Cent. Amer. 21.

J.

says

U. S. Pat. Off. Rpt. 350.

Unger, F.

'U.

cherimoyer.

1824.

calls

the fruit brown,

STURTEVANT the size of the

S

NOTES ON EDIBLE PLANTS

Lunan says when ripe.

bi'own, shining, of a yellow or orange color, with a

while

fist,

reddishness on one side

53

A. senegalensis Pers.

African tropics and Guiana. its flavor is said,

fruit is

Savine, to be superior to

by

anon,

A. squamosa Linn.

sugar apple,

not

most

much

sweetsop.

Amazon.

of the

larger than a pigeon's egg but

of the other fruits of this genus.'

whether the native land of this tree

It is uncertain

on the plains along the mouth groves in Para.

The

It is cultivated in tropical

is

to be looked for in Mexico, or

Von Martins ^ found

it

forming forest

America and the West Indies and was early and India. The fruit is conical

transported to China, Cochin China, the Philippines

or pear-shaped with a greenish, imbricated, scaly shell.

The

flesh is white, full of long,

very aromatic and of an agreeable strawberry-like, piquant taste.' * the Rhind says pulp is delicious, having the odor of rose water and tasting like clotted cream mixed with sugar. Masters * says the fruit is highly relished by the Creoles but is

brown

granules,

esteemed by Europeans. Lunan * says it is much esteemed by those who are fond ' of fruit in which sweet prevails. Drury says the fruit is delicious to the taste and on little

occasions of famine in India has literally proved the staff of

Anthemis

nobilis Linn.

ptuposes in France,

an

Germany and

This plant It

Italy.

is

largely cultivated for medicinal

has long been cultivated in kitchen gardens,

infusion of its flowers serving as a domestic remedy.

The

used in the manufacture of bitter beer and, with wormwood,

a

substitute for hops.

In France

it is

It

to the natives.

camomile^

Compositae.

Natiu-alized in Delaware.

Europe.

life

flowers are occasionally

make

to a certain extent

has been an inmate of American gardens from an early period.

grown in flower-gardens.*

Anthericiun hispidum Linn.

Liliaceae.

Bernard's lily.

st.

South Africa. The sprouts are eaten as a substitute for asparagus. They are by no means unpalatable, says Carmichael,' though a certain clamminess which they possess, that induces the sensation as of pulling hairs from between one's lips, renders them at first unpleasant. Anthistiria imberbis Retz.

and

Gramineae.

This grass grows in great luxuriance in the Upper Nile region,

Africa.

in famines furnishes the natives with a graip.'" '

Pickering, C.

>

Unger, P.

Chron. Hist. Pis. 69.

U. S. Pat.

Off.

1879.

Rpl. 350.

1859.

Ibid.

Rhind, '

Lunan, '

W. Hist. Veg. King. 375. M. T. Treas. Bol. 1:70.

Masters,

Hort.

J.

Drury, H. Vilmorin

Hooker,

"Speke,

J.

Jam. 2:180.

W. H.

J.

1870.

1814.

Useful Pis. Ind. 41.

Fl. PI. Ter. 103.

1855.

I870.

Bot. Misc. 2:264.

1858.

3rd Ed. 1831.

Journ. Disc. Source Nile 586.

1864.

(A. ciliata)

5

5'

south,

STURTEVANT

54

NOTES ON EDIBLE PLANTS

S

Anthocephalus morindaefolius Korth. Rubiaceae. East Indies and Sumatra. This large tree is cultivated in Bengal, North India and

The

elsewhere.

small orange,

flowers are offered

The

eaten.'

is

plant

Anthriscus cerefolium Hoffm.

on Hindu

fruit,

the size of a

chervil.

Umbelliferae.

This

Chervil

appears in garden catalogs.

The yellow

a native of the Siamese countries.*

is

Europe, Orient and north Asia.

shrines.

is

an old fashioned pot-herb, an annual, which Europe and was cultivated

is

said to be a native of " *

it is sown in gardens to serve as England by Gerarde' in 1597. Parkinson says mentions its use the Syrians, who cultivated it as a food, and by Pliny' ' Booth says the French and Dutch have scarcely a soup ate it both boiled and raw.

in

salad herb."

or a salad in which chervil does not form a part to parsley.

It

seems

'

Brazil in 1647

still

and

as a seasoner

its

by many

preferred

Chervil was cultivated in

to find occasional use in England,

but there are no references to

is

early use in America.

The

earlier writers

on American gardening mention it, however, from McMahon in 1806. The leaves, when young, are the parts used to impart a warm, aromatic flavor to soups, stews and *

salads.

^

Gerarde

speaks of the roots as being edible.

Antidesma bunius Spreng.

A and

tree of Nepal,

varieties

Euphorhiaceae.

Amboina and Malabar.

In Java, the

palatable.!"

There are curled-leaved

Its shining,

fruits are used, principally

deep red,

fruits are

by Europeans,

subacid

for preserving."

A. diandrum Spreng.

The

East Indies.

made

berries are eaten

by the

natives."

The

leaves are acid

and are

into preserve."

A. ghesaembilla Gaertn.

East Indies, Malay, Australia and African when ripe, with pulp agreeably acid, are eaten." Apios tuberosa Moench.

of the Indians '

The

Brandis, D.

Forest Fl. 261.

Herb. 1040.

J.

Booth,

'

1879.

SS^^-

Book Card. 2:171.

W. B. Co.

McMahon,

B.

Treas. Bot. 1:74.

1855.

1870.

Amer. Card.

1806.

Cal. 191.

1633 or 1636.

Wight, R. Icon. Pis. 3: PI. 819. "Black, A. A. Treas. Bot. 1:75. 1870.

"Black, A. A. "Brandis, D.

Treas. Bot. 1:76. Forest Fl. ^4.7.

1870.

1874.

" Ibid. "Kalm,

P.

Trav. No.

Kalm '*

roots; that the

Nauclea cadamba)

(Chaerophyllum sativum)

1732.

Foy. 2:132.

Herb. 1040.

Gerarde, J.

{

Amer. 1:400.

1772.

small drupes, dark purple

wild bean.

1633 or 1636.

Ibid.

'Churchill

The

1876.

Chron. Hist. Pis.

Mcintosh, C. '

tubers are used as food.

on the Delaware, who ate the

'Pickering, C.

'Gerarde,

groundnut,

Leguminosae.

Northeast America.

tropics.

says this

is

the hopniss

Swedes ate them

for

want

STURTEVANT of bread,

and that

some

in 1749

NOTES ON EDIBLE PLANTS

S

of the English ate

says that the Pilgrims, ditring their

first

" winter,

them instead

55 Winslow

of potatoes.

were enforced to

live

'

on ground nuts."

At Port Royal, in 1613, Biencourt ^ and his followers used to scatter about the woods and shores digging ground nuts. In France, the plant is grown in the flower garden.' Linn.

Apium graveolens

A

ache,

Umbelliferae.

celery,

smallage.

marshy places whose habitat extends from Sweden southward to Algeria, Egypt, Abyssinia and in Asia even to the Caucasus, Baluchistan and the mountains of British India * and has been found in Tierra del Fuego,^' ^ in California ' and in New plant of

Zealand.

Celery

is

supposed to be the selinon of the Odyssey, the selinon heleion of Hippo-

Theophrastus and Dioscorides and the helioselinon of Pliny does not seem to have been cultivated, although by some commen-

crates, the eleioselinon of

and

Palladius.

It

known

tators the plant

and a cultivated

as smallage has a wild

was used as

clear statement that this smallage

distinguished from growing wild,

food, for sativus

and we may suppose that

meant, was planted for medicinal

use.

Targioni-Tozzetti

*

Nor

sort.

is

there one

means simply planted as Apium, if smallage was

this

says this

Apium was

con-

the ancients rather as a fimereal or ill-omened plant than as an article of food,

sidered

by and that by

early

modem

writers

mentioned only as a medicinal

it is

true, for Fuchsius, 1542, does not

speak of its being cultivated

plant.

This seems

and implies a medicinal

use alone, as did Walafridus Strabo in the ninth century; Tragus, 1552; Pinaeus, 1561;

Pena and Lobel,

i^yo,

and Rtiellitis'

Dioscorides, 1529.

1586, says planted also in gardens;

and Dodonaeus,

Camerarius' Epitome of Matthiolus, in his Pemptades, 1616, speaks of

the wild plant being transferred to gardens but distinctly says not for food use.

Accord-

ing to Targioni-Tozzetti,' Alamanni, in the sixteenth century, speaks of it, but at the same time praises Alexanders for its sweet roots as an article of food. Bauhin's names,

Apium

1623,

and

J.

and Apium

paltistre

Bauhin's name,

Apium

officinarum, indicate medicinal rather

vulgare ingratus, does not promise

much

than food

use,

satisfaction in the

According to Bretschneider,'" celery, probably smallage, can be identified in the Chinese work of Kia Sz'mu, the fifth century A. D., and is described as a cultivated plant

eating.

We have

mention of a cultivated variety in France by Olivier de Serres, 1623," and in England the seed was sold in 1726 for planting for the use of the plant in soups and broths;'^ and Miller i' says, 1722, that smallage is one of the

in the

'

Nung Cheng Ts'nan

Young, A.

Chron.Pilgr.32g.

Parkman, F. Vilmorin

J.

C.

A.

1870.

1894.

3rd Ed.

Orig. Cult. Pis. 71.

1885.

Voy. Antarct. Reg. 2: 2()8.

Cook Foy. 3:198. '

1841.

Pion. France ioi.

Fl. PI. Ter. 105.

De CandoUe, Ross,

Shu, 1640.

1847.

Nuttall Jour. Acad. Phila. 1:183.

New

ser.

Targioni-Tozzetti Journ. Horl. Soc. Lond. 9: 144. Ibid.

Bretschneider, E.

" Heuze

Bot. Sin. 78.

Pis. Aliment. 1:5.

Townsend Seedsman "

Miller Bot.

Offic.

{A. antarticum)

1773.

37.

1722.

1873.

1726.

1882.

1855.

sturtevant's notes on edible plants

56

Cultivated smallage

herbs eaten to purify the blood.

name

Celeri d couper, differing but little

is

now grown in France under the The number of names that

from the wild form.

are given to smallage indicate antiquity.

The prevalence

Vilmorin

cultivated variety. celery,

German

name

of a

derived from one root indicates a recent dispersion of the gives the following synonyms:

Flanders Selderij,

Selleree,

The

'

Denmark

Selleri,

French

Celeri,

English

Italy Sedano, Spain apio,

mention of the word celery seems to be in Walafridus Strabo's poem entitled Hortulus, where he gives the medicinal uses of Apium and in line 335 uses the word as follows: "Passio turn celeri cedit devicla medelae." "The disease then to Portugal Aipo.

first

by the remedy," as it may be literally construed, yet the word celeri here may be translated quick-acting and this suggests that our word celery was derived from the medicinal uses. Strabo wrote in the ninth century; he was born A. D. 806 or 807, and died in France in 849.

celery yields, conquered

^

Targioni-Tozzetti

There

for the table in Tuscany.

certain that in the sixteenth century celery

it is

says,

no mention

is

was grown

of celery in Fuchsius, 1542; Tragus, 1552;

Matthiolus' Commentaries, 1558; Camerarius' Epitome, 1558; Pinaeus, 1561; Pena and Lobel, 1570; Gerarde, 1597; Clusius, 1601; Dodonaeus, 1616; or in Bauhin's Pinax, 1623;

Parkinson's Paradisus, 1629, mentions Sellery as a rarity and names

Ray, in his Historia Plantarum, 1686,

says,

Apium

it

dulce.

"smallage transferred to culture becomes

milder and less ungrateful, whence in Italy and France the leaves and stalks are esteemed as delicacies, eaten with

The French

and pepper." The Italians call this variety Sceleri or Celeri. and the name. Ray adds that in English gardens

oil

also use the vegetable

the cultivated form often degenerates into smallage.

who wrote'

Quintjme,

prior to

1697, the year in which the third edition of his Complete Gardener was published, say^, " in France we know but one sort of it." Celeri is mentioned, however, as Apium dulce, Celeri Italorum

by Toumefort,

1665.^

In 1778,

Mawe and

of celery in England, one with the stalks hollow

Abercrombie note two sorts

and the other with the stalks "

In 1726, Townsend' distinguished the celeries as smallage and selery " he says should be planted for Winter Sallads, because it is very hot." celery

is

common among

In 1806,

use.

can use.

and

the richer classes in Sweden and

McMahon

'

It is curious that

is

no

plant but that

if

planted at

speaks of celery in

all it

was

by 1629, and Ray

Vilmorin Les Pis. Potag. 72.

'

Quintyne Comp. Card.

*

Toumefort

'

Townsend Seedsman.

Inst. 305.

Tinburg Hort. CuJin.

McMahon,

B.

*

says

preserved in cellars for winter

Amsterdam

in

1

644.

was grown by the ancients as a food medicinal use. The first mention of its ctdtiva-

for

Olivier de Serres,

is

Lond. 9:144.

1704.

1726. 1764.

Amer. Card.

who

called

indicates the cultivation as

17 19.

25.

1623,

1883.

'Ta.Tff.oni-Tozzet,ti Journ. Hort. Soc.

'

Tinburg

solid.

latter

clear evidence, then, that smallage

tion as a food plant

'

and the

mentions four sorts in his list of garden esculents for Amerino mention of a plant that can suggest celery occurs in Bodaeus

Scaliger's edition of Theophrastus, published at

There

is

"

Cat. 581.

1806.

1855.

it

ache, while

commencing

Parkinson

in Italy

and

STURTEVANT

NOTES ON EDIBLE PLANTS

S

extending to France and England.

Targioni-Tozzetti states, however, as a certainty

that celery was grown in Tuscany in the sixteenth century.

by Mawe

'

57

to have been the original kind

and

is

claimed

The hollow

by

Cobbett,''

celery is stated

even as

late as

182 1, as being the best.

The

fint celeries

grown seem to have

differed

but

little

from the wild

plant,

and the

words celery and (cultivated) smallage were apparently nearly synonymous at one time, as we find cultivated ache spoken of in 1623 in France and at later dates petit celeri or celeri

4 couper, a variety with hollow

and

of the foliage in soups

broths.

stalks, cultivated

Among

low-stalked, stalks sometimes hollow,

and

solid-stalked forms; at the present time the

hollow-stalked forms have been discarded.

and worthy

even at the present time for use we find mention of hol-

the earlier varieties

Vilmorin' describes twelve sorts as distinct

of culttire in addition to the celeri

d.

couper but in

all

there

is this

to be noted,

but one type. In Italy and the Levant, where celery is much grown, but not blanched, the green leaves and stalks are used as an ingredient in soups. In England and America, the stalks are always blanched and used raw as a salad or dressed as a dinner vegetable. The seeds there

is

In France, celery is said by Robinson * never to be as well grown as in England or America. By cultivation, celery, from a suspicious if not poisonous plant, has become transformed into the sweet, crisp, wholesome and most agreeable cultiare also used for flavoring.

vated vegetable.

DC.

A. graveolens rapaceum

turnip-rooted celery.

celeriac.

Europe, Orient, India and California.

This variety of celery forms a stout tuber,

irregularly rounded, frequently exceeding the size of one's

turnip-rooted celery.

In France,

generally eaten cooked,

is

is

it

sometimes

commonly grown

sliced

and used in

fist,

in

hence

two

salads.

it is

varieties.

often termed

The

In Germany,

tuber,

it is

com-

monly used as a vegetable, cooked in soups or cooked and sliced for salads. In England, celeriac is seldom grown. In this country, it is grown only to a limited extent and is used only by our French and solid, tender and delicate.

German

population.

When

well grown, these bulbs should be

In 1536, Ruellius,' in treating of the ache, or unoiltivated smallage as would appear from the context, says the root is eaten, both raw and cooked. Rauwolf,^ who travelled in the East, 1573-75, speaks of Eppich, whose roots are eaten as delicacies, with salt and pepper, at Tripoli and Aleppo; and

Buselini specient, as

ttiberosutn, sive

mention ordinary '

J.

Bauhin,'

named

Mawe and

Abercrombie Univ. Card. Bot.

Cobbett,

Vilmorin

Us

Amer. Card. 129. PI. Potag. 74.

Robinson, W.

1883.

1536.

Gronovius

1

joS. Fl. Orient. 35.

1778.

1846.

Parks, Card. Paris 496.

Ruellius Nat. Slirp.

J.

first

possibly refer to the root of the

quoted may although probably not, for at this date the true celery had scarcely been

W.

'Bauhin,

died in 1613, mentions a Selinum

in Honorius Bellus, which seems to be the

of celeriac, as the earlier references sort,

who

1878.

755.

Hist. PI. 2: pt. 3, loi.

1651.

sturtevant's notes on edible plants

^8

In 1729, Switzer describes the plant in a book devoted to this and other novelties but adds that he had never seen it; this indicates that celeriac was '

sufficiently developed.

known

little

in

at this date, for

England

again named in England in 1752,* even at the present time. In 1806, esculents, as does

two

interesting, as is

we seem

modern

not approached in

1592

is

in rich land,

grown

Except

Villae,

respects, except in its root,

round

like

published at Frankfurt

"There

in the gardens of St. Agatha,

is

another kind of

Theano and other

and unseen and unnamed by the

ancients.

Its

very sweet, odorous and gratefrom the common apium in no

It is

degenerates, until it differs

it

particularly

introduction and of a size at that time

nearly of the size of a man's head.

is spherical,

is

culture.

places in Apulia, granted from nature

bulb

history of celeriac

a Neapolitan, writes thus in his

celery called Capitatvim, which

ful.

first

American garden Biur describes two varieties, and this in his list of

chap. 21), the translation being liberal:

10,

(lib.

The

our seed catalogs.

to have a record of its

Jo. Baptista Porta,

in

McMahon * includes

for Virginia before 1818.

Randolph

varieties are oflered in

which

he adds that the gentleman, who had long been

him with a supply from Alexandria. Celeriac is 1765,' and by succeeding writers but is little known

of curious seeds, furnished

an importer

a head."

Australian celery.

A. prostratum Labill.

Australian and Antarctic regions.

Mueller

'

says this plant can be utilized as a

culinary vegetable.

Apocjraum reticulatum Linn. Apocynaceae. dogbane. East Indies. According to linger,* this plant furnishes a food.

Aponogeton distachyum Thunb. Naiadaceae. cape asparagus, cape pond-weed. South Africa. This plant has become naturalized in a stream near Montpelier, France.

Its flowering spikes,

as a pickle

^

and

known

as water untjie, are in South Africa in high repute

a spinach.*

also afford

In Kaffraria, the roasted roots are reckoned a

great delicacy.'

A. fenestrale Hook,

Ellis

Madagascar.

water- yam.

lattice-leaf, '"

says this plant

valuable to the natives who, of food, the fleshy root,

at

is

not only extremely curious but also very

certain seasons of the

when cooked,

year, gather

yam. Switzer, S.

Raising Veg.

1729.

9.

Miller Card. Did. 1752, from Miller Card. Diet.

Stevenson Card. Kal. y).

McMahon,

B.

U. S. Pat.

Unger, F. '

Hooker,

W.

Mueller, F.

J.

'"Ellis,

W.

Cal. 5%l.

1806.

189 1.

Off. Rpt. 359.

Bot. Misc. 2:265.

5e/. P/i. 45.

Thunberg, C. P.

1807.

1765.

Amer. Gard.

5^. P/i. 44.

'Mueller, F.

1859.

183 1.

1891.

Trar. 1:156.

1795.

Three Visits Madagas. 5^.

it

as an article

yielding a farinaceous substance resembling the

1859.

(Ouvirandra fenestralis)

sturtevant's notes on edible plants A. monostachyon Linn.

59

f.

The

Tropical eastern Asia.

natives relish the small tubers as an article of diet

;

they

are said to be as good as potatoes, and are esteemed a great deUcacy.'

Aporosa lindleyana Baill. Euphorbiaceae. East Indies. The small, berry-Hke fruit Aquilegia canadensis Linn.

North America.

The

Arachis hypogaea Linn.

Tropical America.

wild columbine.

Ranunculaceae.

roots are eaten

by some

Leguminosae.

earth nut.

GROUND NUT.

NUT.

is edible.^

PEANUT.

This plant

is

Indians, according to R. Brown.'

earth almond,

now under

cultivation in

seeds which are largely eaten as nuts,

and from which an

a substitute

equal in quality.

which

for olive oil to

it is

esculents.

a native of the

oil is

grass

warm

climates for the

extracted to be used as

Although now only under

McMahon * included this

cultivation in America, yet, in 1806,

goober,

PINDAR.

plant

among

field

kitchen-garden

For a long time, writers on botany were uncertain whether the peanut was Africa or of America, but, since Squier ^ has found this seed in jars taken from

mummy

graves of Peru, the question of

its

American

origin

seems

who notes it, is Oviedo in his Cronica de las Indias, who says " very much the fruit mani." Before this, the French colonists, sent in coast, became acquainted with it tmder the name of mandobi.^ The peanut was figured by Laet, 1625,'' and by Marcgravius, writer

mani

settled.

The

first

the Indians cultivate 1555 to the Brazilian

1648,* as the anchic

seems to be mentioned by Garcilasso de la Vega,' 1609, as being raised by the Indians under the name, ynchic. The Spaniards call it mani but all the names, he observes, which the Spaniards give to the fruits and of the Peruvians, the

of the Spaniards.

It

The fruit is raised undervegetables of Peru belong to the language of the Antilles. " is very like marrow and has the taste of almonds." Marcgravius,'" grotmd, he says, and and

1648, andPiso," 1658, describe

mon and

indigenous in Brazil.

century, as having found

it

in

They

Archer Bot. Soc. Edinb. 8:163.

Brown, R.

Card. Chron. i$20.

'McMahon,

A mer.

B.

Peru

Squier, E. G.

1858.

1868.

De CandoUe,

"

De

A.

Geog. Bot. 2:963.

1855.

Roy. Comment. Hakl. Soc. Ed. 2:360.

la.

Candolle, A.

Geog. Bot. 2:963.

1855.

Geog. Bot. 2:962.

i855-

Ibid.

" De Candolle, A. '

1879.

Ibid.

Vega, G. de '

1806.

1877.

Fluckiger and Hanbtiry Pharm. 186. '

Monardes,'^ an author late in the sixteenth

1866.

Card. Col. 581.

81.

cite

under the name of mandubi, as com-

Peru with a different name,

Useful Ph. Ind. 43.

Drury, H.

figure the plant,

Ibid.

"Churchill

Coll.

Voy. 1:563.

1744.

.

1871.

anchic.^^

Father Merolla,"

sturtevant's notes on edible plants

-6o

" under the name of mandois, describes a vegetable of Congo which grows three or four together like vetches but underground and are about the bigness of an ordinary 1682,

From

olive.

these milk

is

extracted like to that drawn from almonds."

This

may

be

In China, especially in Kwangtung, peanuts are grown in large quantities and their consiunption by the people is very great. The peanut was included among

the peanut.

McMahon,

garden plants by speaks of

its

culture in Virginia in 1781.

Its culture

and the peanut was described among pot-herbs by Aralia cordata Thunb.

Japan.

They

Jefferson

was introduced into France

in 1802,'

Noisette,^ 1829.

udo.

Araliaceae.

The young

and

1806; Burr, 1863, describes three varieties;

shoots of this species provide an excellent culinary vegetable.'

are used in soups in Japan.^

According to Siebold,' this plant is universally culIt is valued for its root which is eaten like scor-

tivated in Japan, in fields and gardens. zonera, but the

young

&

A. quinquefolia Decne

ginseng.

Planch,

The

North America.

a deUcious vegetable.'

stalks are likewise

root

is

collected in large quantities in the hilly regions of Ohio,

western Virginia, Minnesota and other parts of eastern America for export to China where

Some

valued as a medicine.

it is

having acquired a

root,

that

it is

persons in this country are in the habit of chewing the

relish for its taste,

and

it is

chiefly to supply the

wants of these

kept in the shops.'

Araucaria bidwillii Hook.

bunya-bunya.

Coniferae.

The cones fxomish an edible seed which is roasted. Each tribe of the natives has its own set of trees and each family its own allotment among them. These are handed down from generation to generation with the Australia; the bunya-bunya of the natives.

and are believed to be the only hereditary personal property possessed

greatest exactness

by the

aborigines.

Brazilian pine.

A. brasiliana A. Rich. Brazil.

The

seeds are very large

and are

eatable.*

They

are sold as an article of

food in the streets of Rio de Janeiro.

Southern

for a

The

Chili.

and from them

is distilled

man's sustenance

>

Bon

'

Noisette

Mueller, F.

all

seeds are eaten

Indians, either fresh, boUed or roasted,

Eighteen good-sized trees

the year round.'*

Jard. 329.

Sel. Pis. 45.

1829. 1891. 1 88 1.

Pickering, C.

Chron. Hist. Pis. 4x8.- 1879.

Hanbury, D.

Set.

Papers 261.

'

U. S. Disp. 636.

'

Gordon, G.

Pinelum

ij.

1875.

Gordon, G.

Pinetum 41.

1875.

Pickering, C.

by the

a spirituous liquor.'

Bird Unheal. Tracks Jap. 1:2^.

">

puzzle.

1882.

Jard. 685.

Man.

monkey

Chilian pine,

A. imbricata Pav.

1865.

{A. edulis)

1876.

(Panax quinquefolium)

Chron. Hist. Pis. 812.

1879.

will yield

enough

sturtevant's notes on edible plants Arbutus andrachne Linn.

strawberry tree.

Ericaceae,

East Mediterranean countries.'

6i

Its fruit

was eaten during the Golden Age.'

Don

3

says the fruit seems to be used in Greece.

Duham. The

A. canariensis

Islands.

Canary

berries are

ripe they are quite ornamental

A. unedo Linn,

*

berries resemble

said sometimes to be eaten.

^

strawberry tree.

Theophrastus says the tree produces an edible fruit; PHny,' Sir J. E. Smith * describes the frtiit as uneatable in Ireland,

says he can testify from repeated experience that the ripe fruit

In Spain, a sugar and a sherbet are obtained from

very palatable.

When

Morello cherries.

^

not worth eating.

W. Wilson

but

and are

cane apples,

arbute.

Mediterranean countries. it is

The

Coast of North America.

Pacific

into a sweetmeat.*

madrona.

A. menziesii Pursh.

that

made

is

really

it.

great angelica, masterwort. Umbelliferae. Archangelica atropurpurea Hoffm. North America. This plant is found from New England to Pennsylvania, Wisconsin,

and northward. tic

Stille

'"

says the stems are sometimes candied.

The

root

is

used in domes-

medicines as an aromatic and stimulant.

A. gmelini

DC.

angelica.

Northwest Asia. chatka." tonic

and

The

root,

This species

dug

possesses the taste

A. officinalis Hoffm.

used for culinary purposes by the Russians in

is

autumn of the first year, and smell of the seeds.

in the

angelica,

archangel,

Europe, Siberia and Himalayan regions.

is

Kam-

used in medicine as an aromatic

wild parsnip.

This plant

is

a native of the north of Europe

found in the high, mountainous regions in south Europe, as in Switzerland and among the Pyrenees, it is also found in Alaska. Angelica is cultivated in various parts The whole plant has a fraof Europe and is occasionally grown in American gardens.

and

is

grant odor and aromatic properties.

where the natives

strip the

skin has been pulled are distilled

Pickering, C. '

spirit is

Andrews

Ph. 3:834.

Bot. Reposil. 10: PI. 664. Pacific R. R. Rpt. 6:23,

W.

J.

Journ. Bot. 1:315.

" Don, G.

1879.

1834. 1797. fig.

1857.

1834-

Therap. Mat. Med. 1:491, 492. Hist. Dichl. Pis. 3:324.

" Journ. Agr. 2:174.

1831-

soft, internal part, after

hke an apple or turnip.'^

Ibid.

"Stille, A.

held in great estimation in Lapland,

and the

Daubeny, C. Trees, Shrubs Arte. 50. 1865. Bostock and Riley Nat. Hist. Pliny 4:516. 1855. Hooker,

is

made from them, and on the

Chron. Hist. Pis. 102.

Hisl. Dichl.

Newberry '

leaves,

Ibid.

Don, G. <

stem of

eaten raw

off, is

and a kind of

Angelica

1834.

1874.

the outer

In Kamchatka, the roots islands of Alaska, where

sturtevant's notes on edible plants

"62

abundant and

it is

called wild parsnip,

stated

it is

The

been in cultivation in England since 1568.

The

eaten like celery.

plant

is

sweetmeat with the tender stems,

stalks,

The

seeds enter into the composition of

many

and

stalks are

Angelica has

were formerly blanched and who make an excel-

and

ribs of the leaves candied with sugar.

In the north of Europe, the leaves

liquors.

used as a vegetable.

still

The medicinal properties Pomet,* we read that the seed must

leaf-stalks

to be edible.

in request for the use of confectioners,

lent

for medicine.

*

by Dall

'

Bryant

deems

of the root were highly prized in the is

much used

to

make

Middle Ages.

angelica comfits as well as the root

the best aromatic that Europe produces.

it

no references to

be a native of northern Europe, for there are

In

it

This plant

in the ancient authors

and Rome, nor is it mentioned by Albertus Magnus in the thirteenth centiuy. By Fuchsius, 1542, and succeeding authors it receives proper attention. The German name, Heilige Geist Wurz, implies the estimation in which it was held and offers a clue of Greece

to the origin of the

word Angelica, or angel plant, which occurs in so many languages, and Italian, becoming Angilique and Archangilique in

as in English, Spanish, Portugese,

French, and Angelickwurz in German.

Other names of like import are the wurz in Germany, Engelkruid in Flanders and Engelwortel in Holland.

The

various figures given

by

herbalists

show the same type of Pena and Lobel,^

differences to be noted being in the size of the root.

variety as cultivated in England, Belgitim,

and France, and Gesner

arius' as having seen roots of three pounds weight.

modem

Engel-

plant, the principal

1570. note a smaller

is

quoted by Camer-

Bauhin,' 1623, says the roots vary,

Bohemia smaller and blacker. Garden angelica is noticed amongst American garden medicinal herbs by McMahon,' 1806, and the seed is still sold by our seedsmen.

the Swiss-grown being thick, those of

Arctium majus Bernh.

Compositae.

beggar's buttons,

burdock,

Europe and Asia and occurring as a weed in the United said to be cultivated as a vegetable.

come

the burres

cuckold.

HARLOCK.

GOBO.

is

clotbur.

forth, the rinde peelld

in the broth of fat meate,

is

off,

"

"

says

States.

In Japan, burdock

the stalke of the clot-burre before

being eaten raw with salt and pepper, or boyled

pleasant to be eaten."

N. Y., says:

writing of Ticonderoga,

Gerarde

*

Kalm,' in

and the governor

told

his Travels in North America,

me

that

its

tender shoots are

eaten in spring as radishes, after the exterior part is taken off." In Japan, says Johns, the tender stalks are eaten as an asparagus, and its roots are said to be edible. Penhallow " '

'

Dall,

W. H.

Pomet Bryant

'

Alaska 448.

Hist.

Drugs 42.

Ft. Diet. 53.

1897.

1748. 1783.

Pena and Lobel Advers. 311. 1 570. Camerarius /for/. Med. 16. 1588.

'

Bauhin, C.

'

McMahon,

'Gerarde,

J.

Kalm, P.

" Penhallow,

Pinax B.

155.

1623.

Anter. Card. Cat. sS^.

Herb. Si Trav. No.

D. P.

/I

i.

1636.

1806.

2nd Ed.

Amer. 2:202.

1772.

mer. iVa/. 16:120.

1882.

{Lappa major)

sturtevant's notes on edible plants says the Japanese cultivate the root, but as an article of food

63 hard and

it is tasteless,

fibrous.

Arctostaphylos alpina Spreng. Arctic regions

alpine bearberry.

Ericaceae,

and mountain svunmits

farther south.

land but are a mawkish food, according to Linnaeus.^ varieties, that

native fruits,

The

berries are eaten in

Richardson

"

Lap-

says there are two

both are eaten in the autumn and, though not equal to some of the other are not unpleasant. They are called amprick by the Russians at the mouth

of the Obi.

manzanita.

A. glauca Lindl.

The

grows in clusters, is first white, then red and regarded as eatable but is dry and of little flavor.'

CaHfornia.

This berry

is

fruit

manzanita

A. tomentosa Lindl.

The red

Southern California. to

make

berries are used

The

a cooling, subacid drink.

Dried and

made

finally black.

into bread

and baked in the sun, the

bearberry.

A. uva-ursi Spreng.

fruit is

by the Spanish inhabitants of Texas used when not quite ripe as a tart apple.

bear's grape,

fruit is relished

brawlins.

by the

creashak.

Indians.*

mountain

BOX.

North America and Arctic

The Chinook Indians mix

regions.

its

dried leaves with

same piupose by the Crees who call it tchakoshe-pukk; by the tobacco. Chippewaians, who name it kleh; and by the Eskimos north of Churchill, by whom it is It is used for the

It is the iss-salth of the Chinooks.^

termed at-tung-a-wi-at. is

Its dry, farinaceous berry

utterly inedible.'

Ardisia coriacea Sw.

West a pleasant

beef-wood.

Myrsineae.

According to Sloane,' the drupes are eaten in Jamaica

Indies.

and are accounted

dessert.

A. esculenta Pav.

South America.

The

Palmae.

Areca catechu Linn.

and the west

names areca

>

Don, G.

'

Richardson,

when

betel nut

*U.S. D.A.Rpt.\\2,.

'

the nut

;

1834.

Arctic Explor. 2:303.

Newberry PaciJU R. R. Rpt. 6:22. '

1851.

1857.

1870.

W.

J.

Fl.

Bor. Amer. 2:37.

1840.

Richardson,

J.

Arctic Explor. 2:30.

1851.

No. Amer. Sylva 2: 134.

1865.

Hooker,

Nuttall, T.

Don, G.

betel nut.

catechu,

pinang.

cultivated throughout the Indian Archipelago,

is

about the

which

size of

is

known under the

a nutmeg.

These nuts

dry, in great quantity, a small portion being separated, put into a

Hist. Dichl. Pis. 3:836. J.

is

side of India for the sake of its seed

pinang and

nut,

are consumed,

areca nut.

This handsome palm

East Indies. in Ceylon

berries are esculent.'

Hist. Dichl. Pis. ^-.v).

1838.

STURTEV ant's NOTES ON EDIBLE PLANTS

'64

which a

leaf of piper-betle over

little

and

It tinges the saliva red

gether.*

universally in use

among

quick-lime

then rolled up and chewed

is laid,

Whole shiploads

stains the teeth.

alto-

of this nut, so

the Eastern natives, are exported annually from Simiatra, Malacca,

Siam and Cochin China. The heart of the leaves, according to Seemann, salad and has not a bad flavor as Blanco writes.*

is

eaten as a

Lam.

A. glandiformis

In Cochin China the leaves are chewed with the betel nut.'

Moluccas.

A. laxa Buch.-Ham.

Andaman

The nuts

Islands.

convicts confined on

Andaman

Arenaria peploides Linn.

of this plant are

Islands.*

\

sea chickweed.

Caryophylleae.

North temperate and Arctic

used instead of the betel nut by the

In Iceland, the plant

regions.

state used as food, like sauerkraut; the plant also forms

boiled

^

and

is

used for a pickle.'

Arenga saccharifera ^

areng palm.

Palmae.

Labill.

This palm has been called the most useful of

Tropical eastern Asia. Griffith

fermented and in that

is

a wholesome vegetable when

all

palms.

says, the young albumen preserved in sugar forms one of the well-known pre-

serves of the Straits.

and the cut

*

Brandis

says, the heart of the

stem contains large quantities of

which sugar and palm-wine are made. sago, ' Graham says, at Bombay this palm affords tolerably good sago and the sap, palm-wine and sugar. Seemann'" says, the bud, or cabbage, is eaten. The sap, of which some three flower-stalks yield a sugary sap of

quarts a day are collected, furnishes toddy and from this toddy, jaggery sugar

The

from

seed, freed

its

noxious covering,

the pith, a species of sago

is

From

lighting.

When

made

into a sweetmeat

Sapotaceae.

argan tree,

the seeds, the natives extract an

ripe,

the

by

is

prepared.

the Chinese.

From

prepared which, however, has a peculiar flavor.

Argania sideroxylon Roem. et Schult.

Morocco.

is

fruit,

which

is

oil

that

an egg-shaped drupe,

is

morocco iron-wood. used for cooking and

falls

from the

trees

the goats then enter into competition with their masters for a share in the harvest.

and

The

goats, however, swallow the fruit only for the sake of the subacid rind and, being vmable

to digest the hard seeds, eject them during the process of rumination,

ered and added to the general store for '

Ainslie,

W.

Mai. Ind. 2:270.

Loureiro CocAin. 1:568. 'Griffith, '

W.

Balfour, J. 'Griffith,

H.

W.

Brandis, D.

">

Palms

Johnson, C. P.

1856.

1790.

Brit. Ind.

ng.

1850.

Useful Pis. Gt. Brit. 54.

Man. Palms

Bol. 445.

1875.

Brit. Ind. 164.

Forest Fl. 551.

(Honkeneja peploides)

1874.

Chron. Hist. Pis. 335.

Seemann, B.

Pop. Hist. Palms 64, 67. 1878.

1862.

1850.

Pickering, C.

" Pharm. Joum., Trans.

making."

1826.

Pop. Hist. Palms 56.

Seemann, B.

oil

1879. 1856.

when they

are gath-

sturtevant's notes on edible plants Arisaema atrorubens Blume.

dragon root,

Aroideae.

65 Indian

jack-in-the-pulpit.

TURNIP.

North America.

Cutler

'

shredded roots and berries are said to have been

says, the

^ Bigelow says, the starfch of the root is deHcate and nutritious. It must, however, be obtained from the root by boiHng in order that the heat may destroy the acrimonious principle.

boiled

by the Indians with their venison.

A. costatum Mart.

This

Himalayas. is

said

is

by

Ellis

frequently planted in dry ground.

'

to be a large aroid, called ape in Tahiti, which

It is considered inferior to taro.

A. curvatum Kunth.

Himalayas. The Lepchas of India prepare a food called long from the tuberous root. The roots are bvuied in masses imtil acetous fermentation sets in and are then dug, washed

and cooked, by which means

their poisonous properties are in part dispersed,

sometimes follows a hearty meal of

entirely, as violent illness

but not

tong.*

A. tortuosum Schott.

The

Himalayas.

root

considered esculent

is

by the mountaineers

of Nepal.^

Arisarum vulgare Targ. Aroideae. Mediterranean regions. In north Africa, the roots are much used in seasons

The

city.

makes

it

which

root,

not as large as

Aristotelia

residue

is

This

however, removed by repeated

mountain currant.

Tiliaceae.

The

large shrub called in Chile, maqui.

and are

is,

innoxious and nutritive."

macqui L'Herit.

taste of bilberries

of scar-

ordinary walnut, contains an acid jmce, which

ovir

quite uneatable in the natural state.

washings and the

A

is

berries,

though small, have the pleasant

largely consimied in Chile.'

A. racemosa Hook.

New

Zealand.

The

natives eat the berries.*

Arracacia xanthorrhiza Bancr.

Umbelliferae.

arracacha.

Peruvian carrot.

This plant has been cultivated and used as a food from where the early times in the cooler mountainous districts of northern South America, The root is not unlike a parsnip in shape but roots form a staple diet of the inhabitants.

Northern South America.

more 'blunt;

it is

tender

when

and a roasted chestnut. '

Pickering, C.

'Bigelow, 'Ellis,

'Wallich

Chron. Hist. Pis. 808.

Treai. Bo/. 2:1347.

P/j.

Hooker and 'Mueller,?. Black, A. A.

3

1879.

1833. 1876.

>lo/. 2:10, Tab. 114.

1830-32.

Ball Marocco, Gt. Alias 342. Sel. Pis. 49.

1891.

Treas. Bot. 1:92.

(Arum

1817.

Polyn. Research. 1:4s.

Moore, T.

nutritious, with

a flavor between the parsnip

fecula, analogous to arrowroot, is obtained

Med. Bol. 1:58.

J.

W.

A

and

boiled

1870.

1878.

triphyllum)

from

it

by

rasp-

sturtevant's notes on edible plants

66

Arracacha

ing in water. plant

is

according to Boussingault,' about i6 tons per acre.

yields,

The

mountain regions of Central America. The roots are nutritious yellow, purple and pale varieties.^ Attempts to naturalize It was introduced into culture in Europe have been unsuccessful.

also found in the

and palatable and there are this plant in

Europe

field

in 1829

unsuccessful

'

in obtaining eatable roots.

Baltimore in 1828 or 1829

now

it is

in 1846, but trials in England, France

and again

It

fairly established there

New York

was grown near

but was found to be worthless.

^

and Morris

considers

and Switzerland were in 1825

*

and at

Lately introduced into India, it

a most valuable plant-food,

' becoming more palatable and desirable the longer it is used. It is generally cultivated in Venezuela, New Granada and Ecuador, and in the temperate regions of these coun-

tries,

Arracacha

is-

The

preferred to the potato.

first

account which reached Europe

concerning this plant was published in the Annals of Botany in 1805.

It was, however,

mentioned in a few words by Alcedo,* 1789. Artemisia abrotanum Linn.

Europe and temperate some continental beers. A. absinthium Linn,

Compositae. Asia.

absinthe,

old man.

southernwood.

This artemisia forms an ingredient, says Lindley, in

wormwood.

Cultivated in Europe and in England in cottage gardens on a large scale. Bridgeman,' 1832, is the first writer on American gardening who mentions absinthe but now its

seeds are cataloged for sale

by

all

our larger dealers.

It is classed

among

medicinal

herbs but is largely used in France to flavor the cordial, absinthe, and in America in compounding bitters. The seed is used by the rectifiers of spirits and the plant is largely cultivated in

some

districts of

an ingredient of sauces

England

for this purpose.

It is said occasionally to

form

in cookery.

tarragon.

A. dracunculus Linn,

Tarragon was brought to Italy, in The first mention on record from the shores of the times. Black recent Sea, probably is by Simon Seth, in the middle of the twelfth century, but it appears to have been scarcely East Europe, the Orient and Himalayan regions.

known

as a condiment until the sixteenth centtiry.*"

It

was brought to England

in or

about 1548." The flowers, as Vilmorin says, are always barren, so that the plant can be propagated only by division. Tarragon cultttre is mentioned by the botanists of the sixteenth century and in England by Gerarde," 1597, and by succeeding authors on gar'

Morton

Cyc. Agr. i:io8.

'

Mueller

Sel. Pis. 50.

'

Heuze

Pis. Aliment. 2:509.

*New Eng. Farm. '

ODuper Farm.

Libr. 94.

De CandoUe, A. Don, G.

["

1873.

1847.

1886.

{A. esculenta)

Orig. Cult. Pis. 40.

Hist. Dichl. Pis. 3:378.

Bridgeman Young Gard. '"

{A. esculenta)

July 22, 1825.

'Card. Chron. 26:50. '

1869.

1891.

Asst. 108.

1885.

1834. 1857.

Targioni-Tozzetti Journ. Hort. Soc. Land. 148.

Mcintosh, C.

" Gerarde,

J.

Book Gard. 2:167. Herb.

11)3.

1597.

i855-

1854.

STURTEV ant's Rauwolf,* 1573-75, found

dening.

tioned

by McMahon,^

IvfOTES

it

in the gardens of Tripoli.

now

Its roots are

1806.

ON EDIBLE PLANTS

Wkh

Together

a

In Persia,

fish sauce.

the young

tips,

The

is

is

plant

in request

much

Tarragon

esteemed.

is

a bitter tonic and aromatic.

used on the continent in the preparation of

amongst

It

was

The

plant

is

used on the continent in the preparation of

Eau

d'absinthe.

mugwort.

Mugwort was employed,

Northern temperate regions.

for flavoring beer before the introduction of the hop.

home-made beer

d'absinthe,

epicures.^

fellon-herb.

A. vulgaris Linn,

Eau

wormwood.

spiked

A. spicata Wulf.

the

by

alpine wormwood.

Vill.

Europe.

greatly esteemed

the leaves are put in salads, in pickles and in vinegar for

Caucasian region, Siberia and Europe. It formerly used to make a conserve with sugar.''

is

men-

worm-seed.

A. maritima Linn,

which

it is

are also eaten with beefsteaks, served with horseradish.

They

Europe.

it is

has long been customary to use the leaves to create an appetite.

it

vinegar, says Mcintosh,'

A. mutellina

In America,

included in our leading seed catalogs.

Tarragon has a fragrant smell and an aromatic taste for which the French.

67

On

of the cottagers.

says Johnson," to a great extent

It is

the continent,

still

used in England to flavor

it is

occasionally employed as

an aromatic, cuUnary herb. Artocarpus brasiliensis Gomez. Brazil.

Professor Hartt

'

Urticaceae.

says the jack

Matheus and

to the north, at Sao

jack. is

cultivated in the province of Bahia

and

The

occasionally as far south as Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

being sometimes a foot and a half in the longer diameter. The In some parts, a kind of farina seeds are largely used as food and the pulp is nutritious. is prepared from the seeds, but this use is by no means general.

fruit is of

A. hirsuta

immense

size,

Lam.

a large orange. The pulpy substance almost as relished by the natives, being good as the fruit of the jack.^

The

East Indies.

A. incisa Linn.

fruit is the size of

breadfruit.

f.

This most useful tree in

warm

It

Islands, 1595.

Gronovius

McMahon, >

nowhere found growing wild but is now extensively cultivated described by the writer of Mendana's Voyage to the Marquesas

has been distributed from the Moluccas, by

Guinea, throughout '

is

It is first

regions.

all

Amer. Card.

1755. Cat. 511.

Book Card. 2:167.

Mcintosh, C. Johnson, C. P. Balfour, J. H.

Johnson, C. P.

1806.

iSSS-

Useful Pis. Gt. Brit. 152.

Man.

way

of Celebes

the islands of the Pacific Ocean to Tahiti.

Fl. Orient. 106.

B.

much

is

Bat. 521.

Useful Pis. Gt. Brit. 154.

'Hartt, C.F.

Geog. Braz. 245.

Drury, H.

Useful Pis. Ind. 51.

1862.

1875.

1870.

1858.

1862.

and

Breadfnut

is

New also

sturtevant's notes on edible plants

"68

naturalized in the Isle of France, in tropical America It is

more

especially

and Society Philippines

Islands.

by Sonnerat.

and bears

fruit in

Ceylon and Burma.*

and cultivation in the Marquesas and the Friendly was conveyed to the Isle of France from Luzon in the In 1792, from Tahiti and Timor, Capt. Bligh, who was com-

an object

The

'

of care

tree

missioned by the British Government for this purpose, took a store of plants and in 1793 landed 333 breadfruit trees at St. Vincent and 347 at Port Royal, Jamaica.' In the

almost always abortive, leaving their places empty * This seedlessness does cultivation goes back to a remote antiqiuty.

ctiltivated breadfruit, the seeds are

which shows that

its

not hold true, however, of

which there are many.

all varieties, of

Chamisso

'

describes

a variety in the Mariana Islands with small fruit contaimng seeds which are frequently Sonnerat foimd in the Philippines a breadfnut, which he considered as wild, perfect. which bears ripe seeds of a considerable size.' In Tahiti, there are eight varieties without

and one variety with seeds which is inferior to the others.^ Nine varieties are credited by Wilkes ' to the Fiji Islands and twenty to the Samoan.' Captain Cook,'" at Tahiti, in 1769, describes the fruit as about the size and shape of a child's head, with

seeds

the surface reticulated not

a

much

unlike a

truffle,

covered with a thin skin and having

core about as big as the handle of a small knife.

The

eatable part of breadfruit

snow and somewhat

between the skin and the core and

lies

of the consistence of

new

bread.

It

is

as white as

must be roasted before

it is

eaten.

Its taste is insipid, with a slight sweetness, somewhat resembling that of the crumb of wheaten bread mixed with a Jerusalem artichoke. Wilkes " says the best varieties when baked or roasted are not unlike a good custard pudding. If the breadfruit is to be pre-

served, it

it is

scraped from the rind and buried in a pit where

subsides into a

mass somewhat

opened emit a nauseous, In this state

it is

It is said that it

of the consistency of

will

keep several years

and

is

forms an agreeable and nutritious food.

Unger, P.

Forest Fl. 426.

Enc.BnV. 5:301.

Lunan,

J.

1859.

1874.

8th Ed.

Feg. Organ. 2:174.

Ans. Pis. Domest. 2:256,

Darwin, C.

Obs. 179.

Hort.

1778.

Jam. 1:11$.

1840. 1893.

Note. 1814.

Wilkes, C.

U. S. Explor. Exped. 3:332.

1845.

Wilkes, C.

U. S. Explor. Exped. 2:121.

1845.

"Cook " "

1844.

Candolle, A. P.

Forster, J. R. '

aeiore}^

U. S. Pat. Off. Rpt. 315.

Brandis, D.

'

Hawaii

Voyage y.207.

1773.

Wilkes, C.

U. S. Explor. Exped. 3:333.

Peschel, O.

Races

Pickering, C.

Man

156.

1845.

1876.

Chron. Hist. Pis. 437.

1879.

These

pits

a greenish-yellow.

which several kinds are distinguished.

.According to Foster,!^ twenty-seven bread-

which would cover an English acre with their shade, are

called in Tahiti maiore, in

is

cooked with cocoanut milk, in which state

of from ten to twelve people during the eight

De

cheese.

when when

This tree affords one of the most generous

sources of nutriment that the world possesses fruit trees,

new

allowed to ferment,

fetid, sour odor, and the color of the contents

called mandraiuta, or native bread, of

it

it is

months

svifiicient for

of fruit-bearing.

the support

Breadfruit

is

sturtevant's notes on edible plants A. integrifolia Linn.

f.

On

East Indies.

69

jack.

account of

its excellent fruit, this tree is

a special object of

vation on the two Indian peninsulas, in Cochin China and southern China.

ctdti-

has only been introduced into the islands of the Pacific as well as the island Ocean, recently upon of Mauritiift, the Antilles and the west coast of Africa. It is scarcely to be doubted that It

and there growing wild and that perhaps Ceylon and the peninsula of Further India may be looked upon as its original native land.^ The jack seems to be the Indian fruit described by Pliny, who gives the name of the tree as pala, of the fruit, ariena; and to it

occurs here

be the chagui of Friar Jordanus,* about 1330, whose

"

such

size that one is enough one of the largest about Firminger perhaps in existence and is an ill-shapen, imattractive-looking object. The interior is of a soft, fibrous consistency with the edible portions scattered here and there, of about the size '

for five persons."

and

color of a small orange.

fruit is of

says the fruit of this tree

considered delicious

It is

is

by those who can manage,

to eat

melon to such a powerful degree it, as to be qtiite unbearable to persons of a weak stomach, or to those not accustomed to it. There are two varieties in India. Lunan * says the thick, gelatinous covering which envelbut

it

possesses the rich, spicy scent

and

flavor of the

opes the seeds, eaten either raw or fried, is delicious. The roimd seeds, about half an inch in diameter, eaten roasted, have a very mealy and agreeable taste. The fruit, says Brandis,' tree has

is an important article of food in Burma, southern India and Ceylon. a very strong and disagreeable smell.

The

A. lakoocha Roxb.

Malay and East taste, is

it,

fruit,

the size of an orange and of an austere

Firminger says also that he has met with those who said a fact which he could otherwise have hardly credited. Brandis ^ says the '

sometimes eaten.

they liked

male flower-heads are

Arum

The iU-shapen

Indies.

pickled.

Aroideae.

The

several species of

arum

possess a combination of extremely acrid properties,

with the presence of a large quantity of farina, which can be separated from the poisonous The arums form ingredient by heat or water and in some instances by merely drying. the most important plants of the tropics. In a single Polynesian Island, Tahiti, the natives have names for 33 arums. Taro, the general name, is grown in vast quantities in the Fiji group on the margins of streams under a system of irrigation. When the root the greater part is cut off from the leaves and the portion which is left attached is ripe,

to

them

is

at once replanted.

pounded into a of tare

kind of flour,

are also stored in pits where

1

Unger, F.

'

Jordanus, Fr.

U. S. Pat. Off. Rpt. 315.

Lunan,

J.

Brandis, D.

Hort.

Brandis, D.

Card. Ind. 185.

Jam. 1:^88.

Forest Fl. 426.

Firminger, T. A. C. '

it

1874.

1814. 1874.

Card. Ind. 188.

Forest Fl. 427.

1874.

becomes

1859.

Wonders East Hakl. Soc. Ed.

Firminger, T. A. C.

'

These roots are prepared for use by boUing and are then is preserved imtil wanted for use. Large quantities

which

1874.

13.

1863.

solid

and

is

afterwards used by the

sturtevant's notes on edible plants

70

In former times, the

natives as mandrai.

English during the periods of scarcity.

It

common

spotted

arum

fvimished food to the

seems impossible to determine in

all

cases to

which species of arum travelers refer in recording the use of this genera of plants. The information given under the heading of the species will show the generality of their use

and

their importance.

&

A. dioscoridis Sibth.

Sm.

East Mediterranean countries.

Theophrastus mentions that the roots and leaves

The

of this plant, steeped in vinegar, were eaten in ancient Greece.

remarks,^ are cooked

and eaten

Italian arum.

A. italicum Mill.

This arum

Mediterranean countries. is

eaten either raw or cooked.

is

described

by

Dioscorides,

Westward, the cooked root

Dioscorides as mixed with honey

is

the Balearic islanders and

by

A.

its

who

root

sa3rs its

further mentioned

made

plant was in cultivation for seven years in Guernsey for the purpose of

from

roots, as Pickering

in the Levant.

into cakes.'

by

This

making arrow-root

corms.'

maculatum Linn,

adam-and-eve.

WAKE

STARCH-ROOT.

The

Europe.

thick

its injurious qualities

bobbins,

in Albania,

are destroyed, and in the

and

in Slavonia

by

Pallas

^

it is

&

isle of

but by heat

Portland the plant was extensively

According to Sprengel,* its roots are cooked made into a kind of bread. The leaves, even " Dioscorides by the Greeks of Crimea. be eaten and that they must be eaten after

to be eaten

showeth that the leaves also are prescribed to * they be dried and boyled." Arundinaria japonica Sieb.

lords-and-ladies.

root, while fresh, is extremely acrid,

used in the preparation of an arrow-root.

and eaten

pint.

ROBIN.

and tuberous

of this acrid plant, are said

cuckoo

Zucc.

Gramineae.

cane.

Northern Japan. When the young shoots appear in early svmimer, they are carefully gathered and, under the name of take-no-ko, are used for food as we would employ young asparagus; though

by no means

A. macrosperma Michx.

North America.

is

much

the species of cane which forms cane brakes in Virginia,

Flint,* in his Western States, says:

crop of seed with heads very said to be not

broom com.

like those of

inferior to wheat, for

settlers substituted it."

Pickering, C.

Chron. Hist. Pis. 346.

1879.

Pickering, C.

Chron. Hist. Pis. 314.

1879.

'Seemann, B.

Journ. Bol. 1:2$.

*

Pickering, C.

'

Pallas, P. S.

'

Gerarde. J.

'

Penhallow, D. P. Flint, T.

Chron. Hist. Pis.

1863. j,\^.

Trav. Russia 2:449.

Herb. 835.

desirable dish.'

large cane.

This

Kentucky and southward.

make a very

so tender as the latter, they

1879.

1803.

1633 or 1636.

Amer. Nat. 16:121.

West. Slates 1:80, Si.

1828.

1882.

The

"

It

produces an abundant

seeds are farinaceous

and are

which the Indians and occasionally the

first

sturtevant's notes on edible plants Asaruin canadense Linn.

North America.

Barton

'

wild ginger.

snakeroot.

Aristolochiaceae.

says the dried, piilverized root

parts of our country as a substitute for ginger,

71

is

commonly used

and Balfour ^ say^

in

many

used as a spice in

it is

Canada. Asclepias syriaca Linn.

weed

milkweed,

Asclepiadeae.

Kalm

North America.

in spring, preparing

'

says the French in

them

and that they

like asparagus,

flowers; a very good, brown, palatable sugar.

silkweed.

Canada use the tender shoots

Fremont

^

also

make a

"

which sprouts

like

What they

sugar of the

found the Sioux Indians of the

upper Platte eating the young pods, boiling them with the meat of the in his Natural History of Canada, says:

of milk-

call

buffalo.

Jefferys,^

here the cotton-tree

asparagus to the height of about three feet and

is

is

a plant

crowned with several

shaken early in the morning before the dew is off of them when from them with the dew a kind of honey, which is reduced into sugar by boiling;

tufts of flowers; these are

there

falls

the seed

is

contained in a pod which encloses also a very fine sort of cotton." *

Gen. Dearborn

of Massachusetts

and Dewey

as asparagus,

'

recommended

In 1835,

the use of the young shoots of milkweed

says the young plant

is

thus eaten.

In France the plant

is

grown as an ornament. butterfly weed,

A. tuberosa Linn,

tuber-root.

pleurisyroot.

Northeastern America. The tubers are boiled and used by the Indians. The Sioux of the upper Platte prepare from the flowers a crude sugar and also eat the young seed-pods.

Some

of the Indians of

Asimina triloba Dun.

Canada use the tender shoots

when

All parts of the tree

reUshed by few except negroes.'

ripe has a

"

rich, luscious taste.

Vasey says the

The pulp

egg-custard in consistence and appearance.

and unites the

taste of eggs, cream, sugar

for the relish of

Asparagus acerosus Roxb.

W.

Barton,

'

'

P. C.

Med.

Man.

Dodge

U. S.

Don, G. "Flint, E.

"

D.A.

resembles

and a great resource to the savages."

This species was foimd by

1818.

Bot. 2:89.

Bot. 576.

1875.

Apr. 10, 1835.

Rpt. 405.

West. States 1:72.

1840,

1870.

Hist. Dichl. Pis. i:gi.

Pickering, C.

"

It is a natural custard, too lucious

spice.

fruit is nutritious

Rpt. Herb. Flow. Pis. Mass. 145.

Dewey, C.

and the

has the same creamy feeUng in the mouth

Kalm, P. Trav. No. Amer. 2:202. 1772. Fremont Explor. Exped. 16. 1845. Nat. Hist. Amer. 42. 1760. Jefferys, T. Dearborn Me. Farm.

'

and

fruit,

smell,

about four inches long,

of the fruit," says Flint,'"

garden asparagvis.

Balfour, J. H.

*

It

have a rank

Liliaceae.

East Indies and Burma. for ovu-

The

most people.

an asparagus.'

papaw.

Anonaceae.

Middle and southern United States. fruit is

as

1831.

1828.

Chron. Hist. Pis. 476.

(Annona 1879.

triloba)

Mason "

to be a passable substitute

STURTEVANT

72

asparagus.

A. acutifolius Linn,

The young

Mediterranean regions.

by

*

the Greeks in

NOTES ON EDIBLE PLANTS

S

Sicily.^'

They

shoots are eaten in Italy, Spain, Portugal and

are thin, bitter

and often

stringy.

A. adscendens Roxb.

made, according to Modeen Sheriff, the genuine sufed mush, called in the Deccan shakakul-hindi and used as a substitute for

From

Himalayas and Afghanistan.

this plant is

salep.'

garden-hedge.

A. albus Linn,

Western Mediterranean region. The yoting heads are cut from wild plants and brought to table in Sicily, but they form but a poor substitute for cultivated asparagiis.* A. aphyllus Linn.

Mediterranean region.

The young

shoots are collected and eaten in Greece.'

A. laricinus Burch.

A

shrubby species of South Africa.

excellent tenderness

A. officinalis Linn,

and aromatic

Dr. Pappe

'

says that

it

produces shoots of

taste.

asparagus.

Europe, Caucasian regions and Siberia. This plant, so much esteemed in its cultivated state, is a plant of the seashore and river bants of southern Eiirope and the Crimea.

now

In the southern parts of Russia and ' Poland, the waste steppes are covered with this plant. Unger says it is not found either * wild or ciiltivated in Greece, but Daubeny says at the present time it is known under It is

the

name

natiu-alized in

of asparaggia,

many

parts of the world.

and Booth

'

says

it is

common.

Probably the mythological men-

tion of the asparagus thickets which concealed Perigyne, beloved of Theseus, in consequence, being protected

the plant,

by law among the lonians inhabiting Caria

referred

to another species.

Cultivated asparagus seems to have been

Theophrastus and

wild plant of another species. it well,

unknown

to the Greeks of the time of

Disocorides, and the word asparagos seems to have been used

and Cato's

The Romans

directions for culture

of the time of Cato, about 200 B.

would answer

for the

C, knew

fairly well for the gardeners of

today, except that he recommends starting with the seed of the wild plant, and this seems

good evidence that the wild and the cultivated forms were then of the same type as they are today. Columella," in the first century, recommends transplanting the young roots from a seed-bed and devotes some space to their after-treatment. He offers choice of W.

>

Hooker,

2

Mueller, P.

'

Kckering, C.

*

Hooker,

'

J.

'

Sel. Pis. 55.

Unger, F.

'

Daubeny, C.

U. S. Pat.

W.B.

Columella

Journ. Bot. 1:211.

1879.

1834.

Chron. Hist. Pis. 165.

Pickering, C.

'

1834.

1891.

Chron. Hist. Pis. 736.

W. J.

Mueller,?.

Booth.

Journ. Bot. 1:211.

Sel. Pis. 54.

Off.

1879.

1891. 1859.

Rpt. 358.

Trees, Shrubs, Anc. 127.

Treas. Bot. 1:101.

lib. 9, c. 3.

1865.

1870.

sturtevant's notes on edible plants

73

activated seed or that from the wild plant, without indicating preference. Pliny,' who also wrote in the first century, says that asparagus, of all the plants of the garden, receives the most praiseworthy care and also praises the good quality of the kind that grows wild in the island of Nesida near the coast of Campania. In his praise of gardens,* he says: " Nature has made the asparagus wild, so that any one may gather as found. Behold, '

'

the highly-manured asparagus may be seen at Ravenna weighing three pounds. Palladius,' an author cf the third century, rather praises the sweetness of the wild form found growing

among

the rocks and recommends transplanting

it

to such places otherwise worthless

but he also gives full directions for garden culture with as much care as Gesner ^ quotes Pomponius, who lived in the second century, as saying that

for agriculture,

did Cato.

there are two kinds, the garden and the wild asparagus, and that the wild asparagus

the

us

more pleasant

how

to eat.

Emperor Augustus was

partial the

A. racemosus Willd.

is

Suetonius,* about the beginning of the second century, informs

to asparagus,

and Erasmus

'

mentions

also

it.

racemose asparagus.

East Indies, African tropics and Australia. In India, the tubers are candied as a sweetmeat. This preparation, however, as Dutt states,' has scarcely any other taste or flavor besides that of the sugar.

blanched shoots

is

Firminger

*

says the preserve prepared from the

very agreeable.

A. sannentosus Linn.

East Indies.

The

long, fleshy, whitish root is used as food

and, in the candied state,

by the people

of

Ceylon

is

often brought to India from China.'

A. verticillatus Linn.

South

The young

Russia.

shoots,

according to

Chaubard,'"

are eaten in

the

Peloponesus.

Asperula odorata Linn.

woodroof.

Rubiaceae.

Europe and the adjoining portions herbage

is

not fragrant when

new hay and

the perfvune of

used for imparting a flavor

of Asia.

The

flowers are sweet-scented.

fresh but, after being gathered for retains this property for years.

to some

of the

Rhine wines.

a short time,

it

The

gives out

In Germany, woodroof

In England,

it

is

is

ctiltivated

Its seed is advertised occasionally as a garden herb, being used for flavoring cooling drinks. most trees and grows in the shade of thrive will Woodroof in American garden catalogs.

in

all

'

' '

kinds of garden Bostock and Riley. Pliny

soil.

Nat. Hist. Pliny 4: 188.

Palladius

lib. 3, c.

Script. Rei Rust.

'Mcintosh, C.

24; lib. 4,

c. 9.

1788, Lexicon, art. Asparagus.

Book Card. 2:177.

1855.

Ibid. '

Dutt, U. C.

Mat. Med. Hindus 260.

1877.

Card. Ind. 121.

1874.

Firminger, T. A. C. Ainslie, '

1856.

c. 19.

W.

Pickering, C.

Mat. Ind. 2:409.

1826.

Chron. Hist. Pis. 525.

1879.

sturtevant's notes on edible plants

74

Asphodeline lutea Reichb.

Region

and the Caucasus.

This plant

and as being abundant

large tracts of land in Apulia

king's spear.

asphodel. Jacob's rod.

Liliaceae.

of the Mediterranean

in Sicily.

is

mentioned as covering It

was fabled

to

grow and hence the ancient Greeks were wont to place asphodel on the The root is mentioned as an esculent by Pythagoras.' Pliny ^ friends.

in the Elysian fields,

tombs

of their

says the roots of asphodel were generally roasted vmder embers and then eaten with salt

and

oil

were thought a most excellent dish. Phillips,' exer"Asphodel was to the ancient Greeks and Romans what

and when mashed with

figs

some imagination, says: the potato now is to us, a bread cising

It

has long since given

to

way

plant, the value of

which cannot be too highly estimated.

successors in favor."

its

aster.

Aster tripolium Linn.- Compositae.

Northern Africa, Asia, the Orient and Europe. The somewhat fleshy leaves of this make a kind of pickle.*

aster are occasionally gathered to

Astragalus aboriginorum Richards.

The

Arctic North America.

Leguminosae.

roots are eaten

astragalus.

by the Cree and Stone Indians

of the

Rocky Mountains.^ A. adscendens Boiss.

The

Persia.

&

Haussk.

plant affords

an abundance

of

gum and

also a

manna.*

Swedish coffee.

A. boeticus Linn.

In certain parts of Germany and Hungary, this plant is seeds, which are roasted, ground and used as a substitute for coffee.

Mediterranean region. cultivated for its

same as that

Its culture is the

Swedish

would indicate that

coffee,

common pea

of the

it is

also

A. caryocarpus Ker-Gawl.

ground plum.

Mississippi region of

North America.

or tare.

The name

applied to the seeds,

grown in Scandinavia.

The unripe

fruits are edible

and are eaten

raw or cooked. A. christianus Linn.

In Taxirus, the roots of the great, yellow milk-vetch are

Asia Minor and Syria. sought as an article of food.' A. creticus

Lam. This plant yields tragacanth

Greece.

A. fiorulentus Boiss. Persia.

&

Haussk.

plant yields a manna.'

The

Chron. Hist. Ph. lo6.

Pickering, C.

1879.

2

Bostock and Riley Nat. Hist. Pliny 4:360.

'

PhiUips, H.

*

Masters,

Comp. Kitch. Card. 1:35.

M. T.

'Brown, R.

Treas. Bot. 3:1173.

Bot. Soc. Edinb. 9:381.

'

Fluckiger and Hanbury Pharm.

'

Fraser, J. B.

BaiUon, H.

Mesopotamia

2,5^-

Hist. Pis. 2:378.

Fluckiger and

*

Hanbury PAorm.

174.

1870. 1868.

1879.

1842. 1872.

415.

1856.

1831.

1879.

(Phaca aboriginorum)

STURTEVant's NOTES ON EDIBLE PLANTS

75

A. gummifer Labill.

This

Syria.

A.

another species suppljang a source of tragacanth.^

is

hamosus Linn.

The

Mediterranean region to India. singularity of its fruits which, before

is

plant

grown particularly on account

maturity, resemble certain worms.

They

of the

are of

a mediocre taste but are employed in salads chiefly to cause an innocent surprise.^ A. kurdicus Boiss.

The plant

Kurdistan and Syria.

affords tragacanth.'

A. leioclados Boiss. Persia.

Tragacanth

Open

plains

produced by this

plant.*

DC.

A. mexicanus A.

are edible

is

and

prairies

from

Illinois

and are eaten raw or cooked by

westward and southward.

Astrocaryum acaule Mart. Palmae. This is a palm of the Rio Negro. Brazil. A.

murumura Mart,

A flavor

The

fniit is edible.*

The

fruit,

according to Kunth, has an agreeable

a scent resembling musk but afterwards that of a melon. and is eatable.'

first

fruits

murumura.

of the Brazilian forest.

palm and at

The unripe

travelers.'

Wallace

states that the fleshy covering of the fruit is rather juicy

A.

tucuma Mart.

Upper Amazon and Rio Negro.

The

by the Indians.*

tree of the Moluccas.

Athamanta

fleshy part of the fruit is esteemed for food

Its subacid leaves are

DC. Umbelliferae. The root is said to be

cervariaefolia

Tenerifle Islands.

by the

cooked as a sauce for

spignel. eaten."

candy carrot.

A. cretensis Linn,

Southern Europe.

An

agreeable liquor

is

made from

A. matthioli Wulf.

Southeastern Europe. >

Treas. Bol. 106.

The

Vilmorin Veg. Card. 510, 511.

'

Fluckiger and

<

Ibid.

'

Bot. 132.

Pop. Hist.

174.

1879.

1868.

Palms

74.

1856.

Pop. Hist. Palms y^.

1856.

Ibid.

Seemann, B. Bates, H. W.

" Syrae,

J. T.

"Baillon, H.

"

1885.

Hanbury Pharm.

Man.

Seemann, B.

plant has an edible root.'^

1870.

'

Gray, A.

Ibid.

natives.'

Melastomaceae.

Astronia papetaria Bliune.

A

The

yellowish, fibrous pulp is eaten

Nat.

Amaz. 647.

Treas. Bot. 1:106. Hist. Pis. 7:192.

1879. 1870. 1881.

Humboldt

Libr. Set.

the seeds.

fish.'"

sturtevant's notes on edible plants

76

Atherosperma moschatum

Its aromatic bark has been used as a substitute for

Australia.

Atriplex halimus Liim.

A

tea.'

sea orach.

Chenopodiaceae.

and the Mediterranean countries and

plant of the seashores of Europe

salines as

one of the few indigenous plants of Egypt that affords sustenance ^ It is mentioned by Antipharues as esculent by Dioscorides as cooked and eaten Sea orach

far as Siberia.

to

tasmanian sassafras tree.

Monimiaceae.

Labill.

man.

is

;

;

by Toumefort as eaten

The men

in Greece.

of the

Euphrates expedition often used this

species as a culinary vegetable.

mountain spinach,

butter leaves,

A. hortensis Linn,

orach.

Cosmopolitan. Orach has long been used as a kitchen vegetable in Europe. It was known to the ancient Greeks under the name of atraphaxis and Dioscorides writes that it

was eaten

boiled.

was known to the Romans under the name

It

introduced into English gardens in 1548 and was

and the green

to correct the acidity

Bauhin

'

^

Ray

grown

The

Honduras.

*

many

countries

in three varieties.'

in

In 1806, three kinds are

named

cohune palm.

Palmae.

a

tree bears

resembling a bunch of grapes. far

in

Orach was

as in American gardens.

*

Attalea cohune Mart.

is

It is

mentions the red, the white and the dark green.

by McMahon

but

color of sorrel.

of atriplex.

it still is,

England in 1538, who calls it areche, or red oreche. mentions the white and red, as mentioned by Gerarde * in 1597. In 1623,

Orach was known to Turner In 1686,

long used, as

fruit,

The

more oleaginous and the

about the

size of

kernel tastes

a large egg, growing in clusters

somewhat

like that of the

cocoanut

oil is superior.'

A. compta Mart.

The

Brazil.

seed-vessels are eaten as a deUcacy.'"

urucuri palm.

A. excelsa Mart,

Amazon

Bates " says the

region.

The

has a pleasantly flavored, juicy pulp. its

fruit is similar in size

and shape to the date and

Indians did not eat

it

but he

did,

although

wholesomeness was questionable.

Avena brevis Roth. Europe.

Dom.

'

Smith,

'

Pickering, C.

J.

Turner

Bot. 248.

'

Bauhin, C.

McMahon, Temple, R.

{A. orache)

1686.

Herb. 256.

Pmax B.

1879.

1842.

1538.

^Ra.y Hist. PI. 191. J.

short oat. a native plant and say that

1871.

Mesopotamia 35g.

Libellus.

Gerarde,

fly's leg.

call this species

Chron. Hist. Pis. 12.

'Fraser, J. B. *

Gramineae.

The Germans

119.

1597.

1623.

Amer. Card.

Cal. 321.

Journ. Sac. Arts 2:500.

1806.

No.

81.

M. T. Tre'as. Bot. 1:110. 1870. H. W. Nat. Amaz. 719. 1879. Humboldt Libr.

Masters,

"

Bate.s,

Set.

it

grows wild

sturtevant's notes on edible plants among

It is cultivated in

grain.

mountainous

77

Europe, as in those of Auvergne

districts of

and Forez, because or

fly's leg,

accovmt of

it ripens quickly, where the country people call it piedo de mouche, because of the appearance of the dark awns.' In some parts of France, on

its excellence for fodder, it is called avoine

A. fatua Linn,

drake,

flayer,

This

the

is

have been introduced by the Spaniards but

The

miles from the coast.

a bread com.

and

in 1851

is

grain

In 1852, Professor

had

Tartarean oat.

potato oat.

Europe, the Orient and Asia.

it is

a fourrage.

wild oat.

common wild oat of California. It may now spread over the whole country many

gathered by the Indians of California and

Buckman ^ sowed a

plat of

is

used as

ground with seeds collected

for the

produce poor, but true, samples of what are known as the potato and Tartarean oat. In i860, the produce was good white Tartarean and in 1856

potato oats. A.

naked

nuda Linn,

peel corn,

oat.

This

Southern Europe.

is

are said to cultivate a variety of

according to Turner, in 1538.

pillcorn.

probably an oat produced by cultivation. The Chinese it with a broad, flat rachis. It was growing in England,

now, and has been for some time, among the seeds

It is

of our seedsmen.

Tartarean oat.

Siberian oat.

A. orientalis Schreb.

Southern Europe and the Orient. Although the name leads to the supposition that oat had its origin in the dry table-lands of Asia, yet we are not aware, says Lindley,'

this

We

that any evidence exists to show that

it is so.

Phillips* says the Siberian oat reached

England in

only

1777,

know

it

as a cultivated plant.

and Unger' says

it

was brought

from the East to Europe at the end of the preceding century. A. sativa Linn.

ha.ver.

The native land

oat.

of the

common

oat

is

given as Abyssinia by Pickering.'

linger^

unknown, although the region along the Danube may pass as such. The oat is probably a domesticated variety of some wild species and may be A. strigosa Professor Buckman believed Schreb., fovmd wild in grain fields throughout Europe. says the native land

A. fatua

is

Linn., to be the original species, as in eight years of cultivation he

plant into good cultivated varieties.

Unger

*

changed

as can be ascertained, cultivated this oat 2000 years ago, and

it

seems to have been

tributed from Europe into the temperate and cold regions of the whole world.

known '

'

to the Egyptians, Hebrews, Greeks and Romans.

Bon

Jard. 655.

Buckman, J. Morton Cyc. Agr. 1:171. 1869. Comp. Kitch. Card. Phillips, H. Unger, F.

V. S. Pat.

Unger, F.

1870.

2:12,.

Off. Rpt. 302.

1831. 1859.

Chron. Hist. Pis. 341.

1879.

U. S. Pat. Off. Rpt. 302.

1859.

Pickering, C. '

1882. Treas. Bot. i: 11.

Ibid.

De CandoUe,

A.

Geog. Bot. 2:939.

1855-

this

says the Celts and the Germans, as far

De

It

dis-

was

CandoUe,' however, writes

sturtevant's notes on edible plants

78

that the oat was not cultivated

the

not

by the Hebrews, the Egyptians, the ancient Greeks or as an object of curiosity.' The oat is

Romans and is now cultivated in Greece only cultivated for human food in India.' This grain

Egypt or that

The

Syria.'

Romans knew

that the

plant

is

was known.

culture

its

not mentioned in Scripture and hence would seem to be unknown to

is

mans used oatmeal

noticed

Pliny

'

Virgil* in his Georgics with the implication

by

mentions the plant.

It

the oat principally as a forage crop. ^

Dioscorides

porridge as food.

is,

hence, qtiite probable '

says that the Ger-

make

similar statements,

Pliny

and Galen

*

but the latter adds that although it is fitter food for beasts than men yet in times of famine it is used by the latter. From an investigation of the lacustrine remains of Switzerland,

Hear

'

finds that during the

smaller than that produced

Bronze age oats were known, the oat-grain being somewhat i" by our existing varieties. Turner observes, in 1568, that

the naked oat grew in Sussex, England. The bearded oat was brought from Barbary and was cultivated in Britain about 1640; the brittle oat came from the south of Europe

Spanish oat was introduced in 1770; the Siberian, in 1777; the Pennsylvafrom Switzerland in 1791." In Scotland, the oat has long

in 1796; the

nian, in 1785; the fan-leaved,

been a bread grain and, about 1850, Peter Lawson '^ gives 40 varieties as cultivated. This cereal was sown by Gosnold " on the Elizabeth Islands, Massachusetts, in 1602; is recorded

Newfoundland"

as cultivated in

was introduced

into

1880, 36

Netherland

named kinds were grown

Sweden as Italy,

New

The Egyptian,

previous to 1648.

and

far north as 64

Europe.

De

2

Ibid.

'

or winter oat,

but

is

scarcely

Pickering

Candolle, A.

says this plant

Geog. Bot. 2:939.

is

known

meagre of the

1855.

Ibid.

Ibid.

H.

'Phillips, Stille, '

Comp. Kitch. Card.

2:

Case Bot. Index

Downing, A.

10.

Pickering, C.

Amer. 244.

Chron. Hist: Pis. 708.

Downing, A. J. Fr. Fr. Trees Amer. 244. 'Wight, R. Illustr. Ind. Bot. 1:23. 1840. 1874. Brandis, D. Forest Fl. 12. Sweet, R.

Loudon,

J.

Gray, A.

"

Pursh, F.

Brit. Flow. Card. 1:100.

C.

Hort. 580.

Man. Fl.

Bot. $z.

i860.

1882.

1857. (B. cristata)

1831. (B. didcis)

1868.

Amer. Septent. 1:219.

^'^Gard. Chron. 28:21.

1857.

1879.

*

'

if

1881.

Fr. Fr. Trees

J.

where there are plants in they were black currants."

of school children admitted to

1814.

fruit will

sturtevant's notes on edible plants

88

fuegian barberry.

Lam.

B. empetrifolia

Region of Magellan

is edible.'

DC.

B. glauca

New

The berry

Strait.

The berry

Granada.

is edible.*

indian barberry.

B. lycium Royle.

Himalayan region. In China, the fruit is preserved as in Europe, and the young shoots and leaves are made use of as a vegetable or for infusion as a tea.' mahonia.

B. nepalensis Sprang,

An down

The

evergreen of the Himalayas.

fruits are dried as raisins in the

sun and sent

to the plains ofTndia for sale.^

Oregon grape.

B. nervosa Pursh.

Northwestern America; pine forests of Oregon.

The

fruit

resembles in size and taste

that of B. aquifolium.^

blue barberry.

B. pinnata Lag.

Mexico; a beautiful, blue-berried barberry very called

by the Mexicans

The

lena amorilla.

common

in

New

Mexico.

It is

berries are very pleasant to the taste, being

saccharine with a slight acidity.'

Siberian barberry.

B. sibirica Pall.

The

Siberia.

berry

is edible.'

B. sinensis Desf.

China.

The

berry

&

B. tomentosa Ruiz Chile.

The

berry

is

edible.'

hairy barberry.

Pav.

is edible.'

B. trifoliolata Moric.

The

Western Texas. than those of B.

bright red, acid berries are used for tarts and are less acid

vulgaris.^''

barberry,

B. vulgaris Linn,

jaundice berry,

piprage.

Europe and temperate Asia. This barberry is sometimes planted in gardens in England for its fruit. It was early introduced into the gardens of New England and increased so rapidly that in 1754 the Province of Massachusetts passed an act to prevent

'Baillon,

H.

Hist. Pis. 3:68.

1874.

Note.

Ibid.

Contrib. Mat.

Smith, F. P. Royle, J. F.

Case So/.

lUustr. Bol.

/n/>.

J.

'

McMahon,

'

Unger, F.

Bot. Cal. 1:16.

1880.

Med. China

Contrib. Mat.

Smith, F. P.

Fuchsius

on the Scandinavian peninsula. (5. peltata)

Ans. Pis. Domest. 1:341, 342.

Darwin, C. '

derived from a species growing wild at the present day

537.

Herb. igo.

B.

1542.

197.

1871.

{Sinapsis alba)

1597.

Amer. Card.

1893,

Cal. 582.

U. S. Pat. Off. Rpt. 327.

1806. 1859.

From

this, in

course

STURTEVANT

NOTES ON EDIBLE PLANTS

S

of cultivation, a race has been produced as B. campestris Linn., Linn., our white turnip, with

many

varieties.

in the region between the Baltic Sea

The

lOI

and a second as B. rapa

cultivation of this plant, indigenous

and the Caucasus, was probably

attempted by Germans when they were driven to make use of nutritious roots. Buckman was inclined^o the belief that B. campestris and B. napus are but agrarian forms derived first

the Celts and

from B.

Nowhere, he asserted, are the

oleracea.

two

first

varieties truly wild but both

track cultivation throughout Europe, Asia and America.

Lindley says this plant, B. has been found in campestris, apparently wild Lapland, Spain, the Crimea and Great Britain but it is difficvilt to say whether or not it is truly wild. When little changed by

cultivation,

the colsa, colza, or

is

it

plant of great

This

value.

and Switzerland but not linger

'

is

the chou

colsat,

is

Belgium,

now

DC.

or B. colza

the French, an oil-reed

the east of France,

other districts, in which

of

states that this plant, growing wild

the B. campestris oleifera

oleifbre of

the colsa of Belgium,

the

name

is

Germany

applied to rape.

from the Baltic Sea to the Caucasus,

Lam. and that

its

culture,

De CandoUe ^

extensively carried on in Holstein.

first

is

starting in

supposes the Swedish

a variety, analogous to the kohl-rabi among cabbages, but with the root swollen turnip In its original wild condition, it is a flatfish, globular root, with a instead of the stem. is

very fine

tail,

and common

a narrow neck and a hard, deep yellow flesh. Buckman,' by seeding rape turnips in mixed rows, secured, through hybridization, a small percentage

malformed swedes, which were greatly improved by careful was correct in classing B. napus with B. campestris, the result of

does not carry the rutabaga outside of B. campestris for

rutabaga as B. campestris Linn. var.

The

is of

turnip

oleifera,

man and

and the latter is the larger and

which

beast, especially in

may be the round turnip,

and says that there are

Boeoticum and the Green.

The

Don^

classifies

the

;

He

greener.

as being especially

between the napus and the rapa was not always generically

Buckman's experiment

its origin.

and the rapa France the former does not have

a swollen but a slender gongylis,

Bentham

sub. var. rutabaga.

are both grown for the use of

Mursian

of

If

Columella,^ A. D. 42, says the napus

ancient culture.

root,

cultivation.

held, as Pliny

five kinds, the Corinthian,

'

fine.

also speaks of the

The distinction word napus

uses the

Cleonaeum, Liothasium,

Corinthian, the largest, with an almost bare root, grows

The Liothasiimi, also called Thracium, not, as do the rest, vmder the soil. The Boeoticum is sweet, of a notable roundness and not very long as At Rome, the Amitemian is in most esteem, next the Nursian, and is the Cleonaeum. third our own kind (the green?). In another place, under rapa, he mentions the broadbottom (flat?), the globular, and as the most esteemed, those of Nursia. The napus of on the surface and is

the hardest.

Amiternum,

of

a nature quite similar to the rapa, succeeds best in a cool place. This weight

that the rapa sometimes attains a weight of forty poimds. Unger, F.

U. S. Pat. Off. Rpt. 327.

'

De CandoUe,

'

Buckman,

J.

Don, G.

Hist. Dichl. Pis. 1:241.

'Columella Pliny

A. P.

Treas. Bot. 1:165.

lib. 2, c.

lib. 19, c.

1859.

Trans. Hort. Soc. Land. $-.25. 1870. 1831.

10, etc.; 10, c. 421.

25; lib. 18,

c.

34, 35.

1824.

He mentions has, however,

sturtevant's notes on edible plants

taa

modem

been exceeded in

times.

a hundred pounds and speaks

Amatus

pounds.

In England,

Matthiolus,> 1558,

of having seen long

Martyn

says the greatest weight that he

'

In California, about 1850, a turnip

poimds. In the fifteenth century, Booth

and formed one

of turnips that

sorts that

Lusitanus," 1524, speaks of turnips weighing fifty

in 1792,

six

had heard

and purple

is

is

The

of their principal crops.

weighed thirty

and

sixty pounds.

acquainted with

is

thirty-

recorded of one hundred pounds weight.*

says the turnip had become

*

weighed

first

known

to the Flemings

turnips that were introduced into

England, he says, are believed to have come from Holland in 1550. In the time of Henry VIII (1509-1547) according to Mcintosh,* turnips were used baked or roasted in the ashes

and the young shoots were used as a salad and as a spinach. Gerarde ' describes them in a number of varieties, but the first notice of their field culture is by Weston in 1645. Worlidge, 1668, mentions the turnip fly as an enemy of turnips and Houghton speaks In 1686, Ray says they are sown everywhere in In and gardens. 1681, Worlidge says they are chiefly grown in gardens but are The turnip was brought to America at a very early also grown to some extent in fields. * In sowed Cartier turnip seed in Canada, during his third voyage. They 1540, period. of turnips as food for sheep in 1684.

fields

were also cultivated in Virginia son in

1

are said

They

78 1.

^

in 1609;

are mentioned again in 1648;

*"

and by

Jeffer-

" by Francis Higginson to be in cultivation in Massachusetts

and are again mentioned by William Wood, 1629-33.^^ They were plentiful about Philadelphia in 1707. Jared Sparks'' planted them in Connecticut in 1747. In 1775,

in 1629

Romans fields at

mentions them.

in his Natural History of Florida

the present Geneva,

The common

flat

They are

also

mentioned in

In 1779, General Sullivan destroyed the turnips in the Indian

South Carolina in 1779.

New York,

in the course of his invasion of the Indian country.

turnip was raised as a

field

crop in Massachusetts and

New York

as

early as 181 7.

Navet, or French Turnip. napus esculenta DC.)

{B.

This turnip leaves.

differs

from the Brassica rapa oblonga DC. by its smooth and glaucous by the sweetness of its flavor and furnishes white, yellow

It surpasses other turnips

and black

varieties.

It is

known

Matthiolus Comment. 240. Dioscorides.

'

Martyn

<

Williams, A.

W.

U. S. Pat. Off. Rpt.

4.

1

851.

Treas. Bot. 1:167.

1870.

Mcintosh, C.

Book Card. 2:183.

1855.

'

Gerarde, J.

'

Pinkerton CoW. Voy. 12:667.

*

True Decl. Va.

//eri. 177, 178.

1$.

i'Perf. Desc. of Va. 4.

J.

New

1597. 1812.

Force Coll. Tracts 3:1844. Force Coll. Tracts 2:1838.

New

Eng. Prosp.

Eng. Plant.

11.

Essays Husb. (ly^y)

" De CandoUe, A. P.

(B. rapa)

1610.

Higginson, Rev. Francis.

" Wood, W. " Sparks,

1554.

247.

Fl. Rust. 1792.

B.

Booth,

This was apparently

1558.

Amatus Lusitanus Ed.

'

"

as the Navet, or French turnip."

17,.

1st

1634. 181

Mass. Hist. Soc. Ed.

1.

Trans. Hart. Soc. Land. 5:26, 30.

1824.

Coll. 1:118.

1806.

STURTEVANT

S

NOTES ON EDIBLE PLANTS

IO3

This ttimip was certainly known to the early botanists, yet its to be traced from the figures. However, the following are correct:

the napa of Columella.^

sjmonymy

js difficiilt

Napus. Trag. 730. 1552; Matth. 240. 1664; Pin. 1616; Fischer 1646. 1586; Dod. 674. Bunias sive napus. hoh. Icon. 1:200. 1591. Bunias silvestris lobelii. Gar. 181. 1597. Napi. Dur. C. 304. 161 7. Bunias. Bodaeus 733. 1644. Napus dulcis. Blackw. t. 410. 1765. Navet

petit

de Berlin.

Teltow turnip.

The navets

Vilm. 360.

Vilm. 580.

144.

1561;

Cam.

Epit.

222.

1883.

1885.

are mentioned as under cultivation in England by Worlidge,^ 1683; as the

French turnip by Wheeler,' 1763, and in Miller's Dictionary, 1807. Gasparin^ says the navet de Berlin, which often acquires a great size, is much grown in Alsace and in Germany. It is

in China, according to Bretschneider.*

grown

This turnip was known in the

fifth

century.

The Common Flat Turnip. (B. rapa depressa

DC.)

This turnip has a large root expanding under the origin of the stem into a think, round, It has white, yellow, black, red or purple fleshy tuber, flattened at the top and bottom.

and green varieties. It seems to have been known from ancient times and and figured by the earlier botanists. The synonymy is as follows: A. Flattened both above and below. Rapum. Matth. 240. 1554; Cam. Epit. 218. 1586.

Rapum

sive rapa.

Pin. 143.

is

described

1561.

Rapa. Dur. C. 386. 1617. Navet turnip. Vilm. 583. 1883. B. Flattened, but pointed below. Orbiculatum seu turbinatum rapum.

Rapum.

Rapum

Lob. /cow. 1:197.

'^TQi-

Porta, Phytognom. 120. 1591. Dod. 673. 1616. vulgare.

Rave d'Auvergne

tardive.

Vilm.

C. Globtdar.

Rapum. Trag. 728. 1552. Rapa, La Rave. Toum. 113.

1719.

Navet jaune d'Hollande. Vilm. 370. Yellow Dutch. Vilm. 588. 1885.

1883.

The Long Turnip. {B. rapa oblonga

DC.)

This race of turnip differs from the preceding in having a long or oblong tuber tapering to the radicle. It seems an ancient form, perhaps the Cleonaeum of Pliny. '

Columella

lib. 2, c. 10, etc.; 10, c.

421.

Ibid.

Worlidge, *

J.

Sysi. Hort. 181.

1683.

Gasparin Cours Agr. 4:116. Bretschneider, E.

Bot. Sin. 78.

1882.

sturtevant's notes on edible plants

104

Vulgare rapum alterum.

Rapum Rapum Rapum Rapum

Cam.

longum.

Trag. 729.

1532. 1586.

Epit. 2ig.

Lob. /com. i: 197.

rotunda, oblongaqtie radici. Dod. 673. 161 6. oblongius. tereti,

sativum rotundum

Rapa, La

et

Navet de Briollay.

Bauh.

oblongum.

Tourn. 113.

Rave.

J.

2:838.

iS9i'

1651.

1719.

Vilm. 372.

1883.

This account by no means embraces all the tiimips now known, as it deals with form only and not with color and habits. In 1828, 13 kinds were in Thorbum's American Seed

and

Catalog

by

In France, 12 kinds were named by Pirolle in 1824 and

in 1887, 33 kinds.

Petit in 1826.

In 1887, Vilmorin's Wholesale Seed-list enumerates 31 kinds. S

Rape.

Bentham it

classes rape with B. campestris Linn,

'

as an agrarian form "

and others are disposed to include Linn., in which he places

Darwin ^ says B. napus

B. oleracea Linn.

of

given rise to two large groups, namely Swedish turnips (by some believed to be " It can be believed quite rationally of hybrid origin) and colzas, the seeds of which yield oil. that the Swedish turnip may have originated in its varieties from B. campestris and from

rape,

h.as

To

hybridization with B. napus.

this species, Lindley refers

some

of the rapes, or coles,

the navette, navette d'hiver, or rabette of the French, and the repo, ruben or winter reps of while the

the Germans, plant but

is inferior

summer rapes he It is also

to colza.

refers to B. praecox.

Rape

is

used as an

used in a young state as a salad plant.

Of

oil

this

Tetlow turnip, or navet de Berlin petit of the French, the root long and spindle-shaped, somewhat resembling a carrot. Its culture in England dates from 1790 but it was well known in 167 1 and is noticed by Caspar Bauhin species there

is

in his Pinax.

also a fleshy-rooted variety, the

It is

and Germany,

this

much more

Tetlow turnip

delicate in flavor is

than our

extensively cultivated.

common turnip. In France To what extent our common

turnips are indebted to the rapes, seems impossible to say, for Metzger,

verted the biennial, or winter rape, into the annual, or

The Bon

Lindley believes to be specifically distinct.

summer

Jardinier

'

by

culture, con-

rape, varieties

which

says, in general, the early

turnips of round form and growing above ground belong to B. napus and names the Yellow Malta, Yellow Finland and Montmaquy of our catalogs.

Summer France,

it is

rape

is

by Lindley

to B. praecox Waldst.

called navette d'ete, or navette de

botanists refer

Rape

referred

is

summer rape

&

Kit.

In the east of

mai and by the Germans sommer

reps.

Some

to B. campestris Linn, and winter rape to B. napus Linn.

also referred to B. rapa Linn.

The

evidence

is

unusually

clear,

says Dar%vin,*

that rape and the turnip belong to the same species, for the turnip has been observed

by Koch and Godron to are sown together they

Summer '

lose its thick roots in uncultivated soil

and when rape and turnips

cross to such a degree that scarcely a single plant comes true.

rape seems to be grown to a far less extent than winter rape.

Loudon,

J.

'Darwin, C. '

Bon

*

Darwin, C.

C.

Hort. 627.

Ans.

i860.

Pis. Domest. 1:344.

Jard. 534, 535.

1893.

1882.

Ans. Pis. Domest. 1:344.

1893.

sturtevant's notes on edible plants

105

Rutabaga.

The rutabaga

of the Swedes, the navet de Suede, or chou de Suede, or chou rutabaga, or chou navet jaune, of the French was introduced into somewhere about the

end

England

of the eighteenth century.

In the Maine Farmer of

May

John

Burstoti, states that the rutabaga, Swedish turnip, or

these

names was

it

known

of the present century.

was introduced to

Six or

more

15,

1835/ a correspondent,

this country since

varieties are

named

for

Lapland turnip

by all the commencement

in all seed catalogs

and

B-urr

2

describes 11 kinds.

The rutabagas of our gardens include two forms, one with white flesh, the other with The French call these two classes chou-navets and rutabagas respectively. The yellow. chou-navet, or Brassica napo-brassica communis DC, has either purple or white roots; the rutabaga, or B. napo-brassica Ruta-baga A. P. DC, has a more regular root, round or oval, yellow both without and within.' In English nomenclature, while now the two

forms are called by a common name, yet formerly the first constituted the turnip-rooted cabbage. In 1806, the distinction was retained in the United States, McMahon ^ describing the turnip-rooted cabbage of convenience

The

we

and the Swedish

shall describe these

two

classes separately.

description of the white-rooted form

first

As a matter

turnip, or Rutabaga.

is

by Bauhin

'

in his Prodromus, 1620,

named again in his Pinax,^ 1623, and is called napo-brassica. In 1686, Ray ' apparently did not know it in England, as he quotes Bauhin's name and description, which and

it is

states that

among

ctiltivated in

it is

Bohemia and

the plants in the royal gardens.

Brassica radice napiformi, or chou-navet.

eaten, but Morison,* in 1669, catalogs

is

In France,

In

1.778,

it is

this

named by was

it

Tournefort,' in 1700,

called in

England turnip-

cabbage with the turnip underground and in the United States, in 1806, turnip-rooted " under the cabbage, as noted above. There are three varieties described by Vilmorin

names

chou-navet, chou turnip,

and chou de Lapland, one

named

apparently these same varieties are collared were

named by

Pirolle,'^ in 1824.

of

which

" by Noisette in 1829.

This

class,

as

Don "

is

purple at the collar;

The white and the

says in 183 1,

is

Httle

red-

known

though not uncommon in French horticulture. The rutabaga is said by Sinclair, in the account of the system of husbandry in Scotland, to have been introduced into Scotland about 178 1-2, and a quotation in the Garin English gardens,

'

Me. Farm.

De

May

15, 1835.

Field, Card.

Burr, F.

McMahon

Amer. Card.

'Bauhin, C.

Prodromus

Bauhin, C. T

Ray

">

"

Cat. 309.

1806.

1671.

54.

1686.

Hist. PI. 797.

Bles. 31.

Inst. 219.

1

Man.

1669.

7 1 9.

Vilmorin Le5 Pis. Polag. 142. Noisette

1863.

Pin. 3:1623.

Morison Hort. Reg. Tournefort

Veg. 86.

Trans. Hort. Soc. Lond. 5:25.

Candolle, A. P.

Jard. 349.

1883.

1829.

'^VkoWe L'Hort. Franc. 1S24. Don, G.

Hist. Dichl. Pis. 1:241.

1831.

1824.

sturtevant's notes on edible plants

io6

was introduced into England in 1790. It is mentioned in 1806 and in 1817 there is a record of an acre of this crop

deners' Chronicle^ says it

by McMahon

as in American gardens,

The

in Illinois.'

vernacular names

all

indicate an origin in

Sweden

or northern Eiu"ope.

Swedish turnip or Roota-baga by McMahon, 1806, by Miller's Dictionary, De Candolle, 1821, 1807, by Cobbett, 1821, and by other authors to the present time.

It is called

calls it navet jaune, navet

de Sudde, chou de Laponie, and chou de Subde; Pirolle, in 1824,

Ruta-baga or chou navet de Sukde, as does Noisette in 1829.

In 182 1

Thorbum

calls it

and a newspaper writer in 1835 ' calls it Ruta-baga, Swedish The foreign names given by Don in 1831 include many of the

Ruta-baga, or Russian turnip,

turnip and Lapland turnip. above named and the Italian navone di Laponia. Vilmorin * in his Les Plantes Potageres, 1883,- describes three. varieties: one with a green collar, one with a purple collar and a third which

is early.

B. carinata A. Braun.

it

This plant is said by Unger * to be found wild and cultivated in Abyssinia although furnishes a very poor cabbage, not to be compared with ours.

Chinese cabbage.

B. chinensis Linn.

The

an annual, apparently intermediate between cabbage and the turnip but with much thinner leaves than the former. It is of much more rapid growth than any of the varieties of the European cabbage, so much so, that when sown at midsummer it will ripen seed the same season. Introduced from China in 1837,* it pe-tsai of the Chinese

is

has been cultivated and used as greens by a few persons about Paris but Hkely to become a general favorite.'

It is allied to the kales.

it

does not appear

Its seeds are

ground into

a mustard.

But

little

appears to be recorded concerning the varieties of this cabbage of which

the Pak-choi and the Pe-tsai only have reached European culture. long under cultivation in China, as

however, been can be identified in Chinese works on agriculture

it

It has,

and eighteenth centuries.^ Loureiro, 1790,' says it is also cultivated in Cochin China and varieties are named with white and yellow flowers. The Pak-choi has more resemblance to a chard than to a cabbage, having oblong or oval, of the fifth, sixteenth, seventeenth

dark shining-green leaves upon long, very white and swollen stalks. The Pe-tsai, however, rather resembles a cos lettuce, forming an elongated head, rather full and compact

and the leaves are a however, a

'

2 '

common

little

wrinkled and undulate at the borders.'"

aspect and are annuals.

Card. Chron. 346.

1853.

U. S. Pat. Off. Rpt. 198.

Me. Farm.

May

1854.

15, 1835.

Vilmorin Lei Pis. Potag. 142.

Unger, F.

Bon '

Jard. 533.

Loudon,

J.

C.

'

Loureiro

1859.

1882.

Hort. 627.

Bretschneider, E. '

1883.

U. S. Pat. Off. Rpt. 353.

i860.

Bot. Sin. 59, 78, 83, 85.

Fl. Cochin.

397.

1790.

Vilmorin Les Pis. Potag. 407.

1883.

1882.

Both

varieties have,

STURTEVANT

S

NOTES ON EDIBLE PLANTS

Considering that the round-headed cabbage

the only sort figured

is

lO'J

by the

herbalists,

that the pointed-headed early cabbages appeared only at a comparatively recent date,

and

certain resemblances between Pe-tsai

and the long-headed cabbages,

it. is

not an

impossible suggestion that these cabbage-forms appeared as the effect of cross-fertilization

with the Clfeiese cabbage. But, until the cabbage family has received more study in its varieties, and the results of hybridization are better vmderstood, no certain conclusion can be reached. It is, however, certain that occasional rare sports, or variables, from the seed of our early, long-headed cabbages show the heavy veining and the limb of the leaf extending down the stalk, suggesting strongly the Chinese type. At present, however, views as to the origin of various types of

cabbage must be considered as largely

speculative.

B. cretica Lam.

The young

Mediterranean regions.

Chinese mustard,

B. jimcea Coss.

in

The warm

is

plant

indian mustard.

and generally

extensively cultivated throughout India, central Africa It is largely

countries.

the Caspian Sea.

shoots were formerly used in Greece. '

in south Russia

grown

and

in the steppes northeast of

In 1871-72, British India exported 1418 tons of seed.

in Russia in the place of olive

The powdered

oil.

The

used

oil is

and culinary

seeds furnish a medicinal

mustard.*

black mustard.

B. nigra Koch,

This

the mustard of the ancients and

is

Holland and England. The plant naturalized in the United States. introduced from Egypt and was

is

According to the belief of the ancients,

made known

medicine, and Ceres the goddess of seeds.

was employed

in medicine

The

without sowing.

cultivated in Alsace, Bohemia, Italy,

is

found wild in most parts of Europe and has become it

was

first

mankind by Aesculapius, the god of Mustard is mentioned by Pythagoras and to

by Hippocrates, 480 B. C.

Pliny says the plant grew in Italy

ancients ate the young plants as' a spinach

and used the seeds

for

supplying mustard.

Black mustard century and

grown

is

is

described as a garden plant

by Albertus Magnus

'

in the thirteenth

mentioned by the botanists of the sixteenth century. It is, however, more its seed, from which the mustard of commerce is derived, yet finds

as a field crop for

place also as a salad plant.

and the Large-seeded

Black.*

Two

varieties are described, the

The young plants are now eaten as a salad, the same now furnish the greater portion of our mustard. B. oleracea acephala

The

DC.

Black Mustard of

This mustard was in American gardens in 1806 or

borecole,

cole,

as are those of B. alba

colewort.

Sicily

earlier.

and the seeds

kale.

chief characteristics of this species of Brassica are that the plants are open, not

heading like the cabbages, nor producing eatable flowers like the cauliflowers and broccoli. Unger, F.

U. S. Pat. Of. Rpt. 353.

'

Fluckiger and

*

Albertus

*

VUmorin Les

Hanbury Pharm.

Magnus

Veg. 568.

Pis. Potag. 356.

64.

1867. 1883.

1859.

1879.

Jessen Ed.

STURTEVant's NOTES ON EDIBLE PLANTS

fo8

The

species has every appearance of being one of the early

species also

and

is

some distinguishing

removes from the

original

known as kale, greens, sprouts, curlico, with many Some are grown as ornaprefixes as Buda kale, German greens.

cultivated in

varieties

mental plants, being variously curled, laciniated and of beautiful colors. In 1661, Ray " they use much pottage made of journeyed into Scotland and says of the people that It is probable that this

coal-wort which they call keal."

was the form

of

cabbage known

to the ancients.

The

kales represent

an extremely variable

class of vegetable

and have been imder

What the varieties of cabbage were that were seems impossible to determine in all cases, but we can hardly question but that some of them belonged to the kales. Many varieties were known to the Romans. Cato,* who lived about 201 B. C, describes the Brassica as: the levis, cultivation

from a most remote

known to the

ancient Greeks

period.

it

large broad-leaves, large-stalked; the crispa or apiacan; the lenis, small-stalked, tender,

but rather sharp-tasting. Pliny ,^ in the first century, describes the Cumana, with sessile leaf and open head; the Aricinum, not excelled in height, the leaves numerous and thick; the Pompeianum,

the stalk thin at the base, thickening along the leaves; the hrutiana,

tall,

with very large leaves, thin leaves,

stalk,

whose thickness exceeds that

sharp savored; the

admired

for its curled

head roimd, the leaves fleshy; the Tritianom, often The first American mention of coleworts is

large headed, innumerable leaves, the

a foot in diameter and

sahellica,

of the stalk, of very sweet savor; the Lacuturres, very

late in going to seed.

is probably the one men' in in In McMahon^ recommends for as Benzoni 1806, growing Hayti 1565. by American gardens the green and the brown Aypres and mentions the Red and Thick-

by

Sprigley, 1669, for Virginia but this class of the cabbage tribe

tioned

leaved Curled, the Siberian, the Scotch and especially recommends Jerusalem kale.

The form of kale known in France as the chevalier seems to have been the longest ' known and we may surmise that its names of chou caulier and caulet have reference to the period when the word caulis, a stalk, had a generic meaning applying to the cabbage race

We may

in general.

manner as

like

This word B. C.;

hence surmise that this was the

coles or coleworts in

coles or caulis is

may

;

According to the following

is

De

by Cato, 200 years the third; by Vegetius in the

illustration,

first century A. D. by Palladius in and Albertus Magnus in the thirteenth. ;

be quite reasonably supposed to be the

levis of

This race of chevaliers

Cato, sometimes called caulodes.

Candolle, this race of chevaliers has five principal sub-races, of which

an incomplete synonymy

:

I.

Brassica

laevis.

Cam.

Br. vulgaris saliva. Cavalier branchu. '

*

Script.

Pliny

Rei Rust. 1:75.

lib. 19, c.

41;

in ancient times, in

times imply the cultivation of kales.

used in the generic sense, for

Colimiella the

by

fourth century A. D.

modem

more

common form

Epit. 248.

Ger. 244.

1586; Matth. Op. 366.

1597.

DeCand. Mem.

9.

182 1.

1787.

lib. 20, c. 33.

New World

'

Benzoni Hist.

*

McMahon, B. Amer. Card. Cal. 308, 309. De Candolle, A. P. Trans. Hort. Soc. Land.

Hakl. Soc. Ed. 91.

1857. 1806.

5:7.

1824.

1598.

STURTEVANT

NOTES ON EDIBLE PLANTS

S

Thousand-headed. Burr 236. 1863. Chou branchu du Poitou. Vilm. 135. Chou mille tetes. Vilm. 1. c.

lOQ

1883.

a. viridis.

11.

Kol.

Roeszl. 87. 1550. Brassica. Trag. 720. 1552.

Brassica alba vulgaris.

Baiih. J. 2:829.

commun. Decand. Mem. Cow Cabbage. Btur 232. 1863. Chou cavalier. Vilm. 134. 1883.

Chou

vert

9.

Chabr. 290.

Brassica vulgaris alba.

1677.

primum

Fuch. 413.

genus.

rubra.

b.

II.

Brassica

1651. 182 1.

1542.

Br. rubra prima species. Dalechamp 523. Br. rubra. Ger. 244. 1597.

Bauh.

Br. rubra vulgaris.

Red

J.

De Cand. Mem.

cavalier.

Flanders kale.

Burr 233.

Caulet de Flander.

1587.

2:831. 1651; Chabr. 270. 182 1. 9.

1877.

1863.

Vilm. 134.

1883. III.

Brassica vulgaris sativa. Lob. O65. 122. 1576; Jcow. 1:243. Br. alba vulgaris. Dalechamp 520. 1587.

Dur. C.

Brassica.

181 7.

76.

Chou

hfeuilles de Chene.

Buda

kale.

Vilm. 141.

De Cand. Mem.

182 1.

10.

1885.

IV.

a.

Fuch. 414. 1542. Lob. O65. 124. 1576; /com. 247. Br.fimbriata. Br. sativa crispa. Ger. 244. 1597. Dod. 622. 1616. Br. crispa. Brassica secundum genus.

Bauh.

Br. crispa lacinosa.

Chou

vert

frise.

De Cand.

Tall Green Curled.

Chou frise

J.

2:832.

M^wi.

Burr 236.

vert grand.

10.

1591.

1651. 182 1.

1863.

Vilm. 131.

1883.

IV.

b.

Brassica crispa, seu apiana. Trag. 721. 1552. Br. crispa Tragi. 1587. Dalechamp 524. Loh. Icon. 1:246. 1591. Br. tenuijolia laciniata. Br. selenoides.

Dod. 622.

Br. tenuissima laciniata.

Br. selenoides.

Ger. 248.

Chou plume ou Chou

16 16.

Bauh.

J.

2:832.

1651.

1597-

aigrette.

De

Cand.

Mew.

11.

1821.

Ornamental kales of our gardens. V. Brassica tophosa. Ger. 246. Br. tophosa Tabernemontano.

Chou

palmier.

1547; Bauh.

J.

Chabr. 270.

De Cand. Mew.

11.

182

1;

2:830.

1651.

1677.

Vilm. 133.

1883.

1591; Dod. 621.

1616.

STURTEVANT

.no

These forms occur in

many

S

NOTES ON EDIBLE PLANTS

varieties, differing in degree only,

In addition to the above

even variegated.

The

also occur in several varieties.

we may mention

following

synonyms

and

of various colors,

the proliferous kales, which

refer to proliferation only, as

the plants in other respects are not similar: Brassica asparagoides Dalechampii. Dalechamp 522. Ger. 245. Brassica proUfera. 1597Brassica proUfera crispa. Ger. 245. 1597.

Burr

Cockscomb

kale.

Chou frise

proUfbre.

1587.

1863.

232.

Vikn. 133.

1883.

The Dwarf Kales.

De

Candolle does not bring these into his classification as offering true types, and

in this perhaps he is right.

are but few varieties.

Yet, olericulturally considered, they are quite distinct.

The

marked

best

is

There

the Dwarf Curled, the leaves falling over in

a gracefxd curve and reaching to the groimd. This kale can be traced through variations and varieties to our first class, and hence it has probably been derived in recent times through a process of selection, or through the preservation of a natural variation. There is

an intermediate type between the Dwarf Curled and the Tall Curled forms in the

intermediate

Moss Curled.

The Portugal Kales.

Two cabbage.

kales have the extensive rib system

These are the chou

brocoli

and the general aspect

and the chou

bear the same relation to Portugal cabbage that

of the Portugal

frise de mosbach of Vilmorin.

common

These

kale bears to the heading

cabbages. B. oleracea botaTtis cymosa

The

DC.

broccoli.

between the most highly improved varieties of the broccoli and the Hence two cauliflower are very slight; in the less changed forms they become great. races can be defined, the sprouting broccolis and the cauliflower broccolis. The growth differences

more prolonged than that of the cauliflower, and in the European heads the year following that in which it is sown. It is this circiunstance that leads us to suspect that the Romans knew the plant and described it under of the broccoli is far

countries

the

it

bears

its

name cyma

"Cyma a prima

sectione praestat

proximo

vere."

"Ex omnibus

brassicae

cyma," says Pliny.* He also uses the word cyma for the seed from the stalk which rises heading cabbage. These excerpts indicate the sprouting broccoli, and the addition of the word cyma then, as exists in Italy now, with the word broccoli generibiis suavissima est

is

used for a secondary meaning, for the tender shoots which at the close of winter are

emitted by various kinds

of'

cabbages and turnips preparing to flower.^

very curious that the early botanists did not describe or figure broccoli.

It is certainly

only explainable under the supposition that it was confounded with the cauliflower, just a Linnaeus brought the cauliflower and the broccoli into one botanical

The omission variety.

'

'

Pliny

The

is

first

lib. 19, c.

notice of broccoli is quoted from Miller's Dictionary, edition of 1724,

41;

lib. 20, c. 35.

Vilmorin Les Pis. Potag. 151.

1883.

STURTEVANT in

which he says

was a stranger

it

NOTES ON EDIBLE PLANTS

S

in

England

1 1 1

until within these five years

and was

called

"sprout colli -flower," or Italian asparagus.' In 1729, Switzer^ says there are several " kinds that he has had growing in his garden near London these two years: that with small, whitish-yellow flowers like the cauliflower; others like the common sprouts and flowers of a'i:olewort; a third with purple flowers; all of which of

them being as yet

names the Early 1806,

of)

ever sav'd separate."

together, none

In 1778, Mawe,'

Purple, Late Purple, White or Cauliflower-broccoli and the Black.

McMahon*

and the Black.

know

(at least that I

come mixed

mentions the

In 1821,

Roman

In

or Purple, the Neapolitan or White, the Green

Thorbum^ names

the Cape, the White and the Purple, and,

list, mentions the Early White, Early Purple, the Large Purple Cape and the White Cape or Cauliflower-broccoli. The first and third kind of Switzer, 1729, are doubtless the heading broccoli, while the second is probably the sprouting form. These came from Italy and as the seed came

in 1828, in his seed

mixed,

we may assume

that hence

that varietal distinctions had not as yet become recognized, and

the types of the broccoli

all

now grown have

originated from Italy.

It is

interesting to note, however, that at the Cirencester Agricultural College, about i860, sorts of broccoU were produced, with other variables, from the seed of wild cabbage.* " The sprouting or asparagus broccoli, represents the first form Vilmorin says:^

exhibited

by the new vegetable when

it

ceased to be the earliest cabbage and was grown

with an especial view to its shoots; after this, by continued selection and successive improvements, varieties were obtained which produced a compact, white head, and some of these varieties were

still

further improved into kinds which are sufficiently early to

commence and complete their entire growth named kinds are now known as cauliflowers." B. oleracea bullata gemmifera

DC.

in the course of the

same year; these

last

Brussels sprouts.

This vegetable, in this country, grown only in the gardens of amateurs, yet deserving more esteem, has for a type-form a cabbage with an elongated stalk, bearing groups of Sometimes occurring as a monstrosity, branches leaf-buds in the axils of the leaves. Quite frequently an early cabbage, after the true head

instead of heads are developed. is

removed,

will

develop small cabbages in the leaf-axils, and thus

formed the Brassica

Dalechamp,^ 1587, which he himself describes as a certain unused

capitata polycephalos of

and rare

is

kind.

have stated that brussels sprouts have been grown from time immemorial about Brussels, in Belgium; but, if this be so, it is strange that they escaped the notice of the Authors

'

Miller Card. Did. 1807.

'

Martyn

'

Switzer Raising Veg.

Mawe and

B.

Amer. Card.

Cat.

182 1.

'Agr.Caz. 217.

1879.

'

'

Vilmorin Les Pis. Potag. 151.

Dalechamp Booth,

Preface.

1729.

Abercrombie Univ. Card. Bot.

McMahon, Thorburn

2.

Hist. Gen.

W.B.

PL

Cal. 310.

1778.

1806.

1883.

(Lugd.) 521.

Treas. Bot. 1:167.

1874.

1587.

STURTEVant's NOTES ON EDIBLE PLANTS

112

who would have

early botanists,

ance and have given a

certainly noticed a

cominon plant of such

Bauhin,' indeed, 1623, gives the

figure.

name

striking appear-

Brassica ex capitibus

and adds that some plants bear 50 heads the size of an egg, but his reference to Dalechamp would lead us to infer that the plant known to him was of the same character as that figiu-ed by Dalechamp above noted. Lobel,^.i6ss, refers to a pluribus conglohata,

cabbage like a Brassica polycephalos, but, as he had not seen it, he says he will affirm nothing. Ray,' 1686, refers to a like cabbage. A. P.

gium and

De

Candolle,^ 1821, describes brussels sprouts as its

implies

1854 that

has been generally

it

known

in England.

But two

The

in these classes.

having

less

'

only since about

of the Gardeners'

it is

mentioned in 1806

^

by and

Europe. tall

and the dwarf, and but a few minor variations and leaf from the dwarf, the former

tall is quite distinct in habit

crowded sprouts and a more open character As, however, there

blistered or puckered.

is

of plant, with leaves scarcely

considerable variation to be noted in seed-

connecting links, the two forms

lings, furnishing

says

it is

correspondent

In American gardens,

known, the

classes are

^

sorts as generally preferred to the dwarf

Chronicle, 1850, however, refers to the tall

the market gardeners about London. this implies its general use in

A

cultivated in Bel-

commonly

general use in French gardens, but Booth

may

legitimately be considered as one,

the difference being no greater than would be explained by the observed power of selection and of the influence for modification which might arise from the influence of cabbage This fact of their being of but one type, even if with several variables, would pollen.

seem to indicate a probabiUty that the origin is to be sought for in a sport, and that our present forms have been derived from a suddenly observed variable of the Savoy cabbage type and, as the lack of early mention and the recent nature of modem mention presupposes, at

some time

scarcely preceding the last century.

Allied to this class

the Tree cabbage, or Jersey cabbage, which attains an extreme

is

bearing a comparatively small, open cabbage on the summit, the Thousand-headed cabbage, the Poiton cabbage, and the Marrow cabbage, the stems of which

height of 16

feet,

last are succulent

sprouts, but

enough to be boiled

he does not include them in

were not at that time

headed cabbage but

in

it

In 1806,

very general use.

offers its

Pinax

Lobel Stirp.

3.

1655.

Ray Hist. PL 794. 1686. De Candolle, A. P. Trans. Horl. Treas. Bot. 1:167. Booth, W. B. 'Card. Chron. 117.

'McMahon, McMahon, Fessenden

" Thorburn

Soc. Land. $-.15.

1874.

1850.

B.

Amer. Card.

Col. 580.

1806.

B.

Amer. Card.

Col. 309.

1806.

New Amer. Cat. 1828.

Card. 59.

1828.

describes brussels

known

to

him

personally.

Thor-

and

in 1881,

seed for sale, but one variety only,

1623.

Illustr. 82.

'

American garden esculents so they Fessenden,^ 1828, mentions the Thousand-

varieties.

Bauhin, C.

McMahon

his list of

does not seem to have been

bum,'" in his catalog for 1828,

two

for food.

1824.

STURTEVANT DC.

B. oleracea biillata major

S

NOTES ON EDIBLE PLANTS

1

13

savoy cabbage.

This race of cabbage is distinguished by the blistered surface of its leaves and by the formation of a loose or little compacted head. Probably the heading cabbages of the ancient

Romans

belong to this

head, and at &

class, as, in their descriptions,

later period this

form

is

named

as

there are no indications of a firm

Roman.

Thus, Ruellius,* under the name romanos a loose-heading sort of cabbage but does not This sort probably is the Brassica italica tenerrima particularly as a Savoy. if

distinctly

1536, describes

describe

it

flore albo figured

ghmerosa

ascribed to Italy;

it

is

by

J.

Bauhin,^ 165 1,

with the additional names of Chou elsewhere, this

its origin,

judging from the name, being

by Chabraeus,' 1677, under the same

also figured

name and

and Chou de Savoys. In the Adversaria * and kind is' described as tender and as not extending to northern climates. This d'ltalie

form, so carefully pictured as existing under culture, has doubtless been superseded better varieties.

McMahon

has been cultivated in English gardens for three centuries.*

It

mentions three savoys for American gardens. In 1828, Thorbum and in 1881 offers seed of but three.

'

by

In 1806, offers in

his catalog seeds of five varieties

DC.

B. oleracea capita

Few

cabbage.

plants exhibit so

many forms

in its variations

No kitchen garden in Europe or America is without it

from the

and

it is

original type as cabbage.

distributed over the greater

part of Asia and, in fact, over most of the world. The original plant occurs wild at the present day on the steep, chalk rocks of the sea province of England, on the coast of

Denmark and northwestern France and, Lindley says, from Greece to Great nimierous localities. At Dover, England, wild cabbage varies considerably in and general appearance and excellent flavor.'

used as a culinary vegetable and is of undoubtedly the original of ovir cultivated varie-

in its wild state

This wild cabbage

is

is

as experiments at the garden of the Royal Agricultural College

ties,

Britain in its foliage

resulted in the production of sorts of broccoli, cabbages

ered from rocks overhanging the sea in Wales.'

and

at Cirencester

and greens from wild plants gath-

Lindley groups the leading variations

If the race is vigorous, long jointed and has little tendency to turn its leaves forms what are called open cabbages (the kales) if the growth is stunted, the inwards, becomes the heart cabbages; if joints short and the leaves inclined to turn inwards, it

as follows:

it

;

both these tendencies give way to a preternatural formation of flowers, the cauliflowers If the stems sweU out into a globular form, we have the turnip-rooted are the result. Other species of Brassica, very nearly

cabbages.

B. insularis

B. halearica Richl.,

nean

flora

Bauhin, '

J.

Slirp. 477.

Chabraeus Icon. Sciag. 269. Pena and Lobel Advers. 91. Booth,

W.

McMahon, ''Card. '

PL

Hist. PI. 2:827.

B. B.

Amer. Card.

Mag. 8:54.

Agr.Caz. 217.

1536. 1651. 1677.

1570.

Treas. Bot. 1:166.

1879.

to B. oleracea

Linn., such

as

Moris, and B. cretica Lam., belong to the Mediterra-

and some botanists suggest that some

Ruellius Nat.

allied

1870.

Cat. 580.

1806.

of these species, likewise

introduced

STURTEVANTS NOTES ON EDIBLE PLANTS

114

and

into the gardens

and thus have

may have mixed with each other many races cultivated at the present

established as cultivated plants,

assisted in giving rise to

some

of the

day. ancient Greeks held cabbage in high esteem and their fables deduce its origin

The

of their gods; for, they inform us that Jupiter, laboring to explain

from the father

two

oracles which contradicted each other, perspired and from this divine perspiration the colewort sprung.' Dioscorides^ mentions two kinds of coleworts, the cultivated and ' Theophrastus names the curled cole, the swath cole and the wild cole. The Egyptians are said to have worshipped cabbage, and the Greeks and Romans ascribed * to it the happy quality of preserving from drunkenness.^ PUny mentions it. Cato

the wild.

describes one kind as smooth, great, broadleaved, with a big stalk, the second ruffed,

the third with

by the ancient

cultivated

into art

It

much

biting.

Regnier

'

says cabbages were

Celts.

one of the most generally cultivated of the vegetables of temperate cligrows in Sweden as far north as 67 to 68. The introduction of cabbage is

Cabbage mates.

tender and very

little stalks,

^

European gardens is usually ascribed to the Romans, but Olivier de Serres says the Disraeli ' says of making them head was unknown in France in the ninth centvuy.

Anthony Ashley of Dorsetshire first planted cabbages in England, and a cabbage at his feet appears on his monument; before his time they were brought from Holland. Cabbage is said to have been scarcely known in Scotland until the time of the Commonthat Sir

it was carried there by some of Cromwell's soldiers.'" Cabbage was " in his third In Cartier America an at introduced into 1540, voyage to early period. " as growing in Hayti Canada, sowed cabbages. Cabbages are mentioned by Benzoni

when

wealth, 1649,

in 1556; in

1

78

Shrigley," in Virginia in 1669; but are not mentioned especially

by

1.

Romans foimd them

in Florida in 1775

They were seen by NieuhofI in Brazil among the Indian crops about Geneva, New York, destroyed by Gen.

Indians.

tioned

In 1806,

his expedition of reprisal."

early >

and

H.

Phillips,

'

Ibid.

*

Soyer, A.

c.

Thorbum

Comp. KiUh. Card. 1:92. Herb. 311.

1833

'^

Pm6. Ce. 438.

con.

Pantroph. 6i.

2nd Ed.

1818.

1853.

Disraeli Curios. Lit. 2:329.

1859.

"Booth, W.B.

Treas. Bot. 1:166.

" Pinkerton

Foy. 12:667.

Co/Z.

Benzoni Hist.

New

World.

1870.

1812.

Hak.

Soc. Ed. 91.

"

1857.

Shrigley True Pel. Va. Md. Force Coll. Tracts 3:5. " Conover, G. S. Early Hist. Geneva 47. 1879.

'

McMahon, B. Amer. Thorbum Co(. 1821.

Card. Cal. 580.

1806.

Sullivan in

offered 18 varieties in his seed catalog

1831.

on 836.

Jefferson

mentions for American gardens seven

157, 75.

Regnier Soyer, A.

'

McMahon "

Pantroph. 60. 1853. Bostock and Riley Nat. Hist. Pliny

Cato '

In 1828,

six late sorts.

Gerarde, J.

'

by

and even cultivated by the Choctaw In i779. cabbages are menin 1647.

1844.

and

STURTEVANTS NOTES ON EDIBLE PLANTS

II5

In 1869, Gregory tested 60 named varieties in his experimental garden and

in 1881, 19.

in 187s Landreth tested 51.

The headed cabbage

in its perfection of growth

and

its

multitude of varieties, bears

It does not appear, however, to

every evidence of being of ancient origin.

have been

known

to I>t.oscorides, or to Theophrastus or Cato, but a few centuries later the presence ' cabbage is indicated by Columella and Pliny,^ who, of his variety, speaks of the head being sometimes a foot in diameter and going to seed the latest of all the sorts known to of

The

him.

headed

descriptions are, however, obsciore,

varieties

Olivier de Serres^ says:

mention. of

now known had been "

making them head was vmknown

who

seen in

and we may well believe that if the hardat this time they would have received

Rome

White cabbages came from the north, and the in the time of Charlemagne."

art

Albertus Magnus,*

lived in the twelfth century, seems to refer to a headed cabbage in his Caputium,

but there

who

1536,

no

is

The

description.

first

them capucos coles, or cabutos and even a foot and a half in diameter.

calls

very large, used in England in the fourteenth coles. ^

distinguished from and this name and

warm

unmistakable reference to cabbage

centurj-,

Ruellius,

and

often

Yet the word cabaches and caboches, indicates cabbage was then known and was

when we

description,

consider the difficulty

and

Roman

perhaps of the

Our present cabbages are divided by De Candolle headed, the round-headed, the egg-shaped, the

many

by

form called romanos, of heading cabbages in a

Ruellius, also, describes a loose-headed

solid-heading type but loose-headed

class are

is

describes the head as globular

would lead us to believe that the

climate,

'

varieties

savoy '

were not our present

class.

into five types or races: the flat-

and the

elliptic

conical.

Within each

In Viknorin's Les Plantes Poiagkres, 1883, 57 kinds are

sub-varieties.

In the Report of

New

York AgriculIn tural Experiment Station for 1886, 70 varieties are described, excluding synonyms. class and are not included. The as a the are treated cases histories both separate savoys of De Candolle's forms are as follows:

described, and others are mentioned by name.

the

Flat-Headed Cabbage.

The

Type, Quintal.

A Common

No. 612.

the Flat-topped

remarkably

flat

is

first

Flatwinter, probably this form,

described

and

appearance of this form

by Mawe,'

1778.

The

is is

in Pancovius

Herbarium, 1673,

mentioned by Wheeler,* 1763; now esteemed are

varieties that are

solid.

Round Cabbage. Type, Early Dutch Drumhead. This appears to be the earliest form, as it is the only kind figured in early botanies and was hence presumably the only, or, perhaps, the '

*

Columella Pliny

'Soyer, A. *

'

lib. 10, c. i, p.

lib. 19, c.

Albertus

138.

41, p. 187.

Pantroph. 61.

Magnus

Veg.

1853.

lib. 7, c.

90.

1867.

Ruellius Nat. Stirp. 477.

1536.

The Forme of Cury 1390

Warner Antiq.

De

Candolle, A. P.

Wheeler

Mawe

in

Jessen Ed.

Culin.

Trans. Hort. Soc. Land. 5:7.

Bot., Card. Diet. 79.

1763.

and Abercrombie Univ. Card.

Bot.

1778.

1791. 1824.

-1 1

sturtevant's notes on edible plants

6

known during

principal sort

several centuries.

The

following

synonymy

taken from

is

drawings only and hence there can be no mistake in regard to the type: Brassicae quartum genus. Fuch. 416. 1542. 1550. Kappiskraut. Roeszl. 87. Caulis capitulatis. Trag. 717. 1552.

Matth. 247. Brassica capitata. Kol oder Kabiskraut. Pict. 90. Brassica alba

sessilis glomerata,

1558; Pin. 163.

1561;

Cam.

Epit. 250.

1586.

1581.

aut capitata Lactucae habitu.

Lobel Icon,

i

243.

1591.

Brassica capitata albida. Dalechamp 1:521. 1587; Dod. P^wj/'^ 623. 1616. Dur. C. 78. 1617. Brassica capuccia. Brassica capitata alba. Bod. 777. 1644; Bauh. J. 1:826. 1651; Chabr. 269.

1677.

The

descriptive

synonymy

:

includes the losed cabbage, a great roimd cabbage of Lyte's

Dodoens, 1586; the White Cabbage Cole of Gerarde, 1597; the White Cabbage of Ray, 1686; the chou pomnte blanc of Toumefort, 1719; the English of Townsend,

Common White

of Wheeler, 1763; the English or Late, of Stevenson, 1765; the

Roimd White

Mawe,

of

1726; {he

Common

1778.

Egg-Shaped Cabbage. ' remarks of this variety, the Sugar-loaf, that, Type, the Sugar-loaf. Vilmorin although a very old variety and well known in every country in Europe, it does not appear to be extensively grown anywhere. It is called chou chicon in France ^ and bundee kobee

in India.' son,'

It is

mentioned by name by Townsend,* 1726; by Wheeler,' 1763; by Steven' 1778. Perhaps the Large-sided cabbage of Worlidge and the

1765; and by Mawe,'

Long-sided cabbage of Quintyne

'

belong to this division.

Elliptic Cabbage.

Type, Early York. it

as a well-known sort.

are

now many

This

is first

mentioned by Stevenson,*" 1765, and he refers to it came originally from Flanders. There

According to Burr,

varieties of this class.

Conical Cabbage. Type, Filderkraut. This race is described by Lamarck," 1783, and, if there is any constancy between the name and the variety during long periods, is found in the Battersea,

named by Townsend

in 1726

and by a whole

line of succeeding writers.

one of these races of cabbage received the notice of the older botanists (excepting the one flat-topped given by Chabraeus, 1677), It

is

certainly very singular that but

'

Vilmorin Veg. Card. no.

1885.

'

Vilmorin Veg. Card. 109.

1885.

Speede Ind. Handb. Card. 112. 1842. Townsend Seedsman 26. 1726. '

Wheeler Bot. Card.

Diet. 79.

"Stevenson Card. Kal. 26, 119. '

Mawe and Worlidge,

1765. 1765.

Abercrombie Univ. Card. Bot.

J.

Syst. Hort. 202.

1778.

1683.

Quintyne Com^. Card. 189. 1693. Evelyn Ed. "Stevenson Card. Kal. 26. 119, 1765.

"Don, G.

Hist. Dichl. Pis. 1:22s.

1831.

STURTEVANT

S

NOTES ON EDIBLE PLANTS

11 J

as their characteristics are extremely well marked and form extreme contrasts between the conical, or pointed, and the spherical-headed. either originated or

came

We

into use in a recent period.

must, hence, believe that they

How

they came and whence they

came, must be decided from a special study, in which the

become a

From

f&iture.

suggestion

may be

effect of hybridization

may

the study of sports that occasionally appear in the garden, the

offered that at least

some

have been derived from

of these races

cross-

ings with some form of the Chinese cabbage, whereby form has become transferred while the other characteristics of the Chinese species have disappeared. On the other hand,

the savoy

believed to have origin from the

class,

same source as the cabbage, has oval or

oblong heads, which have been noted by the herbalists.

very remarkable, says Unger, that the European and Asiatic names used for different species of cabbage may all be referred to four roots. The names kopf kohl (GerIt is

man), cabus (French), cabbage (English), kappes, kraut, kapost, kaposta, kapsta (Tartar), kopee (Beng.), kopi (Hindu), have a manifest relation to the Celto-Slavic root cap or

means head. Brassica of Pliny is The Celto-Germanico-Greek root caul may be

kap, which in Celtic

derived from the Celtic, bresic

cabbage.

detected in the word kaol, the

Grecian kaulion of Theophrastus, the Latin caulis; also in the words caulx,

cavolo, coan,

kohl, kale, kaal (Norwegian), kohl (Swedish), col (Spanish), kelum (Persian); finally, the

Greco-Germanic root cramb, krambe, passes into krumb, karumb of the Arabians. The want of a Sanscrit name shows that the cabbage tribe first found its way at a later period to India and China.

This tribe

DC.

B. oleracea capitata rubra

This

and

is

is

not mentioned as in Japan by Thunberg, 1775.

red cabbage.

a very distinct and probably a very ancient kind of a peculiar purple color It is cultivated in a number of varieties and in 1854 the seed of

solid heading.

Red Savoy was

distributed from the United States Patent Office.

One

variety

is

men-

tioned for American gardens by McMahon,' 1806, and one variety only by Thorbum,^ 1828 and 1881, but several distinct sorts can now be obtained from seedsmen. Bvirr,* to be called black. 1863, describes three reds and one so deeply colored as

The

first

certain mention of this cabbage

and figures are given Bauhin, 1651.*

by Gerarde,

is

in 1570, in

1597,^ Matthiolus,

Pena and Lobel's

1598,^

Dodonaeus, 1616,' and

figures are all of the spherical-headed type.

These

Adversaria,^

In 1638,'

Ray

J.

notices

the variability in the colors upon which a number of our seedsmen's varieties are founded. The oblong or the pointed-headed types which now occur cannot be traced. The solidity of the

head and the perfectness

McMahon, B. Amer. 'ThoThum Cat. 1828.

Card. Cal. 580.

Field, Card. Veg. 266, 267.

Burr, F.

*Pena and Lobel ^d^eri. Gerarde, J.

'Dodonaeus Pempt. J.

91.

Herb. 246.

Matthiolus Opera 367.

Bauhin,

of the

Hist.

Ra.y Hist. PI. 79$-

1597. 1598.

621.

PL

1570.

1616.

2:832.

'686.

1651.

form in

1806.

1863.

this class of

cabbage indicate long

ctilture

sturtevant's notes on edible plants

'ii8

and a remote

In England, they have never attained

origin.

use,' and, as in this coimtry, are principally

much

standing for general

for pickling.

grown

COLLARDS OR COLEWORT. United States, coUards, or colewort, are sowings of an early variety of cabbage in rows about one foot apart to be cut for use as a spinach when about six or Other directions for culture are to sow seeds as for cabbage in June, eight inches high. old in rows a foot apart July and August for succession, transplant when one month

As grown

in the

The

each way, and hoe frequently.

collard plants are kept for sale

than the cabbage seed under this grown and used for greens and after frost the flavor

commimis DC.

B. oleracea caulo-rapa

This

is

There

The

esteemed deHcious.

kohl-rabi.

no

is

certain identification of this race in ancient writings.

gorgylis of

Theophrastus

'

and Galen ^ seems

Galen says the root contained within the earth

saw

in the gardens of Tripoli

it

is

it is

also to

The

between a radish and be the rutabaga, for In 1554, Matthio-

hard unless cooked.

come

lus' speaks of the kohl-rabi as having lately

Rauwolf

is

seems rather to be the rutabaga, as he says

^

bunidia of Pliny

^

rather

a dwarf-growing plant with the stem swelled out so as to resemble a timiip

above ground. a rape.

by seedsmen,

In the Southern States, coUards are extensively

name.

into Italy.

and Aleppo.

Between 1573 and

1575,

Lobel,' 1570, Camerarius,* 1586,

Dalechamp,^ 1587, and other of the older botanists figure or describe

it

as vmder European

culture.

some

writers, is

convey

this idea.

Kohl-rabi, in the view of of the

names applied

the plant in

to

it

a cross between cabbage and rape, and many This view is probably a mistaken one, as

sportings under cultiu-e tends to the form of the

its

Marrow cabbage, from

two kohl-rabi plants were growing

in pots in In 1884, probably a the greenhouse at the New York Agricultural Experiment Station; one of these extended itself until it became a Marrow cabbage and when planted out in the spring attained its

which

derivation.

it is

growth as a Marrow cabbage.

This idea of

its origin finds

covintenance in the figures of

the older botanists; thus, Camerarius, 1586, figures a plant as a kohl-rabi which in all essential points resembles a Marrow cabbage, tapering from a small stem into a long

Marrow cabbage. The figures given by Lobel,'" 1591, Dodonaeus," i6i6,andBodaeus,2 ^^^^^ ^^en compared with Camerarius' figure, suggest a

kohl-rabi, with

Worlidge, '

Pliny

lib.

J.

flat

531s/.

Theophrastus

*

GsX&n Aliment.

lib. 7,

c. 4.

/7. Orieni 81.

1554. 1755.

Pena and Lobel Advers.

92.

Camerarius

1586.

Dalechamp

" Lobel

1683.

1547.

Matthiolus Comment 248.

Gronovius '

Hort. 203.

20, c. 2.

'

'

top like the

^t(.

251.

Hist. Gen.

Icon. 246.

PL

(Lugd.) 522.

1587.

1591.

" Dodonaeus Pempt. 625.

" Theophrastus

1570.

Hist. PI.

1616.

Bodaeus Ed. 777.

1644.

STURTEV ant's NOTES ON EDIBLE PLANTS Marrow

the

A

II9

improved form, not now under cultiu-e, is figured Bauliin,^ 1651, and Chabraeus,' 1677, and the modern form is given

cabbage.

long, highly

by Gerarde.i 1597, J. by Gerarde and by Matthiolus,'' the other figures,

A

very unimproved form, out of harmony with given by Dalechamp,^ 1587, and Castor Durante,^ 1617. The

is

synonymy can be tabulated

1598.

as below: I.

Caulorapum.

Cap. Epit. 251.

1586. II.

Rapa

Br. peregrine, caule

Br. caule

Rapa

rapum

Bodaus

brassica.

rapum

Lob. Icon. 246.

gerens.

Dod. Pempt. 625.

gerens.

1591.

i6r6.

1644.

777.

III.

Caulo rapum longum.

Ger. 250.

1597.

Baiih. J. 2:830. Br. caulorapa. 1651. Br. caulorapa sive Rapo caulis. Chabr. 270.

1677.

IV.

Caulorapum rotundum. Ger. 250. 1597. Brassica gongylodes. Matth. Opera 367. 1598. V. Brassica raposa.

Dalechamp Dur. C.

Bradica raposa.

we have

1587.

522.

161 7.

app.

came

Germany from Italy; Pena and Lobel say it came from Greece; Gerarde, that it grows in Italy, Spain and Germany, whence he received seeds. This plant was an inmate of the Old Physic Garden in Matthiolus, as

stated, says the plant

into

Edinburgh before 1683. In 1734, it was first brought into field culture in Ireland; in Scotland in 1805; and in England in 1837. In the United States, it was mentioned by McMahon,' 1806. Fessenden,' 1828, names two varieties, one the above-ground and the other the below-ground turnip-rooted.

Darwin

ground

like

a turnip.

leaves being cut ration

and

Two

frizzled,

confectioners.

by and the Marrow cabbage

and the artichoke-leaved

Herb. 250.

Gerarde, J.

Hut.

J.

are very sensitive to cold.

1597.

PI. 2:%iO.

Matthiolus Opera 367.

1651. 1677.

1598.

Hist. Gen. PI. (Lugd.)

Dalechamp

1587.

Durante, C.

Herb.&pp. 1617. McMahon, B. Amer. Card. Cal. 309.

Fessenden

Darwin, C.

variety, is greatly prized for deco-

These excerpts indicate a southern

Chabraeus Icon. Sciag. 270.

'

beneath the

varieties are used in France in ornamental gardening, the

synonymy, proved forms are given by more southern writers.

'Bauhin,

lies

new

The more

origin,

for this vegetable

highly improved forms, as

are in authors of northern or central Europe, while the unim-

figured in our

'

speaks of the recently formed

already including nine subvarieties, in which the enlarged part

race,

'

'

New Amer.

Card. 59.

1806.

1828.

Ans. and Pis. Domest. 1:342.

1893.

This indicates that the present kohl-

STURTEVANT

120

S

NOTES ON EDIBLE PLANTS The

rabi received its development in northern countries.

White and Purple, in early and

varieties

now grown

are the

NeapoUtan, and the

late forms, the Curled-leaf, or

Arti-

choke-leaved.

B. olearacea costata oblonga

This cabbage veins of the

leaf,

DC.

Portugal cabbage.

is

easily recognizable through the great expansion of the midribs

in

some cases forming quite

half of

the

identity in the multitude of radiating, branching veins.

winged

clear to the base.

all

it

its

In some plants the petioles are

the names applied to this form indicate

Nearly in late years, from Portugal, whence

tion, at least

leaf,

and

the midrib losing

its distribu-

reached English gardens about

and American gardens, tmder the name of Portugal Cabbage, about 1850.^ It should be remarked, however, that a chou d la grosse cdte was in French gardens in 161 2 * and in three varieties in 1824. 1821

'

This cabbage varies in a direction

parallel to that of the

common

cabbage, or has

forms which can be classed with the kales and the heading cabbages of at least two types.

The

peculiarity of the ribs or veins occasionally appears

the seed of the

As

inferred.

among the

variables

from

common

cabbage, hence atavism as the result of a cross can be reasonably to the origin of this form, opinion, at the present stage of studies, must be

largely speculative

but we

may

reasonably believe that

or a different set of hybridizations than did the

common

it

originated from a different form

cabbage.

The synonymy appears

to be:

Choux d. la grosse cdte. Jard. Solit. Chou blond aux grosses cotes. Bosc.

16 12. Diet. 4, 43.

1789.

Brassica oleracea aceppala costata. DC. Sysi. 2:584. 1821. B. oleracea costata. DC. Trans. Hort. Soc. Land. M. 5:12. 1824. Chou aux grosses cotes. Vilm. 1883.

charlock,

B, sinapistnun Boiss.

field mustard.

an European plant now occurring as a weed in cultivated fields In seasons of scarcity, in the Hebrides, the soft stems and leaves are boiled This

eaten.

is

It is so

in

employed

Sweden and

Ireland.

Its seeds

in America. in milk

form a good substitute

and for

mustard. Bridelia retusa Spreng.

Euphorbiaceae.

A tree of eastern Asia.

The

fruit is sweetish

and

eatable.*

Brodiaea grandiflora Sm. Liliaceae. californian hyacinth. Northwestern America. Its fruit is eaten by the Indians.^ in the flower garden.^

De CandoUe, '

Jard. Solit. 158.

Brandis, D. '

A. P.

Pickering, C.

Vilmorin

Trans. Hort. Soc. Land. 5:12.

Fam. Kitch.Gard.

'Buist, R.

1851.

Preface.

1612.

Forest Fl. 449.

1876.

Chron. Hist. Pis. 605.

Fl. PI. Ter. 174.

1870.

1879.

3rd Ed.

1821.

In France,

it is

grown

STURTEVANTS NOTES ON EDIBLE PLANTS Bromelia Sp. Bromeliaceae. In the Malay Archipelago, Wallace "

who

island near Ceram,

'

left

two men

121

a month, by accident, on an flower-stalks of a species of

for

and tender

subsisted on the roots

Bromelia, on shell fish and on a few turtle's eggs."

Brosium alicastnun Sw. American

alicastrum snakewood.

Urticaceae.

The

tropics.

breadnut.

boiled with salt-fish, pork, beef or pickle, has frequently

fruit,

been the support of the negro and poorer sorts of white people in times of scarcity and has proved a wholesome and not impleasant food.^ B. galactodendron D. Don.

cow-tree,

milk-tree.

Humboldt'

Gtiiana; the palo de vaca, arbol de leche, or cow-tree of Venezuela.

"

On

the barren flank of a rock grows a tree with coriaceous and dry leaves.

woody

For several months

roots can scarcely penetrate into the stone.

says:

Its large,

of the year not

a single shower moistens its foliage. Its branches appear dead and dried; but when the trunk is pierced there flows from it a sweet and nourishing milk. It is at the rising of the sun that this vegetable fountain

then seen hastening from

by Laet* in 1633,

home

most abundant.

The negroes and

natives are

quarters, furnished with large bowls to receive the milk which

all

grows yellow and thickens at others carry the juice

is

its surface.

Some empty

to their children."

in the province of

Camana.

their

bowls under the tree

itself,

This tree seems to have been noticed

The

plant, according to Desvaux,

is

first

one

South America. From incisions in the bark, milky drunk by the inhabitants as a milk. Its use is accompanied by astringency in the lips and palate. This cow-tree is grown in Ceylon and

of the palo de vaca or cow-trees of

sap

is

procured, which

a sensation of

India, for Brandis

that

it is

^

is

says

it

yields large quantities of thick, gluey milk without

drunk extensively, and that

it is

bark which

compotmd

is

used

and

Bruguiera g3minorrhiza Lam.

Muddy

tapa-cloth tree. is

cultivated for the inner

making a paper as well as textile fabrics.'

fruit is saccharine

The

fleshy part of the

edible.'

Rhizophoreae.

tropical shores from Hindustan to the

Samoan

Islands.

Its fruit, leaves

bark are eaten by the natives in the Malayan Archipelago.*

white bryony.

Bryonia alba Linn. Cucurbitaceae. West Mediterranean cotmtries. '

Wallace, A. R.

5

Browne U.

<

S.

Mday Arch.

526.

D. A. Rpl. 198. Trav. 2:48, 49.

Humboldt, A.

Trav. 2:^8. Forest Fl. 427.

Mueller, P.

Sel. Pis. 78.

'Hanbury, D. Pickering, C.

Set.

Loudon says the young shoots 1869.

1870.

Humboldt, A. Brandis, D.

acridity,

very wholesome and nourishing.

Urticaceae. paper mulberry, Broussonetia papyrifera Vent. A tree of the islands of the Pacific, China and Japan. It

for

any

1889.

1889. 1876. 1891.

Papers 231.

1876.

Chron. Hist. Pis. ^oo.

1879.

are edible.

and

STURTEVANTS NOTES ON EDIBLE PLANTS

122

red bryony,

B. dioica Jacq.

Masters

wild hop.

Loudon says the young shoots of red bryony are edible. says that the plant has a fetid odor and possesses acrid, emetic and pungent

Europe and adjoining '

Asia.

properties.

Buchanania

Roxb.

lancifolia

East Indies and Burma.

Anacardiaceae.

The

cheerojee-oil plant.

by the natives

tender, unripe fruit is eaten

in their

curries.'

B. latifolia Roxb.

The

Tropical India and Burma.

kernel of

meats.

and

says Brandis,* has a pleasant, sweetish, sub-

fruit,

an important article of food of the hill tribes the seed tastes somewhat like the pistachio nut and is used

acid flavor

is

*

Drury

of central India.

largely in native sweet-

says these kernels are a general substitute for almonds

and are much esteemed

in confectionery or are roasted

The

among

the natives

and eaten with milk.

Bumelia lanuginosa Pers. Sapotaceae. false buckthorn. North America. This is a low bush of southern United States which, according* to Nuttall,^ bears an edible fruit as large as a small date.

western buckthorn.

B. reclinata Vent,

Southwestern United States. edible

and nearly three-quarters

In California, Torrey

an inch

of

Bunias erucago Linn. Cruciferae. Mediterranean coimtries. In

Italy,

'

says the fruit

is

sweet and

long.

Unger

'

says this species serves rs a salad for

the poor. B. orientalis Linn,

Turkish rocket.

hill mustard.

Eastern Europe and Asia Minor. This plant is called dikaia retka on the Lower Volga. Its stems are eaten raw. This rocket was cultivated in 1739 by Philip Miller in the Botanic

Garden

as a forage plant,

by

and was

of Chelsea

Arthiir

first

introduced into

The young

Yovmg.

leaves are

field ciolture in

England,

recommended by Vilmorin

'

either as a salad or boiled.

Bupleurum falcatum Linn.

Umbelliferae.

Europe, Orient, Northern Asia in

China '

'

Masters,

M.

'Brandis, D.

Drury, H. Nuttall, T.

'

region.

and Japan."

Drury, H. *

hare's ear.

and Himalayan

Torrey, J.

T.

Treas. Bot. 1:176.

Useful

Ph. Ind.

Forest PI. 127.

89.

1858.

1874,

Useful Pis. Ind. 89.

1858.

No. Amer. Sylva 2:106. Bot.

1865.

{B. macrocarpa)

U. S., Mex. Bound. Surv. 2:iog.

U. S. Pat. Off. Rpt. 354. 'Unger, P. ' Vilmorin Lj P/i. Po/og. 54. 1883. Bretschneider, E.

1870

Bot. Sin. 51.

"Georgeson Amer. Card. 13:7.

1859.

1882.

1892.

Fig. p, 9.

1859.

The

leaves are used for food

STURTEVANT

NOTES ON EDIBLE PLANTS

S

1

23

B. octoradiatum Biinge.

Northern China.

In China, the tender shoots of this apparently foreign plant are

edible. 1

thorough wax.

B. rotxindifolium Linn,

Europe, Caucasus region and Persia. for salads

and potherbs."

"

commended

Hippocrates hath

it

in

meats

*

DC. Menispermaceac. This plant has edible fruit.'

Burasaia madagascariensis

Madagascar.

Bursera gummifera Linn.

American

tropics.

American gum tree,

Burseraceae.

An

indian birch.

infusion of the leaves is occasionally used as a domestic sub-

stitute for tea.*

B. icicariba Baill.

The

Brazil.

tree is

have

said to

edible,

aromatic

It yields

fruit.

the elemi of

Brazil.^

B. javanica Baill.

This plant

Java.

is

the tingulong of the Javanese,

Butomus umbellatus Linn.

AUsmaceae.

who

flowering rush,

eat the leaves

and

grassy rush,

fruit.'

water

GLADIOLUS.

Europe and adjoining Asia. Unger says, in Norway, the rhizomes serve as material ' ' for a bread. Johns says, in the north of Asia, the root is roasted and eaten. Lindley says the rhizomes are acrid and bitter, as well as the seeds but are eaten among the savages. ''

In France,

grown

it is

Butyrospermum

in flower gardens as

parkii Kotschy.

an

aquatic.'"

butter tree,

Sapotaceae.

Tropical west Africa. Shea, or galam, butter and serves the natives as a substitute for butter.

Park."

The

tree is called

meepampa

Contrib. Mat.

Smith, F. P.

Herb. 608.

Gerarde, J. Baillon,

H.

Med. China 45.

Hist. Pis. 3:70.

"BaiUon, H.

This butter

In France

1871.

1874.

1884.

Hist. Pis. 5:297.

1878.

Ibid. '

U. S. Pat. Off. Rpt. 308.

Unger, F.

'Johns, C. A. Lindley, J.

" Vilmorin " Don, G.

"

Fl.

Treas. Bot. iii&i. Veg. King. 208.

PL

Ter. 185.

Hist. Dich. Pis. 4:36.

Pickering, C.

1859.

1870.

1846. 1870.

3rd Ed. 1838.

Chron. Hist. Pis. 426.

is

highly

commended by

box.

and Ed.

1633 or 1636.

Sargent U. S. Census 9:32.

shea tree.

obtained from the kernel of the fruit

in equatorial Africa.'^

Buxus sempervirens Linn. Euphorbiaceae. Europe, Orient and temperate Asia. 1

is

1879.

(Bassia parkii)

and some other parts

of

the

STURTEVANT

124

box have been used as a substitute

continent, the leaves of the

Johnson

'

&

K.

hops in beer, but

Malpighiaceae.

New Granada and

small tree of

Panama.

The

small, acid berries are eaten.*

shoemaker's tree.

B. spicata Rich,

The

Tropical America.

Cadaba farinosa Forsk.

A

for

says they cannot be wholesome and would probably prove very injurious.

Bjrrsonima crassifolia H. B.

A

NOTES ON EDIBLE PLANTS

S

yellow, acid berries are

astringent.'

Capparideae.

shrub of tropical Africa and Arabia.

Caesalpinia pulcherrima Sw.

Cosmopolitan

good eating but

tropics.

made from

is

peacock flower,

Leguminosae.

The green

Spinach

seeds are eaten

the leaves.*

pride of Barbados.

raw and have the

Cajanus indicus Spreng. Leguminosae. angola pea. grandue. no-eye pea. pigeon pea. toor.

catjang.

taste of peas.*

congo pea.

dahl.

urhur.

The pigeon pea is a perennial shrub, though treated generally as an cultivation. It is now naturalized in the West Indies, in tropical America The variety Bicolor grows from three to six feet high and is called the

East Indies. annual when in

and

in Africa.

in Jamaica.

Congo pea

The

variety Flavus grows from five to ten feet high

and

is

called

Jamaica no-eye pea, pigeon pea and Angola pea.* Dr. MacFayden ^ says there are few Lunan ' says the pea when young and properly cooked is tropical plants so valuable. very little inferior as a green vegetable to English peas and when old is an excellent ingredient in

in soups.

Berlanger

'

says at Martinique there are several varieties greatly used, and that

the seeds both fresh and dried are delicious.

In Egypt, on the richest

soil, says Mueller,'" 4000 pounds of peas have been produced to the acre, and the plant lasts for three years, growing 15 feet tall. This variety is said by Pickering " to be native of equatorial Africa.

In India, the seeds of the two varieties are their leguminous seeds. '^

Elliott

"

amongst esteem and forms the most generally used

much esteemed, says the pulse article of diet

ranking, with the natives, third

when

split is in great

among

all classes

and general

in India.

At

It is both cultivated and wild all over Zanzibar, the seeds are a principal article of diet. India as well as in all parts of tropical Africa. It certainly is one of the oldest cultivated

'

Johnson, C. P.

'

Smith, A.

Useful

Ph.

Gr. Brit. 228.

Treas. Bot. 1:185.

1862.

{B. cumingiana)

1870.

Ibid. *

Speke, J. H.

'

Proc.

Smith, A. ' '

Journ. Disc. Source

Amer. Acad. Art.

Sci. 425.

Treas. Bot. \:i&

U. S. D. A. Rpt. 425. Irving,

W.

Gerarde,

1848.

'Booth,

W.B.

Loudon, '

J.

Treas. Bot. 1:219.

C.

Hort. 607.

Firminger, T. A. C.

Booth,

W.

Torrey,

"Burr, F. " Ainslie,

B.

i860.

Card. Ind. 153.

W.

Mat. Ind.

1

:

306.

1874.

1870.

U. S. Mex. Bound.

Field, Card. Veg. 621.

" Markham, C. R.

2nd Ed.

1870.

Treas. Bot. 1:219.

Bot.

J.

1879.

1633 or 1636.

Herb. 365.

J.

Sitrv.

152.

1859.

(C. microphyllum)

1863. 1

826.

Trav. Cieza de Leon 1532-50.

is

a favorite

cultivated in every part of India,

1870.

Co/wm. 1:238.

Fluckiger and Hanbiiry Pharm. 406. *

is

Peru and even now

Hakl. Soc. Ed. 232.

1864.

Note.

STURTEVANT in

two

varieties, the red

and the

NOTES ON EDIBLE PLANTS

S

yellow,^

and

in Cochin China.^

1

37

In Ceylon there are three

a yellow and a black.' It has been in English gardens since 1656. Its obtuse long, pods are very pungent and in their green and ripe state are used for pickling, for making Chile vinegar; the ripe berries are used for making cayenne pepper. Burr' varieties, a red,

describes the fruit as quite small, cone-shaped, coral-red

but says C.

minimum Roxb.

This

pepper

coast of Guinea It is intensely

and

said to be the cayenne pepper of India.^' is

not preferred.

It

"

Wight

grows

also

'

says

on the

recognized as a source of capsicum by the British Pharmacopoeia.'

is

pungent.

bonnet pepper,

C. tetragonum Mill,

lunan pepper,

paprika.

Turkish pepper.

' by Booth to be the bonnet pepper of Jamaica. and have a depressed form like a Scotch bonnet. In lower

This species

Tropical regions.

The

is

eaten by the natives of India but

is

and intensely acrid

cayenne pepper.

Phihppine Islands. this

ripe,

not succeed in open culture in the north.

will

it

when

fruits are

is

said

very fleshy the name paprika, the cultivation gives employment to some 2500 families. under Hungary, The fruit is red, some three and a half to five inches long, and three-quarters of an inch to an inch in diameter.

McMahon, 1806,*' says capsicums are in much estimation for culinary purposes and mentions the Large Heart-shaped as the best. He names also the Cherry, Bell and Long In 1826,

Podded.

Thorbum"

offers in his catalog five varieties, the

Long

or Cayenne,

the Tomato-shaped or Squash, the Bell or Ox-heart, the Cherry and the Bird or West

In 1881 he offers ten varieties.

Indian.

In the varieties

Groups of Capsicum. under present cultivation, we have

of several of the groups

and

distinct characters in the calyx

in the fruit being pendulous or erect.

that the pendulous varieties have a pendulous bloom as well as

have

Some heavy

erect bloom.

Another

have a

fruits are erect, while

like calyx,

W.

'

Ainslie,

'

Ibid.

'

Moon

*

Burr, F.

'

Drury, H.

is

more apparent than

Mat. Ind. 1:^06.

real

and comes from a suppression or

a similar type.

1826.

Indig. Exol. Pis. Ceylon 1824. Field, Card.

Hanbury Pharm.

Firminger, T. A. C. S. Disp. 207.

Booth,

W.

1863.

Veg. 619.

Useful Pis. Ind. iii.

Fluckiger and

'

erect varieties

light fruits are pendulous.

like color.

tion of growth, all really being of

">

and the

While again there may seem at first to be considerable even on the same plant, yet a more careful examination shows

and a

that this variability

'U.

fruit,

worthy of note

distinct character is the flavor of the fruit, as for instance all the sweet peppers

variability in the fruits

'

some

It is

B.

McMahon, B. " Thorbum Cat.

1879.

Card. Ind. 153.

1874.

1865.

{C.

fasUgatum)

Treas. Bot. 1:219.

Amer. Card. 1828.

1873.

406.

1870.

Cal. 31^.

1806.

{C. fastigiatum)

distor-

sturtevant's notes on edible plants

138

is

This history of the botany of the groups can best be seen by the synonymy, which founded upon figures given with the descriptions. I.

The Calyx Embracing The

Fruit.

(a) Fruits pendulous.

This form seems to have been the

pungency and

is

first

introduced and presents fruits of extreme

undoubtedly that described as brought to Evu-ope by Coliunbus. It and recurved fruit and the fruit when ripe is often much

presents varieties with straight

contorted and wrinkled.

DC. from Fingerhuth.

Capsicum longum.

Langer Indianischer

Siliquastrum terttum.

Fuch.

Siliquastrum minus.

1.

c.

pfefler.

Fuch. 733.

1542.

732.

Indianischer pfeffer. Saliquastrum. Roeszl. 214. 1550. Indianischer pfeffer. Trag. 928. 1552. Piper indicum. Cam. 07. 347. 1586. Capsicum oblongius Dodonaei. Dalechamp 632. 1587. Piper indicum minus recurvis siliquis. Hort. Eyst. 1613,1713.

Piper iffdicum

Capsicum

maximum

longum.

recurvis siliquis. sive

Piper Calecuticum,

Dod.

Capsicum

Siliquastrum, Ind. pfeffer.

Hort. Eyst. 161 6. 716.

Bauh.

oblongius.

Pancov.

1613,1713.

n. 296.

J.

2:943.

1650.

1673.

Chabr. 297. 1677. Piment de Cayenne. Vilm. 151. 1885. Long Red Cayenne. Ferry. Mexican Indian, four varieties, one of the exact variety of Fuch. Piper Capsicum.

Siliquastrum ma jus. Fuch. 732. Long Yellow Cayenne. Hend.

Capsicum longum luteum.

1542.

1542.

Fingerhuth.

(b) Fruits erect.

Capsicum annuum acuminatum. Piper ind.

minimum

Piper ind. medium

Fingerhuth.

Hort. Eyst. 1613,1713. longum erectum. Hort. Eyst. 1613,1713. erectum.

Piper longum minus siliquis recurvis. Jonston Dendrog. Pigment du Chili. Vilm. 410. 1883. Vilm. 151.

Chili pepper.

Red

Cluster.

56.

1662.

1885.

Vilm.

Yellow Chili.

Hend. II.

Calyx Pateriform, not Covering the Flattened Base of the Fruit. (a) Fruits long, tapering, pendent.

Piper indicum

sive siliquastrum.

actuarii.

Pin. 12.

1561.

Lob. O65. 172, 1576; /cow. 1:316.

Capsicum Capsicum majus. Dalechamp 632. 1587. Capsicum longioribus siliquis. Ger. 292. 1597. Piper indicum. Matth. Op. 434. 1598. Capsicum oblongiqribus siliquis. Dod. 716. 1616.

Pepe

d'India.

Dtu". C. 344.

1617.

1591.

STURTEVANT Figures 13 and

Piso

14.

De

S

NOTES ON EDIBLE PLANTS

Ind. 226.

or Guinea.

39

1658.

Guinea pepper or garden coral. Pomet 125. 1748. Piper indicum bicolor. Blackw. Herb. n. 129, f. 2. Piment rouge long. Vilm. 409. 1883.

Long Red capsicum

1

Vilm. 150.

1754.

1885.

(b) Fruits short, rounding, pendent.

Siliquastrum quartutn. Fuch. 734. 1542. Siliquasirum cordatum. Cam. Epit. 348. 1586. Fig. 2

and

6.

Piso 225.

Piper cordatum.

Capsicum cordiforme.

Mill.

1662.

56.

Fingerhuth.

Thorb.

Oxheart.

New

1658.

Jonston Dendrog.

Thorb.

Oxheart.

III.

Calyx Funnel-form, not Embracing Base of Fruit. (a)

Fruit pendent, long.

Hort Eyst Piper indicum medium 1613, 1713. Hort. Piper siliquis flavis. Eyst. 1613,1713. Piper indicum aureum latum. Hort. Eyst. 1613,1713. Nova Hisp. i7,-j. 1651. Fig. in Hernandez. Piper indicum longioribus siliquis rubi. Sweert. t. 35, f. .

Jonston

Piper vulgatissime.

.

.

t.

Piper ohlongum recurvis siliquis. Jonston t. 56. 1662. Capsicum fructu conico albicante, per maturitaken minato. Piment jaune long. Vilm. 409. 1883.

Long Yellow Capsicum.

1654.

3.

1662.

56.

Vilm. 151.

Dill,

t."

60.

1774.

1885.

(b) Fruits pendent, round.

Siliquastrum rotundum.

Cam.

Epit. 348.

Piper rotundum majus surrectum.

1586.

Jonston

t.

56.

1662.

1658. Figure 5. Piso 225. Cherry Red, of some seedsmen. (c)

Fruits

erect,

Piper minimum

round.

siliquis rotundis.

Hort. Eyst.

Capsicum cersasiforme. Fingerhuth. Piment cerise. Vilm. 411. -1883. 1863; Vilm. Cherry Pepper. Burr 621.

152.

1613,1713.

1885.

IV.

Calyx Funnel-form, as Large as Base; Fruit More or Less Irregularly Swollen, NOT Pointed, Pendent. Capsicum luteum.

Lam.

Fingeiliuth.

t. 8.

Prince of Wales, of some seedsmen (yellow). Dalechamp 632. (Perhaps) Capsicum latum Dodanaei.

Capsicum Capsicum

latis siliquis.

siliquis latiore

Piper capsicum

Dod. 717. 1616. and rotundiore. Bauh.

siliqui laliori et rotundiore.

J.

1587.

2:943.

Chabr. 297.

1651. 1677.

STURTEVANT

140

S

NOTES ON EDIBLE PLANTS V.

Calyx Set

in

Concavity of Fruit.

This character perhaps results only from the swollen condition of the fruit as produced by selection and culture. As, however, it appears constant in our seedsmen's varieties, it may answer our purpose here. (a)

much

Fruit very

flattened.

1613, 1713. Piper indicum rotundum maximum. Hort. Eyst. Solanum mordeus, etc., Bonnet Pepper. Pluk. Phyt. t. 227, p. i.

Capsicum tetragonum. Fingerhuth t. 10. Piment tomato. Vilm. 413. 1886. Red Tomato capsicum or American bonnet. (b) Fruit, squarish, angular, very

Vilm. 154.

much

1691.

1885.

swollen, large.

This group includes the Bell, Sweet Mountain, Monstrous, and Spanish Mammoth of Vilmorin; the Giant Emperor, Golden Dawn, etc. of American seedsmen. The varieties

seem referable to Capsicum annuum rugulosum Fing., C. grossum pomiforme and C. Fing. angulosum Fing. but these have not yet been su.Ticiently studied. Group V embraces the sweet peppers and none other. A sweet kind is noted by Acosta,' 1604, and it is perhaps the rocot uchu of Peru, as mentioned by Garcilasso de la of this class

Vega.2

Sweet peppers are also referred to by

Occasionally Capsicum baccatum Linn, general use in the North.

Its

Piso,* 1648.

grown, but the species

siliquis.

Lob. Ofo. 172.

Piso

De

Ind. 225.

The

Baluchistan.

Chabr. 297.

1677.

4.

Briggs Seed Cat. 1874.

Stocks.

Caragana ambigua

1591.

1673.

1658.

Peperis capsicivarietas, siliqua parva, etc. Capsicum baccatum Linn. Fingerhuth t.

Small Red Cayenne.

too southern for

1576; /com. 1:317.

Capsicum brasilianum. Dalechamp 633. 1587; Pancov. n. 297. Capsicum minimis siliquis. Ger. 292. 1597; Dod. 717. 1616. Fig. 8.

is

follows:

synonymy

Capsicum, Piper indicum brevioribus

is

Leguminosae.

flowers are eaten

by the Brahmans

in Baluchistan,

where

it

is

called shinalak.*

C. arborescens Siberia.

Lam.

The

Siberian pea tree.

seeds are of cuUnary value but are used particularly for feeding

poultry.*

Cardamine amara Linn. Europe and northern '

Cruciferae.

Asia.

*

Lightfoot

Acosta Nat. Mor. Hist. Ind. 266.

'Vega Roy. Comment. Hakl. ' Piso Hist. Rerum Nat. Bras. Brandis, D. Mueller, P. Lightfcwt, J.

1604.

108.

1648.

1876.

1891.

Fl. Scot. 1:350.

1789.

^

says the young leaves are acrid and bitter

Grimestone Ed.

Soc. Ed. 2:365.

Forest Ft. 134. Set. Pis. go.

bitter cress.

1871.

STURTEVANT but do not taste amiss in

salads.

S

NOTES ON EDIBLE PLANTS

Wood,

says the leaves are often employed

pungent and

people in salads, their caste, although C. diphylla

*

Johnson

I4I

bitter, is

by cotmtry

not unpleasant.

pepper-root.

The

North America.

long, crisp rootstocks taste like water cress.*

are of a pungent, mustard-like taste and are used

DC. scurvy grass. Cook found this scurvy plant Capt. places and used it as an antiscorbutic.

by the

Pursh says they

natives as mustard.

C. glacialis

hairy cress,

C. hirsuta Linn,

Fuego;

*

Lightfoot

Ross

regions.

'

damp

scurvy grass.

lamb's cress,

Temperate and subtropical it is edible.

in plenty about the Strait of Magellan in

calls this the

scurvy grass of Tierra del

says the yotmg leaves, in Scotland,

make a good

salad,

Johns* says the leaves and flowers form an agreeable salad. In the United * and Dewey ' both say the common bitter cress is used as a salad.

and

States,

Elliott

C. nasturtioides Bert. Chile.

The

plant

eaten as a cress.*

is

cuckoo flower,

C. pratensis Linn,

lady's smock.

Mayflower,

meadow

cress.

Temperate zone. This is an insignificant and nearly worthless salad plant, native to the whole of Europe, northern Asia and Arctic America, extending to Vermont and has a piquant savor and is used as water cress. It is recorded as cultivated in the vegetable garden in France by Noisette,^ 1829, and by Vilmorin,'" 1883, yet, as Decaisne and Naudin " remark, but rarely. There is no record of its cultivation in Wisconsin.

It

England, but in America

it is

described by Burr

and as having become naturalized vation.

^"

in four varieties, differing in the flowers,

to a limited extent, a fact which implies a certain culti-

Its seed is not offered in our catalogs.

round-leaved cuckoo flowers,

C. rotundifolia Michx.

Northern America.

The

" leaves, says Gray,'*

have

water-cress. just the taste of the English

water-cress."

C. sarmentosa Forst.

f.

Islands of the Pacific.

Useful Pis. Gt. Brit. 29.

Johnson, C. P.

Man.

Gray, A. * <

Bot. 65.

1868.

is

Fl. Scot. i:3A9-

Johns, C. A.

Treas. Bot. 1:221.

1862.

17891

870.

Bot. So. Car., Ga. 2:144.

1824.

Dewey, C.

Rpt. Herb. Flow. Pis. Mass. 36.

Unger, F.

U. S. Pat. Off. Rpt. 356.

Noisette

Man.

Jard. 356.

1859.

1883.

" Decaisne and Naudin Man. Jard. 4:227. "Burr, F.

Field, Card. Veg. 2,44-

"Gray, A. Man. Bot. (A. "Seemann, B. Fl. Viti. 5.

{.

1863.

1868.

1865-73.

pennsylvanicum)

1840.

1829.

Pi5. Potog. 198.

New

1847.

Lightfoot, J.

" Vilmorin Li

eaten as a cress in

{Dentaria diphylla)

Ross Voy. Antarct. Reg. 2:300.

Elliott, S. '

This plant

1866.

(C. pensylvanica)

Caledonia."

STURTEVANT

142

Cardiopteris lobata Wall.

East Indies.

NOTES ON EDIBLE PLANTS

S

Olacineae.

has oleraceous leaves, edible but almost

It

Cardiospennum halicacabum Linn.

Sapindaceae.

insipid.'

balloon vine,

heart pea.

winter

CHERRY. This climbing vine, ornamental on account of

Tropics.

by Pickering

'

In Burma, according to Mason,*

Africa,

it

*

In the Moluccas, as Drury

a vegetable.

common and

is

it is

grown

'

into spinach

to occur in all

in great quantities as

states, the leaves are cooked.

made

the leaves are

observed.

inflated pods, is said

North America and by Black

to be native of subtropical

tropical countries.

its

In equatorial

by the natives as Grant

*

^

Careya arborea Roxb.

slow-match tree.

Myrtaceae.

The

East India.

fruit is eaten.'

Carica citriformis Jacq.

f.

Passifloreae.

This plant bears a

African Tropics.

fruit

the size of an orange, eatable but insipid.*

C. microcarpa Jacq.

South America.

The

plant bears fruit the size of a cherry.'

melon tree, papaya, papaw. American tropics. The papaw tree is indigenous

C. papaya Linn,

in Brazil, Surinam and the West and from these places has been taken to the Congo. Its transfer to the East Indies may have occurred soon after the discovery of America, for, as early as 1626, seeds were brought from the East Indies to Nepal. Its further distribution to China, Japan and the

Indies

Linschoten " says, it came from the East Indies to the Philippines and was taken thence to Goa. In east

islands of the Pacific

Florida,

it

grows

Ocean took place only

well.

Of the

in the last century.^"

Wm.

fruit,

S.

Allen of Florida, writes that

as large as a melon, yet the best varieties for eating

The

no larger than a very large pear. for

making tough meat

tender.

the leaves or the green fruit of

In a few minutes, the meat will

The

fruit is

H.

Hist. Pis. 5:207.

'

Black, A. A.

Treas. Bot. 1:222.

*

Pickering, C.

Chron. Hist. Pis. 567.

'Lindley,

1879.

1873.

Chron. Hist. Pis. z^y. 7eg. Xiwg. 755.

1879.

1870.

Useful Pis. Ind. 112.

J.

1879.

1846.

Don, G.

Hist. Dichl. Pis. 3:44.

1834.

Don, G.

Hist. Dichl. Pis. 3:45.

1834.

" Unger,

F.

" Nuttall, T.

Academy

{C. rumphii)

1878.

Chron. Hist. Pis. 567.

Pickering, C.

are

made

by putting a few of the pawpaw tree into the pot with the meat and boiling. cleave from the bones and be as tender as one could wish.

Pickering, C.

'Drury, H.

often

it

used extensively in south Florida and Cuba

toughest meat

Dr. Morris read before the Maryland

iBaillon,

is

those having the best flavor

U. S. Pat. Off. Rpt. 331.

1859.

No. Amer. Sylva 2:115, "fi-

1865.

is

tender

of Science a paper

by Mr. Lugger

in

STURTEVANT which the

fruit is said to attain a

NOTES ON EDIBLE PLANTS

S

weight of 15 pounds,

melons are with longitudinally-colored stripes. The The ripe fruit is eaten with sugar or salt and pepper. flavored

up

and used as a

'

Brandis

in them, fender.

The

spice.

impregnated with the rnilky

melon-shaped, and marked as

is

be

may

fruit

The

by suspending the joint under the

says, the Chinese are acquainted with this property

pickled.

making meat wrapped

meat becomes tender by washing

also says,

and

sliced

seeds are egg-shaped, strong-

leaves have the property of

juice, or

I43

and make use

of

it

it

tree.

with water Williams

sometimes to soften

the flesh of ancient hens and cocks by hanging the newly-killed birds in the tree, or feeding

them upon the

on the mountains

says,

full

*

is

eaten and

is

by

Hemdon '

common muskmelon,

with a

very sweet and of a delicate

flavor.

a

says the maniao, a species of Carica in Brazil, furnishes a large and savory fruit

Brandis*

of seeds.

tuiripe fruit

calls

the ripe fruit in India sweet and pleasant, and says the

eaten as a vegetable and preserved.

is

natives of Fiji,

The

also eat the leaves.

of Peru, the fruit is of the size of

green skin and yellow pulp, which

Hartt

The Chinese

beforehand.

fruit

^

and Gray

'

says the fruit

tree bears in a year or 18

Wilkes

*

says,

it is

prized

by the

a favorite esculent of the Sandwich Islanders.

is

months from seed and

is

cultivated in tropical climates.

C. posopora Linn.

Peru and Chile.

This species bears yellow, pear-shaped, edible

fruit.'

DC. Apocynaceae. amatungula. caraunda. natal plum. The flavor is subacid and agreeable and the fruit is much prized

Carissa grandiflora, A.

South

Africa.

in

Natal for preserving.' Carlina acanthifolia All.

acanthus-leaved thistle.

Compositae.

The

Mediterranean region.

receptacle of the flowers

may

be used

like that of

an

artichoke.

carline thistle.

C. vulgaris Linn,

The

Europe and northern Asia.

Family unknown.

Carlotea fonnosissimum Arruda.

The tuberous

Pernambuco.

receptacles of the flowers are used like an artichoke.

root,

abounding with

soft

and nutritive

afforded assistance to the people in parts of Brazil, in times of drought.'"

C. speciosa Arruda.

Pernambuco. '

Brandis, D.

'

Williams, S.

'

The tuberous

Forest Fl. 245.

1874.

W. Mid. King. Hemdon, W. L., and Gibbon, Uartt Ceog. Braz. 217. Brandis, D.

Wilkes, C.

roots have found use in Brazil.

1:28^. L.

1848.

Explor. Vail.

Forest Fl. 2^5.

Jackson,

J.

R.

1854.

1876.

U. S. Explor. Exped. 3:33^.

'Gray, A. Bot. U. 5. Explor. Exped. 640. Don, G. Hist. Dichl. Pis. 3:44. 1834.

"Koster

Amaz. 1:87.

1870.

Treas. Bot. 2:1263.

Trav. Braz. 2:368.

181 7.

1876.

1845. 1854.

(Arduina grandiflora)

fecula,

has

-

STURTEVANT

144

S

NOTES ON EDIBLE PLANTS

Carpodinus acida Sabine. Apocynaceae. A climbing shrub of Sierra Leone. The

which prevents

bitterness,

Sierra Leone.

When

many

The

has a sharp, acid

taste,

with some

much

liked

by the natives.'

it is,

however,

little

and appearance resembling a

fruit is yellow externally, in size

broken or cut

large seeds are found,

Carthamus

fruit

being agreeable;

sweet pishamin.

C. dulcis Sabine,

lime.

its

it

tinctorius Linn.

a quantity of sweet, milky agreeable and sweet.'

yields

is also

false saffron,

Compositae.

The

juice.

pulp, in which

safflower.

Old World; extensively cultivated in India, China and other parts of Asia; also in Egypt, southern Europe and in South America. Under the name of safflower, the flowers are used largely for dyeing.

The

the Levant to color foods.

'

Phillips

says the flowers are used in Spain and in

from the seeds

oil

in India is

used for lamps and for

culi-

nary purposes, says Drury.^ In South America, as well as in Jamaica, as Ainslie writes, much used for coloring broths and ragouts. They were so used in England *

the flowers are

In American seed catalogs, the seed

in the time of Parkinson.*

offered

is

under the name

of saffron but the true saffron is the product of a crocus.

Canun bulbocastanum Koch. Umbelliferae. pignut. Europe and Asia. The tuberous roots serve as a as a condiment.'

Lightfoot

*

p^rts of England they are boiled in broth

are eaten

by

culinary vegetable

and the

frviit

says the roots are bulbous and taste like a chestnut; in some

and served at the

table.*

Pallas says the roots

the Tartars.

C. capense Sond.

South Africa.

The. edible, aromatic root

kummel.

caraway,

C. carvi Linn,

Europe, Orient and northern Asia.

and mentioned by Galen. Caria, and that it is used

is called feukel-wortel.

This biennial plant

Pliny states that

The

Morocco and elsewhere.

North Holland and Morocco."

lation.

In England, the seed

name from its native coimtry, Caraway is now cultivated largely

1824.

Trans. Hort. Soc. Lond. 5:455.

1824.

Drury, H.

' '

" "

W.

Camp. Kitch. Card. 2:202. 1831. Useful Ph. Ind. 116. 1873. Mat. Ind. 2: 36^.

1826.

Parkinson ^ar. Terr. 329.

1904.

Mueller, F.

1891.

Sel. Pis. g^.

Lightfoot, J.

Fl. Scot. 1:156.

Pallas, P. S.

Trav. Russia 2:189.

(Reprint of 1629.)

1789.

{Bunium bulbocastanum)

1803.

Babington Journ. Linn. Soc. Bot. 11:310. Fluckiger and

Hanbury Pharm.

it is

apparently wild,"

Germany, and distil-

used by cottagers to mix with their bread, and caraway-

Trans. Hort. Soc. Land. 5:456.

H.

where

seeds are used in confectionery

Sabine, J.

'Ainslie,

'

The

Sabine, J.

Phillips,

by Dioscorides

seeds are exported from Finland, Russia,

Prussia,

is

described

derives its

it

chiefly in the culinary art.

for its seed in England, particularly in Essex, in Iceland

in

is

273.

1879.

(Bunium bulbocastanum) 1871.

STURTEVANT seed bread

S

NOTES ON EDIBLE PLANTS

often be found in restaurants in the United States.

may

Holstein and Holland, they are added to a skim-milk cheese called roots are edible

Kummel

In Schleswigcheese.

The

and were considered by Parkinson to be superior to parsnips and are The young leaves form a good salad and the larger ones '

eaten in northern Europe.

still

be

may

boilecf

and the

soups

and eaten as a

The

and

spinach.^

Lightfoot

by some esteemed a

roots are

gardens in 1806

is still

'

says the young leaves are good in

delicate food.

It

was cultivated

in

American

to be found.

by O. Heer

seeds of caraway were found

^

in the debris of the lake habitations

of Switzerland, which establishes the antiquity of the plant in Europe. it

I45

more probable that the Careum

of Pliny

*

is

this plant, as also its use

This fact renders

by Apicius

'

would

mentioned as cultivated in Morocco by Edrisi in the twelfth century. In the Arab writings, quoted by Ibn Baytar, a Mauro-Spaniard of the thirteenth century,

indicate.

it is

It is

likewise

named; and Fleuckiger and Hanbury think the use

at about this period.

Caraway

is

of this spice

commenced

not noticed by St. Isidore, Archbishop of Seville in dill, coriander, anise, and parsley; nor is it named

the seventh century, although he notices

by

St.

Hildegard in Germany in the twelfth century.

But, on the other hand, two

German

medicine books of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries use the word cumich, which

is still

the popular name in southern Germany. In the same period the seeds appear to have been used by the Welsh physicians of Myddvai, and caraway was certainly in use in England at the close of the fourteenth century and is named in Turner's Ltbellus, 1538, as also in

The Forme of Cury, 1390.

&

C. coptictun Benth.

Hook.

f.

Europe, north Africa and northern Asia. This small plant is very much cultivated during the cold season in Bengal, where it is called ajowan, ajonan or javanee. The seeds

have an aromatic smell and warm pungent taste and are used in India for culinary purThe poses as spices with betel nuts and paw leaves and as a carminative medicine.' seeds are said to have the flavor of thyme. C. ferulaefolium Boiss.

This plant

Mediterranean region. Its whitish

and

bitterish roots are said

In Cyprus, these roots are

is

a perennial herb with small, edible tubers. Dioscorides to be eaten both raw and cooked.

by

cooked and eaten.

still

edible-rooted caraway.

C. gairdneri A. Gray,

The root is a prominent article of food among the CaliThe Nez Perc6 Indians collect the tuberous roots and boil them like

Western North America fornia Indians.'

'Parkinson Par. Terr. 515. Johnson, C. P. 'Lightfoot,;.

Fl. Scot.

Card. Chron. 1068.

Pliny

lib. 19, c.

Apicius '

1904.

(Reprint of 1629.)

Useful Pis. Gt. Brit.

i:i6g.

ii;,.

1862.

1789.

1866.

49.

lib. I, c.

30;

2, c. 4; 8, c. 2.

Dutt, U. C.

Mat. Med. Hindus 173.

Mueller, F.

Sel. Pis. 93.

Brewer and Watson

1877.

1891.

Bot. Cal. 1 1259.

1880.

STURTEVant's NOTES ON EDIBLE PLANTS

146

are the size of a man's finger, of a very agreeable taste, with a cream-

They

potatoes.

like flavor.*

C. kelloggil A. Gray.

The

California.

root

C. petroselinum Benth.

Old World.

&

Hook.

is

Parsley

used by the Indians of California as a food.*

is

parsley.

f.

cultivated everywhere in gardens, for use as a seasoning

Eaten with any dish strongly seasoned with onions,

as a garnish.

it

and

takes off the smell

and prevents the after taste. It excels other herbs for communicating flavor to soups and stews. Among the Greeks and Romans, parsley formed part of the festive garlands, and Pliny states that in his time there was not a salad or a sauce presented at of onion

table without

fumes

of

The

it.

ancients supposed that its grateful smell absorbed the inebriating

wine and by that means prevented intoxication.

Parsley seems to be the apium the selinon of Romans, Theophrastus,' who, 322 B. C, describes two varie-

of the ancient

one with crowded, dense leaves, the other with more open and broader leafage. Colimiella,^ 42 A. D., speaks of the broad-leaved and curled sorts and gives directions for

ties;

the culture of each; and Pliny,* 79 A. D., mentions the cultivated form as having varieties with a thick leaf and a crisp leaf, evidently copying from Theophrastus. He adds, how-

from

ever, apparently

his

own

observation, that

find use in large quantities in broths

In Achaea,

A

it is

and give a

apium

is

in general esteem, for the sprays

peculiar palatability to condimental foods.

Nemean games. among the commonest

used, so he says, for the victor's crown in the

little later,

Galen,* 164 A. D., praises parsley as

of foods,

sweet and grateful to the stomach, and says that some eat it with smyrnium mixed with the leaves of lettuce. Palladius,' about 210 A. D., mentions the method of procuring the

common and says that old seed germinates more freely than fresh a (This peculiarity of parsley seed at present and is directly the opposite to that of celery seed.) Apicius,* 230 A. D., a writer on cookery, makes use of the apium viride curled form from the

seed.

and

is

In the thirteenth century, Albertus Magnus

of the seed.

'

speaks of apium and

petroselinum as being kitchen-garden plants; he speaks of each as being an herb the

first

He says apium has broader and larger leaves year, a vegetable the second year of growth. than petroselinum and that petroselinum has leaves like the cicuta; and that the petroselinum

is

more

of a medicine

than a food.

Booth'" states that parsley was introduced into England in 1548 from Sardinia. In addition to its general use, in Cornwall where it is much esteemed, it is largely used in ^U.

S.

D. A. Rpt. 407.

1870.

Brewer and Watson Bot. '

Theophrastus Columella

'

Pliny

'

lib. 11, c. 3.

lib. 19, c.

'

">

Palladius

Booth.

37, c. 46; lib. 2C, lib. 2, 154.

c.

44.

1547.

lib. 5, c. 3.

Apicius Opson.

Albertus

1880.

lib. 7, c. 4.

Galen Aliment, '

(Endosmia gairdneri)

Cat. 1:259.

1709.

Magnus

W.

B.

Veg.

Jessen Ed. 1867.

Treas. Bot. 1:79.

1870.

STURTEVANT The

parsley pies.

Parsley

1

some parts

England and Scotland.

of

is

for our gardens

biun,*

naturalized in

I47

mentioned as seen on the coast of Massachusetts by Verazzano,' about 1524, undoubtedly an error. Two kinds, the common and curled, are mentioned

is

but this

now

is

plant

NOTES ON EDIBLE PLANTS

S

88 1, itux

by McMahon,"

1806.

names

Fessenden,' 1828,

and Thor-

three sorts,

sorts.

At the present time we have five forms; the common or plain-leaved, the celeryleaved or Neapolitan, the curled, the fern-leaved and the Hambiarg, or tvimip-rooted. I.

Plain-Leaved Parsley.

The

plain-leaved form

is

without says sort

Don

and

it

it is

common

one of the most

says

it is

Apium

says there

is

was

Lyte Dod. 696.

Ray

parsley.

Mawe

Plane parsley.

many

'

says

it is

the

in 1806.

1598; Pin.

333. 1597; Dod. 694.

1561; 1616.

1586.

McMahon

1686;

448.

Mawe

Germany and -1570,

prefer the curled kinds; in 1834,

American gardens

1558; 512. 1570; 562. 1587; Lob. Icon. 706. 1591; Ger. 861.

700.

Garden parsley.

in

in

Matthiolus,* 1558

In 1778,

plants of the garden.

It

superseded by the more

no Idtchen-garden

Matth. 362.

hortense.

127.

1806.

1778.

Don 3:279. Biur. 433. 1863. Persil commun. Vilm. 403. 1883.

Common

'

in English gardens but

seldom cultivated.

Dalechamp

Common

now much grown, having been

used by the rich as well as the poor.

it is

most commonly grown *

not

In 1552, Tragus

ornamental, curled forms.

1834.

plain-leaved.

Plain parsley.

II.

The Celery-Leaved or Neapolitan. The Celery-leaved, from common parsley in as a celery.'

It

maximum

is

the large size of

was introduced

leys with thick stalks hortense

or Neapolitan,

scarcely

its

leaves

into France

and says the

known and

outside of Naples.

leaf-stalks

and

^^ by Vilmorin in 1823.

stalks of

some are white.

may

This

may He

does not mention

Tytler Prog. Disc. No. Coast Amer. 36.

-

McMahon,

'

Fessenden

*Thorbum

B.

Amer. Card.

New Amer. Cat.

Mawe

127.

Card. 222.

1828.

1558; 512.

and Abercrombie Univ. Card.

Don, G.

Hisf. Dich. Pis. 3:279.

Vilmorin Les Pis. Potag. 404. ^oViroWe L'Hort. Franc.

" Bauhin, C.

" Linnaeus

5^.

1833. 1806.

1881.

Tragus Stirp. 459. 1552. Matthiolus Comment. 362. '

Cat.

1823;

Phytopinax 268.

P^

1680.

1570.

Bot.

1778.

(Apium petroselinum)

1834.

1883.

Bon

Jard. 254.

1596.

2nd Ed.

1824-25.

be the Apium says it

it is

now

in his Pinax,

Linnaeus'^ considers this to

be Ligusticum peregrinum. '

be blanched

Pliny mentions pars-

of Bauhin," 1596, as the description applies well.

grown in gardens and was first called English Apium. He 1623, under the same name, but under that of latifolium.

it

It differs

STURTEVant's NOTES ON EDIBLE PLANTS

i^S

Persil celeri ou de Naples.

Naples

L'Hort. Franc. 1824.

Burr 434.

or Celery-leaved.

1863.

Vilm. 404.

Persil grand de Naples.

1883. III.

Curled Parsley. Of

these, there are

many

varieties, differing

but in degree, such as the Curied, Extra

Moss Curled and Triple Curled. Pena and Lobel,' 1570, mention this form and say it is very elegant and rare, brought from the mountains the past year and grown in gardens, the leaves curled on the borders, very graceful and tremulous, with minute incisCurled,

do not exhibit the curled aspect which the name and description indicate; hence, we make two divisions, the curled and the very The curled was in American gardens preceding 1806. curled. In the synonymy,

ions.

(a)

The

of the figures

many

curled.

Apium crispum sine multifidum. Ger. 861. 1597. cum Apium crispum. Matth. Op. 562. 1598. cum ic.

ic.

Very curled.

(b)

Apium

crispatum.

Apium.

Cam.

Advers. 315.

Epit. 526.

Bauh.

Petroselinum vulgo, crispum. Curled.

Apium Apium

Townsend33.

Bryant

petroselinum.

Dalechamp

1587.

700.

J.

3:pt.

2,

1651.

97.

Mawe 1778; McMahon

1726;

Mill. Diet. 1731,

crispum.

24.

from Mill.

127.

1806. Thorb.

i^TaZ.

1821.

Diet. 1807.

1783.

Fessenden 222.

Curled or Double. Persil frisS.

1570;

1586.

1828; Bridgeman 1832. L'Hort. Franc. 1824; Vilm. 404. 1883.

Dwarf curled.

Fessenden 222.

Curled leaved.

Don

3:279.

1828; Burr 432.

1863.

1834.

IV.

Fern-Leaved Parsley.

The Fern-leaved has leaves which are not curled but are divided into a very great number of small, thread-like segments and is of a very dark green color. It is included This form seems, however, to be described by Bauhin in American seed catalogs of 1878. in his edition of Matthiolus, 1598, as a kind with leaves of the coriander, but -nnth very

many

extending from one branch, lacinate and the stem-leaves unlike the coriander

because long and narrow.

V.

Hamburg or Turnip-Rooted. Hamburg

parsley

to have been used in

is

grown

for its roots,

which are used as are parsnips.

in 1542,^ or earlier, but its use

Germany

was

It

seems

indicated as of Holland

It did not reach England until long origin even then in the name used, Dutch parsley. " the people in Holland boil In 1726, Townsend,' a seedsman, had heard that after. ^ Miller is said to have introduced it in 1727 the roots of it and eat it as a good dish." '

Pena and Lobel Advers. 315.

'

Fuchsius Hist. Stirp. 573.

Townsend Seedsman *

Martyn

33.

Miller Card. Diet.

1570.

1542. 1726. 1807.

sturtevant's notes on edible plants and

to have

grown

himself for some years before

it

said to be called

Hamburg parsley and to be frequent occurrence in the London markets. Fuch. 573. Trag. 459.

OreOselinum. PetrosePkium.

Apium.

Apium Apium Dutch

was

in

In 1778,'

it is

In 1783, Bryant mentions American gardens in 1806.

its

1542.

1552.

Cam.

Epit. 526. 1586. hortense Fuchsii. Bauh. J. 3:pt. Mill. Diet.

latifolium.

1651.

1765.

Mawe 1778. Broad-leaved. Mawe 1778. Hamburg or large rooted. McMahon parsley.

Thorb. Kal.

Large rooted.

Vilm. 405.

panache (plumed parsley)

C. segentum Benth.

This

Europe.

1806; Burr 433.

1863.

1821.

L'Hort. Franc. 1824.

Persil tub&reux.

Persil a grosse racine. persil

2, 97.

1737.

Card. Kal. 127.

parsley.

Hamburg

A

became appreciatea.

it

in esteem. It

149

is

&

Hook.

1883. is

mentioned by

Pirolle, in L'Hort.

Fran^ais, 1824.

f.

an aromatic, annual herb available

for culinary purposes.^

C. sylvestre Baill.

East Indies.

This plant

is

used as a carminative by the natives.'

Carya alba Nutt. Jugla^tdeae. shagbark hickory, shellbark hickory. North America. In 1773, at an Indian village in the South, Bartram* noticed a cultivated plantation of the shellbark hickory, the trees thriving

Emerson

*

says this tree ought to be cultivated for its nuts which

those

left to

differ

exceedingly in different soils

in

nature.

immediate proximity.

and bearing better than

In 1775,

and

situations

Romans

^

and often on individual

trees growing

speaks of the Florida Indians using hickory

nuts in plenty and making a milky liquor of them, which they called milk of nuts.

He

"

This milk they are very fond of and eat it with sweet potatoes in it." The now not only furnishes food to a large number of the Indians of the far West nut hickory but is an important article in our markets and is even exported to Britain. says:

C. microcarpa Nutt.

small-fruited hickory.

Eastern North America. C. olivaeformis Nutt.

A

The nuts

are edible but not prized.

pecan.

slender tree of eastern

North America from

Illinois

southward.

The

delicious

pecan is well known in our markets and is exported to Europe. It was eaten by the Indians and called by them pecaunes. and an oil expressed from it was used by the natives of '

Mawe

and Abercrombie Univ. Card.

MueUer, F.

Set.

Ph.

94.

'

Royle, *

J.

P.

Illustr. Bot.

Hist. Mass. Hort. Soc. 28.

'Emerson, G. B.

Romans

Bot.

1778.

1891.

Himal. 1:229.

i839.

1880.

Trees, Shrubs Mass. 1:217.

Nat. Hist. Fla. 1:68.

1775.

1875.

STURTEVANT

I50

Its use at or near

Louisiana to season their food.*

mentioned in the Portuguese Relation * of now extensively cultivated in the Southern States

Indians is

NOTES ON EDIBLE PLANTS

S

is

broom hickory, pignut. North America. The pignut is a large tree variable in form, hard and tough, the kernel

Madrid on the

De

by the The pecan

Mississippi

Soto's expedition.

for its fruit.

C. porcina Nutt.

are

eaten

by

Eastern United States.

of

The nuts

sweetish or bitterish but occasionally

children.

king nut.

big shellbark.

C. sulcata Nutt.

The nuts

and Kentucky.

Pennsylvania to Illinois

Indians and are considered of fine quality.

This

is

of this tree are eaten

by the

one of the species recommended for

by the American Pomological Society.

culture

mocker nut.

C. tomentosa Nutt.

square nut.

white-heart hickory.

This hickory bears a nut with a very thick and hard shell. sweet and in some varieties is as large as in the shellbark, but the difficulty

Eastern North America.

The

kernel

is

makes

of extracting it

it

A

far less valuable.

variety

is

fotmd with prominent angles,

called square nut.'

Caryocar amygdaliferum Cav.

A This

is

Ternstroemiaceae.

caryocar.

The

kernel of the nut is edible and has the taste of almonds.* " The nuts are fine." ' the almendron of Mariquita.

high tree in Ecuador.

C. amygdalifonne Ruiz

Peru.

The

&

Pav.

tree bears nuts that taste like almonds.'

C. brasiliense St. Hil.

piquia-oil plant.

This species bears an oily, mucilaginous fruit, containing a sort of chestnut eaten in times of famine.' This is perhaps the Acantacaryx pinguis Arruda, a large tree that produces most abvmdantly a fruit the size of an orange, of which the pulp is oily, Brazil.

feculous is

and nourishing.

It is the delight of the inhabitants of

Ceara and Piauhy and

called piqui.^

C. but3rrosum Willd.

This plant

Guiana. taste

somewhat

like

is

culfvated for

a Brazil nut.'

its

nuts in Cayenne.

It is called pekea

nishes a timber valuable for shipbuilding.'"

1

Chron. Hist. Ph.

Pickering, C.

De

Soto Disc, Conq. Fla.

Emerson, G. B.

/>.

" Bauhin, C.

1648.

1686.

Efnt. 22.

594.

" Fuchsius

1567.

1658.

" Horto, G. ab. Aromatum " Loureiro Fl. Cochin.

Ray

1648.

1686.

Hist. PI.

J.

Grass-green and spotted, by Matthiolus,^! 1570;

1581.

Rerum Nat. Bras.

Hist. PI. 643.

'Bauhin,

Green, by Albertus Magnus, thirteenth

702.

1542.

Phytopinax 622.

1596.

" Gerarde, J. Herb. 767. 1597. " Matthiolus Comwew/. 369. 1570.

1648.

(Piso)

STURTEVANTS NOTES ON EDIBLE PLANTS Camerarius,* 1596; Dalechamp,^ 1587. ish,

by Gerarde,^ Flesh.

Yellow,

1658; Lonreirti,!' 1790.

1623,* Marcgravius,' 1648.

White,

Scarlet, by Marcgravius," 1648. by Bryant," 1783. Flesh-color, by

1596, 1623;' Chabraeus,'" 1677.

by

Green and spotted, by Bauhin,' 1596.

Black-

iS97-

Red, by Baiohin,^ 1596;

Seed.

I7I

Chestnut-brown, by Fuchsius.^* 1542.

Purple-red,

by Bauhin,'

Pale red, by Piso,^^ Josselyn, 1663.

by Tragus,^^

1552.

Black,

Matthiolus,!^ 1570; Camerarius,'* 1596; Dalechamp,'' 1587; Bauhin,^'' 1596; J. Bauhin.^'

Red, by Matthiolus,^ 1570; Bauhin,^^ 1596; Sloane,^* 1696; Bryant,^^ 1783. Reddish, by Camerarius,^' 1586. Brown, by Baiihin,^' 1596; Marcgravius,^' 1648. Raven-black, 165

1.

by Marcgravius,-^

White, by

1648.

J.

Bauhin,'" 1651.

Sculptured,

It is interesting to note that the older writers described

as insipid

and

acid.

Livingstone

^^

now appear in our culture. The most surprising plant

kengwe or kerne, '

Camerarius Epit. 297.

Dalechamp

'

Bauhin, C.

*Gerarde, '

' '

' '

"

Phytopinax 622.

Bauhin, C.

Pinax

Pinax 312.

Marcgravius

De

Ind. 263.

Bryant

1596.

J.

Epit. 297.

1790.

1542.

1570.

1586.

Hist. Gen. PI. (Lugd.) 625.

Phytopinax 622. Hist.

PL

Sloane, H.

Bryant

1651. 1570.

Phytopinax 622. Cat. 103.

Fl. Diet.

269.

Camerarius Epit. 297.

1587.

1596.

2:236.

Matthiolus Comment. 369.

^ Bauhin, C.

(Piso)

1783.

Tragus " Matthiolus Comment. 369.

Bauhin,

1648.

1658.

" Fuchsius Hist. Stirp. 702. " 1552. Stirp. 832.

"Bauhin, C.

(Piso)

1677.

Nat. Bras. 22.

Fl. Cochin. 594.

" Dalechamp

1648.

1623.

Rerum

Fl. Diet. 269.

" Camerarius

1597.

1596.

Chabraeus Icon. Sciag. 133. Hist.

South African

1623.

t,\2.

1596.

1696. 1783.

1586.

"Bauhin Phytopinax 622. " Marcgravius Hist. Rerum

1596.

Nat. Bras. 22.

1648.

(Piso)

Ibid.

"Bauhin,

J.

Forskal, P.

"

Hist.

PL

Livingstone, D.

1651.

2:236.

FL Aeg. Arab,

i

:

varieties as sweet, others

The

bitter or acid forms

do

desert, writes Livingstone, is the

In years when more than the usual quantity of rain

Marcgravius Hist. Rerum Nat. Bras. 22. Bauhin, C. Phytopinax 622. 1596. Bauhin, C.

deleterious.

1597.

Heth.-jd-].

J.

and

1586.

Phytopinax 622.

" Lourerio

*

of the

Hist. Gen. PI. (Lugd.) 625.

Bauhin, C.

Piso

"

bitter

the watermelon.

'

Forskal,^' i775-

describes the wild watermelons of South Africa as

some sweet and wholesome, others not

some

by

122, 167.

1775.

Trav. Research. So. Afr. 54.

1858.

sturtevant's notes on edible plants

,172

and others so

named by the Boers

bitter that they are

"

the

was not a

may have

botanist, it is possible that this species

colocynthis, or a hybrid of the colocynth

are sweet,

The

bitter watermelon."

As

bitter ones are deleterious, but the sweet are quite wholesome.

oli,

Some

vast tracts of the country are literally covered with these melons.

falls,

this missionary observer

been the colocynth,

Citrullus^

and the watermelon.

Rauwolf,* IS74, found the watermelon growing in abundance in the gardens of TripAleppo under the name bathieca, the root of which word, says R. Thomp-

Rama and

from the Hebrew abattichim, one of the fruits of Egypt which the Jews regretted The watermelon still forms the chief food and drink of the inhabit-

son,2 is

in the wilderness.

ants of Egypt for several months in the year.

In Bagdad,

Pallas says in southern Russia the people

food.

of watermelons, with the addition of hops.

from the

which

fruit,

is

make a

They

an excellent substitute

also

a staple summer

also, it is

beer from their abundant crops

make a

conserve or marmalade

for syrup or molasses.

In 1662, Nieuhoff

'

found the watermelon called batiek by the Indians of Batavia, some being white, others This melon is said to have been introduced into Britain in 1597.

red and the seeds black.

By European

was

colonists, says Pickering,^ it

carried to Brazil

eastern North America, to the islands of the Pacific, to

New

and the West

Indies, to

Zealand and Australia.

Watermelons are mentioned by Master Graves ^ as abounding in Massachusetts in " * 1629, and shortly after Josselyn speaks of it as a fniit proper to the coimtrie. The a flesh-colour

flesh of it is of

.

.

and

.

excellent against the stone."

"

A

large fruit, but

nothing near so big as a pompion; colour smoother, and of a sad grass-green, rounder,

more the

rightly, sap-green;

flesh,

with some yellowness admixt when

The

ripe.

or,

seeds are black;

Before 1664, according to Hilton,' watermelons

or pulpe, exceeding juicy."

were cultivated by the Florida Indians. In 1673, Father Marquette,* who descended " the Wisconsin and Mississippi Rivers, speaks of melons, which are excellent, especially those with a red seed."

Woods'

In 1822,

are also in great plenty, of vast size; like

says of the Illinois region:

some

I

suppose weigh 20 pounds.

pvmipkins in outward appearance than melons.

They

"

Watermelons

They

are

more

are round or oblong, generally

and whitish. color on the

outside, and white or pale on the inside, with flavor like rich water, and sweet and mawkish,

green, or a green

black seeds in them, very juicy, in but cool and pleasant." In 1747, Jared Eliot mentions watermelons in Connecticut, the seed of which came originally from Archangel in Russia. In 1799, watermelons were

many

raised

by the

They

are

'

Ray,

tribes

now

on the Colorado River.

cultivated throughout the

Trav. through

J.

Thompson, R.

Imw

'

Churchill

'

Pickering, C.

'

Graves Mass. Hist. Soc.

Co//.

'Josselyn, J. '

Hilton Rel. Fla. ///.

'

Voy. 2:281).

8.

Horl. Soc. Trans. 125.

Woods,

J.

///.

" McMahon, B.

1738.

1879.

1:124.

1806.

1865.

Force Coll. Tracts 4: No.

2.

1846.

1876.

Country 226, 227.

Amer. Card.

1822.

Col. 582.

1806.

i"

regions of the globe.

1732.

Coll.

1664.

McMahon

1870.

Chron. Hist. Pis. 72.

Voy. loi.

warm

Countries 2:16.

Treox. Bo

There are

found wild in the motmtains of east India.

into Italy about the third centtuy.

Palladius in the second century. India.

still

of the orange tribe, the fruit of which

have been cultivated

tree appears to

near Naples.'

mela medika

member

the only

is

and was introduced

'

sweet.

citron.

Tropical Asia; indigenous to and

The

a lemon but the ptilp

varieties in Italy.

1863.

state.

and

It is

now

in the Congo.'"

STURTEVANT

1

77

Amarantaceae.

Cladothrix lanuginosa Nutt.

and Mexico.

California

NOTES ON EDIBLE PLANTS

S

According to Schott/ the Mexicans use a decoction of the

plant as a tea.

Clausena excavata Burm.

whample.

Rutaceae.

f.

This shrub of China and the Moluccas

East India and Malay Archipelago. tivated in the

West

with a peculiar

large seeds which nearly

Williams

*

says in

cul-

fruit is

The scanty

the interior.

and held

pleasantly acid

pvilp

borne in

has an anise-seed

in esteem, as

it

clusters,

It contains three flavor.'

also is in the Indian

tree.

Myrsineae.

Clavija sp.

A

China

fill

it is

About two bushels are produced on a

archipelago.

The

a diminutive lemon, about the size of an acorn.

ripe,

is

has a good deal the taste of the grape, accompanied

fruit

being very grateful to the palate.^

flavor,

when

resembling,

The

Indies.

genus of South American shrubs or small

nimierous seeds embedded in a piilp which

is

trees.

The

fruits are fleshy

said to be eatable.

They vary

and contain in size,

but

are seldom larger than a pigeon's egg.'

Claydonia rangiferina (Linn.) Web.

crisp

and

Quebec.

reindeer moss.

Reindeer moss is sometimes eaten by the people of Norway and Reindeer moss, says Kalm,' grows plentifully in the woods around

Northern regions. is

Lichenes.

agreeable.

M. Gaulthier and

several other gentlemen told

him that the French, on

their

long voyages through the woods, in pursuit of their fur trade with the Indians, some-

times boil this moss and drink the decoction for want of better food when their provisions are exhausted.

Claytonia caroliniana Michx.

Eastern United States.

&

C. exigua Torr.

much

prized

by

Indians.'

Gray.

The

California.

Portulaceae.

This plant has edible bulbs

succulent leaves are in popular use as a potherb in California.*

C. megarrhiza Parry.

Western North America.

This plant has a long, fleshy taproot but the summits of the Rocky Mountains and is seldom available.'

North America. Toirey,

Journ. Bot. 7:1$$.

Hooker, W.J. '

This species, according to Robinson,'"

U. S. Afex. Bound. Surv. 181.

J.

Firminger, T. A. C. Williams,

S.

W.

'Black, A. A.

Kalm,

1772.

Brewer and Watson

Robinson,

W.

1870.

1895.

"

{Alternanthera lanuginosa)

i860.

Torr. Bot. Club Bui. 22: 107.

Havard, V.

'Havard, V.

Amer.

cultivated in France as a

{Cookia punctata)

1874.

2:287,288.

'

">

Card. Ind. 217.

Treas. Bot. i:2g6.

1859.

is

(Cookia punctata)

1855.

U. S. Pat. Off. Rpt. 475.

T>av. No.

P.

confined to

cuban spinach.

C. perfoUata Donn.

'

it is

Bot. Cal. 1:76.

1880.

Torr. Bot. Club Bui. 22:107.

Parks, Card. Paris 503.

1895. 1878.

(Lichen rangiferinus)

STURTEV ant's NOTES ON EDIBLE PLANTS

178

The

salad plant.

CandoUe

*

is occasionally cultivated there.

it

says

used in England, according to Loudon,' as a spinach.

foliage is

C. perfoliata of

Cuba

is

De

an annual

employed as a spinach in France in place of purslane.' It was first described in 1794 but in 1829 was not named by Noisette* for French gardens; in 1855 it was said by De Candolle ' to be occasionally cultivated as a vegetable in England. It is now included

by Vilmorin among French

vegetables.

Siberian purslane.

C. sibirica Linn.

Northern Asia and northwestern North America.

and cooked by the Indians

This species

is

eaten both raw

of Alaska.'

C. tuberosa Pall.

Kamchatka and

tubers are edible.*

spring beauty.

C. virginica Linn,

Eastern United States. Clematis flammula Linn.

This species has edible bulbs,

chelidonii Linn.

The

East Indies.

The young

prized

by the

Indians.'

shoots,

when

boiled,

may

be eaten.

spider-flower.

Capparideae.

seeds are used

much

virgin's bower.

Ranunculaceae.

Mediterranean countries.

Cleome

The

eastern Siberia.

by the

natives as a mustard in their curries, on

account of their pungency.' C. felina Linn.

f.

In India, the flowers are used to flavor salads.'*

East Indies.

C. heptaphylla Linn.

American

tropics.

The

leaves are eaten.

C. viscosa Linn.

Old World

This plant has an acrid taste, something like mustard, and is eaten by the natives among other herbs as a salad." The seeds, being pungent, are used in ctirries as a mustard.'^ Its seeds are eaten as a condiment like mustard.'' The seeds tropics.

are used in curries."

'

Dewey, C.

s

De

'

Bon

*

Noisette

'

De

Rpt. Herb. Flow. Pis. Mass. 92.

Candolle, A. Jard. 476.

Geog. Bol. 2:662. 1882.

Man. Jard.

Candolle, A.

1829.

Ceog. Bot. 2:662.

V. S. Nat. Herb. 3:330.

'Don, G.

Hist.

Havard, V. Royle, 1

"

J.

Baillon,

F.

H.

Pickering, C.

"Royle,

J.

F.

"Baillon, H.

"

1840.

1855.

1855.

1896.

DicU. Pis. 3:82.

1834.

Torr. Bot. Club Bui. 22:107. Illustr. Bot.

Himal. 1:73.

Hist. Pis. 3:169.

1874.

Chron. Hist. Pis. 736. Illustr. Bot.

1879.

Himal. 1:73.

Hisl. Pis. 3:169.

Speede Ind. Handb. Card. 50.

1895.

1839.

(Polanisia icosandra)

1839.

1874. 1842.

Supplement.

STURTEVANT Clerodendron serratum Spreng.

and leaves are

Its flowers

Tropical America, Jamaica and southern Brazil.

These berries

Indies.

CGdemia sp.?

is

sweet, white,

Ternsiroemiaceae.

Henfrey

'

says the leaves of this plant fxxmish a tea in Panama.

indian currant.

Melastomaceae.

A

Tropical America.

wild pear.

In Jamaica the trees bear a green,

mealy and includes a hard, brownisha pleasant dessert.* and eaten as are gathered

Cleyera theoides Choisy.

West

79

eaten.^

sweet pepper,

soap-wood,

Ericaceae,

roundish berry of which the piilp black stone.

1

Verbenaceae.

Tropical India and Burma.

Clethra tinifolia Sw.

NOTES ON EDIBLE PLANTS

S

genus of shrubs the berry of which

is

fleshy

and

edible.*

C. dependens D. Don.

This shrub furnishes a gooseberry-like

Peru.

Cliffortia ilicifolia Linn.

leaves have been used in Africa as a tea substitute.^

Clinogyne dichotoma Salisb.

tematea Linn.

maranta

Scitamineae.

The maranta

East Indies and Malays. Clitoria

evergreen oak.

Rosaceae.

The

South Africa.

fruit of little value.'

is

cultivated in the East Indies for arrowroot.'

butterfly pea.

Leguminosae.

of Madagascar and Mauritius. In the Philippines, the pods are sometimes In Amboina, the flowers are used to tinge boiled rice a cerulean color.'

Mountains eaten.'

Cnicus eriophorus Roth. Compositae. Europe and Asia Minor. This thistle

is said to have been cultivated by M. Lecoq'" him a pronounced by savory vegetable. The receptacles of this plant, says Lightfoot," are pulpy and esculent, like those of the artichoke.

in France

and

is

C. oleraceus Linn.

Northern Europe and Asia. The leaves of In France, it is in flower gardens."

Russians.!''

'

Pickering, C.

'

Lunan,

'

*

Henfrey, A.

Syme,

J.

Chron. Hist. Pis. 739.

Hort.

J.

Jam. 1:65.

Bol. 230.

T.

1870.

M.

'

Masters,

'

Pickering, C.

T.

1

plant

is

1879.

(Freziera theoides)

Treas. Bot. 1:298.

Card. Chron. 20 : 766.

The

1814.

1870.

U. S. Pat. Off. Rpt. i$i.

'Unger, F.

this thistle are

1859.

{Melastoma spicatum)

883.

Treas. Bot. 2:720.

{Maranta ramosissima)

1870.

Chron. Hist. Pis. 606.

1879.

Ibid.

Ambank "

U. S. Pat. Off. Rpt. 655.

Lightfoot, J. Pickering, C.

" Vilmorin

F/. 5co/. 1:455.

1851.

Chron. Hist. Pis. 784.

F/. P/. Ter.

275.

(Cirsium eriophorum)

1789.

1870.

1879.

3rd Ed.

{Cirsium eriophorum)

cooked and eaten by the

included

among

vegetables

sturtevant's notes on edible plants

i8o

by Vilmorin,' although he says

it

does not appear to be cultivated.

The

swollen rootstock,

gathered before the plant flowers, was formerly used as a table-vegetable.

appear to have ever reached

It does not

American gardens.

C. palustris Willd.

Europe and Asia Minor.

In Evel5m's time, the stalks were employed, as were those ' Lightf oot says the stalks are esculent, after being peeled and

of the milk-thistle, for food.' boiled.

C. serratuloides Roth.

The

Siberia.

roots are eaten.*

C. virginianus Pursh.

The

North America.

roots are about the size of carrots, are sweet

but require a long preparation. Coccinia indica

Wight

natives in their curries C.

& Am.

The

Tropical Asia.

and when

by the western

well flavored

Indians.^

scarlet-fruited gourd.

Cucurbitaceae.

fruit of this plant, so

common

fully ripe is eaten

in every hedge, is eaten

by the

birds.'

by

moimoi M. Roem.

The

Tropical Arabia and Africa.

Coccoloba uvifera Linn.

is

are eaten

They

and

fruit' is

eaten.'

kino,

Polygonaceae.

seaside grape.

Shores of the West Indies and neighboring portions of tropical America. Its fruit eatable and commonly sold in markets but is not much esteemed.* As grown in India,

the fruit

The

reddish-purple, pear-shaped, sweetish-acid

is

fruit consists of

The

berries are acid

Cochlearia armoracia Linn.

and a

spirituous

'

Vilmorin Le5 Pii. Potog. 157. Johnson, C. P. Lightfoot, J.

Fl. Scot. 1:454-

Pickering, C.

'

Fremont Explor. Exped. Wight, R.

Lindley, J.

Brandis, D. Pickering, C.

P.

146, 159.

2:27.

1879.

(Turia moghadd)

1849.

1874.

Chron. Hist. Pis. 712. Illustr. Bot.

(Cirsium serratuloides)

(^Cirsium virginianum)

1850.

Bot. 126.

Forest Fl. 373.

indigenous to eastern Europe from

1862.

1879.

1845.

Chron. Hist. Pis. $go.

Med. Econ.

red cole.

1789.

Chron. Hist. Pis. 793.

Illustr. Bot.

Pickering, C.

is

1883.

Usejvl Pis. Gt. Brit. 150.

*

J.

edible."

horseradish,

Cruciferae.

'

"Royle,

and

This well-known condimental plant

Europe.

'

berries are acrid but edible,

DC.

Eastern Asia.

'

The ripe

obtained from them.'*

C. limacia

'

borne in drooping racemes.

Menispermaceae.

A woody vine of tropical Arabia. is

is

the fleshy perianth which encloses a solitary seed.'

Cocculus cebatha DC.

liquor

and

Himal. 1:62.

1879. 1839.

/*

sturtevant's notes on edible plants

i8i

the Caspian through Russia and Poland to Finland and is now spontaneous in the United Both the leaves and roots were eaten in Germany during the Middle Ages but States.

was not common

their use

in

until a

England

much

Palladius,^

which

later period.

Romans.^

identified with certainty with the armoracia of the

a wild plant transferred to the garden,

is

This plant cannot be be the armoracia of

If it

it is

very curious that

its

use

not mentioned by Apicius ' in his work on cookery, of the same century. Zanonius * deems horseradish to be the draba of Dioscorides. It seems to be the raphanus of Albertus Magnus,* who lived in the thirteenth century; he speaks of the plant as wild and

is

domesticated, but

by him.

its

was probably

culture then

for medicinal purposes alone, as indicated

Its cultiu-e in Italy, in 1563, is implied

Ruellius

by

^

under the name armoracia

it. In Germany, its culture as a condimental and later mentioned writers. In 1587, Dalechamp ' speaks by Fuchsius,* 1542, plant by of its culture in Germany but does not mention it in France. L5rte,"' 1586, mentions the

but Castor Durante,' 161 7, does not describe is

wild plant and

its

uses as a condiment in England but does not imply culture.

Horse-

" as used radish, though known in England as red cole in 1568, is not mentioned by Ttirner in food, nor is it noticed by Boorde,'^ 1542, in his chapter on edible roots in the Dyetary of Gerarde " speaks of it as used by the Germans, and Coles, in Adam in Eden, states Helth. that the root sliced thin and mixed with vinegar is eaten as a sauce with meat as among the Germans." purposes.

It

In the United States, horseradish

was included by McMahon,'*

is

in general cultivation for

1806, in his list of

market

garden esculents.

C. danica Linn.

Northern and Arctic regions.

&

C. macrocarpa Waldst.

This species

is

employed as a salad

plant.^*

Eat.

The

Himgary and Transylvania.

root

may be

used as a horseradish but

it is less

acrid."

scurvy grass,

C. officinalis Linn,

This species

Arctic regions.

1

De

'

Palladius

'

Candolle, A.

Albertus

Magnus

t.

" "

1742.

15, p. 23.

Veg. lib. 6, tract 2,

Herb.

c. 16.

1536.

1542.

Dalechamp Hist. Gen. PL (Lugd.) 636. Dodoens Herb. 688. 1586. Lyte Ed. Fluckiger and

1867.

1617.

Fuchsius Hist. Stirp. 660.

'

c. 6.

1709.

Stirp. Hist.

Durante, C.

1885.

9; lib. II, c, 2; lib. 12,

Ruellius Nat. Stirp. 466. '

used occasionally as a cress and

is

Orig. Pis. Cult. 34.

lib. 4, c.

Apicius Opson.

Zanonius

spoonwort.

Hanbury Pharm.

66.

1587.

1879.

Ibid.

" Gerarde, J. Herb. 242. 1633 or 1636. 2nd Ed. " and Pharm. 66. Hanbury 1879. Fluckiger

McMahon, "

B.

Amer. Card.

Cal. 582.

1806.

V. S. Pat. Off. Rpt. 356. Unger, F. 1859. " Don, G. Hist. Dichl. Pis. 1:188. 1831.

Jessen Ed.

is

cultivated in gardens

STURTEV ant's NOTES ON EDIBLE PLANTS

l82

for that purpose. It is a common plant in " it is eaten in sallads as an antiscorbutic."

Cocos australis Mart.

some parts

of Scotland,

It serves as

and Lightfoot

*

says

a scurvy grass in Alaska.*

Palmae.

Paraguay. This palm bears a fruit somewhat the shape and size of an acorn, with a pointed tip and is of a beautiful golden-yellow color somewhat tinged or spotted with

when

red

The

fibrous.

At maturity,

ripe.

and pulpy, the

soft

South America.

This

is

and somewhat

wine palm.

oil palm,

f.

flesh yellow, succulent

a pineapple.'

flavor is delicious, resembling that of

C. butjrracea Linn.

and

it is

the paltna de vino of the Magdalena.

a cavity excavated in its trunk near the top.

This tree

In three days, this cavity

is

cut

down

found

is

filled

with a yellowish- white juice, very limpid, with a sweet and vinous flavor. During i8 or 20 days, the palm-tree wine is daily collected; the last is less sweet but more alcoholic

One

and more highly esteemed.

tree yields as

much

as 18 bottles of sap, each bottle

containing 42 cubic inches, or about three and a quarter gallons.* C. coronata Mart.

This species yields a pith, which the Indians

Brazil.

which an

cocoanut.

C. nucifera Linn,

The

Tropics.

centers of the geographical range of this

and

countries bordering the Indian

throughout the tropics.

About

under the name of

by

in

nargil,

an Indian coast

Pacific oceans

Friar Jordanus.'

is

by Simmonds

ten varieties in India. are

many

varieties in

unformed, the

'

to be described

'

W. H.

Garden

11.

'

1:343.

is

rrap. 3:210.

Wonders, East 1330.

W. H.

Simmonds, P. L.

1868.

{C. fenestrata)

1856.

1856.

Hakl. Soc. Ed. 15.

Conq. Peru 1:218.

i860.

Trop. Agr. 229, 230.

"Firminger, T. A. C.

Thirty species of cocoanut

in the East.

1889.

Jordanus, Fr.

W.

and named

Firminger

'"

mentions

Card. Ind. 269.

Polyn. Research. 1:57.

is

scraped, pressed through a

mixed with grasses and scented woods and suffered

Pop. Hist. Palms 173.

Pop. Hist. Palms 157.

"Ellis,

upon the beach.

1789.

Seemann, B.

Prescott,

'

1876.

'Humboldt, A.

'

extensively cultivated

and quite correctly too, the cocoanut was seen by Pizarro * in India,

the kernel of the old nut

U. S. D. A. Rpt. 187.

'Seemann, B.

and

sweet pakn-milk, a further development supplies a white, becomes still firmer and then possesses a pleasant,

Fiji Islands,

Fl. Scot.

Lightfoot, J. Dall,

now

islands

it finally

grater, and the pulp thus formed '

palm are the

Captain Cook found several sorts at Batavia. Ellis says there nuts are much used as a food. the Tahiti. The When embryo is

fruit furnishes

In the

oil.

is

''

sweet and aromatic kernel;

sweet

In 1524,

it

In the vicinity of Key West and as far north as Jupiter foimd, having been first introduced about 1840 by the wrecking

of a vessel that threw a quantity of these nuts

are said

but

was described

it

1330,

^

village of Peru.

the cocoanut

Inlet,

n^ke into bread, and a nut from

extracted.*

oil is

1889. 1874.

1833.

1863.

sturtevant's notes on edible plants to stand in the sun, which causes the

residuum, called kora,

under

natives.!

C. oleracea Mart,

The

Brazil.

is

made frbm

also

in

when

it is

skimmed

ofiE.

The

banana leaves and then buried

This preparation

piles of stones.

or palm-wine,

Toddy

to rise to the top,

pounded or mashed, wrapped

is

water covered with

salt

oil

183

is

a

common

food of the

the sap of the flower-spathes.

iraiba palm.

leaf-buds, or cabbages, are edible.^

C. ventricosa Arruda.

The

Brazil. is

oily

pulp of the fruit and the almond of the inner stone

The

sold in the markets.

and

pith contains a fecula which

is

is

eaten and

extracted in times of want

is eaten.'

Codiaeum variegattun Blume. This species

India.

Coffea arabica Linn.

is

Euphorbiaceae.

used as a vegetable.* coffee.

Rubiaceae.

Arabia and African tropics. This shrub is found wild in Abyssinia' and in the Sudan it forms forests.' It is mentioned as seen from the mid-Niger to Sierra Leone and from the west coast to Monrovia. In the territory west of Braganza, says Livingstone,'

where

wild coffee

is

abundant, and the people even make their huts of coffee

the equator, says Grant,* the m'wanee, or coffee,

but the berry

The Ugundi,

is

is

trees.

make a

or about

cultivated in considerable quantities

eaten raw as a stimulant, never drunk in an infusion by the

says Long,' never

On

decoction of coffee but

Wanyambo.

chew the

grain raw; a general custom. The Unyoro, says Burton,*" have a plantation of coffee about almost every hut door. According to the Arabian tradition, says Krapf," the civet-cat brought the coffee-bean to the mountains of the Arusi and Ilta-Gallas, where it grew and this is

was long odtivated,

until

an enterprising merchant carried the it soon became acclimated.

coffee plant, five

hundred

years ago, to Arabia where

About the

have been was progressively used at Mecca, From progress to Damascus and Aleppo.

fifteenth century, writes PhiUips," the use of coffee appears to

introduced from Persia to

Medina, and Cairo; hence

it

continued

its

Sea.

It

was introduced into Constantinople in the year 1554. Rauwolf," places, who was in the Levant in 1573, was the first European author who made any menthese

two

Aden on the Red

it

1

Wilkes, C.

'

Seemann, B. Koster, H.

De

Pop. Hist. Palms 180. Trav. Braz. 2:366.

U. S. Pat.

Unger, P. '

U. S. Explor. Exped. 3:334.

Candolle, A. P.

1845.

1856.

1817.

Off. Rpt. 359.

Geog. Bot. 2:969.

1859.

(C. chrysosticton)

1855.

Ibid.

'Livingstone, D. '

Speke,

J.

H.

Long, C. C.

Trav. Research. So. Air. 466.

Journ. Disc. Source Nile 571. Cent. Afr. 142.

" Burton, R. F. Lake Reg. " Trav. East Krapf

1877.

Cent. Afr. 399.

Afr. 47.

H.

Comp. Orck.

104.

1831.

"Phillips, H.

Comp. Orch.

Z05.

1831.

Phillips,

1858.

1864.

i860.

STURTEV ant's NOTES ON EDIBLE PLANTS

184

who has particularly described it, is Prosper Alpinus,' 1591, The Venetians seem to be the next who used coffee. This beverage was

tion of coffee, but the first

and

1592.

by two English travellers at the beginning of the seventeenth century, Biddulph * about 1603 and William Finch ' in 1607. Lord Bacon * mentions it in 1624. M. Thevenoticed

not' taught the French to drink coffee on his return from the East in 1657. It was fashionable and more widely known in Paris in 1669. Coffee is said to have been first *

brought to England in 1641, but Evelyn

known

in

London

in 1652.

says in his diary, 1637.

It

was

first

publicly

According to other accotints, the custom of drinking coffee

by whom the plant had been cultivated from time immeAden in the early part of the fifteenth century, whence its

originated with the Abyssinians, morial,

and was introduced

to

use gradually extended over Arabia.

Towards the end

Dutch transported the plant to Batavia, and thence a plant was sent to the botanic gardens at Amsterdam, where it was propagated, and in 17 14 a tree was presented to Louis XIV. A tree was imported into the Isle of Bourbon in 1720. One account asserts that the French introduced it to of the seventeenth century, the

Martinique in 1 7 1 7 and another states that the Dutch had previously taken it to Surinam. It reached Jamaica in 1728. It seems certain that we are indebted to the progeny of a for all the coffee now imported from Brazil and the West Indies. It was single plant In Java and Sumatra, the leaves of the coffee plant are known to have been grown and

introduced to Celebes in 1822.'

used as a substitute for

In 1879, four trees were

coffee.*

successfully fruited in Florida.

C. liberica

Hiem.

liberian coffee. This seems to be a distinct species, which furnishes the Liberian

Tropical Africa. coffee.

It

was received

in Trinidad

Coix lacryma-jobi Linn. ing bread which

seeds

is utilized

Cola acuminata Schott

&

may

job's tears.

Endl.

Sterculiaceae.

tree,

Phillips, >

of

by the negroes

in

H.

Comp. Orch. 105.

1831.

H.

Comp. Orch. 106.

1831.

Ibid.

Ibid.

'Phillips, Ibid. '

Wallace, A. R.

'

Hanbury, D.

Malay Arch. Sci.

251.

Papers 84.

1869.

1876.

Prestoe Rpt. Bol. Card. Trinidad 21. ">

Long Hist. Jam. 3 83 1 "Smith, A. Treas. Bol. :

.

and made

into a coarse but nourish-

1 774.

i-.iii.

colanut.

gooranut.

1870.

1

cola

or

kolla

is

kolanut.

cultivated in Brazil

or goora-nuts,

and

the seeds are

by the natives of western and central tropical the West Indies and Brazil." There are several

Ibid. *

flour

a native of tropical Africa,

extensively used as a sort of condiment

Africa and likewise

Gardens, England, in 1875.'

be ground to

Under the name

Indies.

Kew

in times of scarcity."

This

Tropical Africa.

the West

Gramineae.

The

Tropical Asia.

from

880,

sturtevant's notes on edible plants varieties.

Father Carli

1

noticed

them

in

Congo

says the chief article of African produce in the

forms an important as coffee or tea their seeds is

The nuts

bitterness but the water drank after

into Martinique about 1836.

Colea

is

of colla.

A

of digestion;

^

as Father Carli

it or,

makes them very sweet."

small piece of one of it is

also supposed to

"

'

says, they have a little This plant was introduced

amylaceous seeds, of a not very agreeable

Its

Barth

the guro or kolanut, which

contain the alkaloid thein.

chewed before each meal as a promoter

improve the flavor of anything eaten after

much

Kano markets

name

and which has become to the natives as necessary

article of trade

to us.

is

in 1667 under the

185

taste, are

sought after by the negroes.* telfairii

Bignoniaceae.

Boj.

The

Madagascar.

fruit is eaten.

Coleus aromaticus Benth.

country borage.

coleus.

Labiatae.

East Indies.

This is the covmtry borage of India. Every part of the plant is delightand the leaves are frequently eaten and mixed with various articles of food In Burma, it is in common use as a potherb. A purple coleus was observed

fully fragrant,

in India.*

Japan by Miss Bird,' the leaves

in cultivation in northern

of

which are eaten as spinach.

C. barbatus Benth.

East Indies and tropical Africa.

About Bombay,

this species is

commonly

cultivated

in the gardens of the natives for the roots, which are pickled.''

C. spicatus Benth.

East Indies. for

Wilkinson

making chaplets and

*

quotes Pliny as saying that the Egyptians grew this plant

for food.

Colocasia antiquorum Schott.

Tropical Asia.

This

of central Asia in very

is

Aroideae.

dasheen.

very probably an Indian plant, as

numerous

varieties

had seen

delta of

Boissier " cites

and to have received it from Africa.'"

cultivated in the whole

it

as

It

was

carried west-

Egypt tmder the name of Quolkas.^

The Spaniards

in Portugal.

it

it is

and has a Sanscrit name.

ward in the earliest times and is cultivated in the Clusius, writing in 1601,

taro.

are said to call

it

alcoleaz

common in middle Spain. Lunan '^

says there are several varieties cultivated in Jamaica which are preferred by the negroes '

Churchill CoW. Foy. 1:501.

'Barth, H.

1744.

Trav. Disc. No., Cent. Afr. 1:514.

Churchill CoW. Foy. 1:501. *

Berlanger Trans. N. Y. Agr. Soc. 568.

'

Drury, H.

*

Bird Unheal. Tracks Jap. 1:175.

'

Pickering, C.

Wilkinson, '

Useful Pis. Ind. 154.

De CandoUe,

G. A.

Anc. Egypt.

Ibid. Ibid.

'^Lxxna.n Hort.

Jam. 1:212.

1814.

(Sterculia acuminata)

1881.

2:7,^.

Geog. Bot. 2:817.

1858.

1873.

Chron. Hist. Pis. 732.

J.

1857.

1744.

1879.

1854.

1855.

(Ocymum {Arum

zatarhendi)

colocasia)

sturtevant's notes on edible plants

1 86

In 1844, this species was cultivated by Needham Davis ^ of South Carolina, who says one acre of rich, damp soil will produce one thousand bushels by the second In India, colocasias are universally cultivated and the roots are without acrimony.* year.

to yams.

The

outward appearance those of the Jerusalem

arti-

are not in great request with Europeans in Bengal where potatoes

may

tubers, says Firminger,' resemble in

choke.

be had

They

the year through but in the Northwest Provinces, where potatoes are vmobtain-

all

much consumed

able during the simimer months, they are

Their flavor

who

not vmlike

is

The

salsify.

is

plant

in the

of a substitute.

way

cultivated extensively

by the

Polynesians,

the tubers are largely consvmied and the young leaves are eaten as a

call it taro;

spinach.^

elephant's ear.

C. antiquorum esculenta Schott.

This plant

is

grown in

largely

Nordoff

for 33 of the varieties.

be eaten raw.

may

it

From

Simpson

is

says the natives have distinct names

"

'

enumerated by Thunberg

'"

varieties of kalo are cultivated in

says,

is

Kalo forms the principal food

staple diet.

is

made.

It is also

Masters

grown

*

says

it is

in the Philippines

the edible plants of Japan.

among

is

called '

and

In Jamaica, Sloane "

says the roots are eaten as potatoes, but the chief use of the vegetable, says Lunan,'^ as a green, and it is

soup

dissolve

as delicate, wholesome,

is

it

such

excellent, for

and

and agreeable a one as any

in the world.

is

In

the tenderness of the leaves that they, in a manner,

is

and mucilaginous ingredient. It " Adams found the boiled leaves very palatable

afford a rich, pleasing

cultivated in Jamaica.

so

of the

cultivated with great care in small enclosures

the root a sort of paste called poi

and the rootstocks furnish a

taro,

taro.

the kinds are acrid except one which

all

lower class of the Sandwich Islanders and

kept wet."

Ellis

says more than 30

the Hawaiian Islands and adds that

mild that

and

Tahiti,

'

kalo.

'

is

very generally

in the Philippines

but the uncooked leaves were so acrid as to be poisonous. At Hongkong, the tubers are eaten under the name of cocoas. In Europe and America it is grown as an ornamental plant.

C. indica Hassk.

Southern Asia.

This plant

small, pendulous tubers of its

'

Davis, N.

'Royle, J. F.

Trans. N. Y. Agr. Soc. 517.

1845.

Himal. 1:406.

1839.

lilustr. Bot.

'Firminger, T. A. C.

Seemann, B. 'Ellis,

W.

Nordhoff, C.

'

Simpson, G.

M.

Adams, A.

No.

Sloane,

" Lunan,

H. J.

" Adams, A.

"

Wight, R.

Cat.,

1874.

1865-73. 1833.

Sandwich

Is.

253.

Journ. Around World 2:33. T.

Treas. Bo/. 1:315.

Voy. Samarang 2:32^.

Thunberg, C. P. "

Card. Ind. iii.

Fl. Viti. 285.

Polyn. Research. 1:48.

'

Masters,

adtivated in Bengal for its esculent stems and the root, which are eaten by people of all ranks in their curries." is

Fl.

Jap. 234.

Horl.

Jam. 1:415.

1847.

1848.

{Arum

I707-

escvlentum)

(Arum minus)

1814.

Voy. Samarang 2:331). Icon. Pis. 3:794.

Notes.

1870.

1784.

Nat. Hist. Jam. 1:167.

1874.

1848.

Bears no date.

(Arum

indica)

sturtevant's notes on edible plants Royle

'

says ^

in Brazil

much

it is

and

cultivated about the huts of the natives.

The

found in East Australia.

is

acridity

is

187 It is also cultivated

expelled from this plant

by

cooking.'

Combretum butyrostun Tul. Combretaceae. butter tree. Tropical Africa. The Kaffirs call the fatty substance obtained from the fruit chiquito. It is largely used by them as an admixture to their food and is also exported.*

CommeUna fit

Commelinaceae.

angustifolia?

The rhizomes contain a good for food when cooked.'

blue spiderwort.

C. coelestis Willd.

The rhizomes

Mexico.

mixed with mucilage and are therefore

deal of starch

are used as food in India.

communis Linn.

C.

In China, this plant

China.

much

is

cultivated as a potherb, which

is

eaten in

spring.^

C.

latifolia

Hochst.

Abyssinia.

It is

used as a potherb.'

C. striata?

The rhizomes Comocladia

are suitable for food.'

burn-wood,

Anacardiaceae.

integrifolia Jacq.

maiden plum,

papaw-

WOOD.

Lunan

Tropical America.

plum

of the

Conanthera Chile.

and

it is

bifolia

The

Ruiz

&

Pav.

Royle, J. F.

Masters,

M.

MueUer, F. *MueUer, F.

The

Himal. 1:407.

Treoi. 5o/. 1:315.

Sel. Pis. 125.

1891. 1891.

Veg. King. 188.

Henfrey, A.

Bot. 380.

Smith, F. P.

'

Pickering, C.

Lindley, J.

make

1839.

1870.

1853.

1870.

Contrib. Mat.

Med. China

Chron. Hist. Pis. 466. Veg. King. 1%%.

1871.

69.

Proc.

(Commelyna polygama)

1879.

1853.

" Lunan, Hort, Jam. I'.^y^. J. 1814. " Morris 1880. Rpt. Pub. Card. Jam. 35. "Molina ifii/. CMi 1:96. 1808. {Bermudiana "Havard, V.

use of the root of this plant in their soups

Rhamneae.

Sel. Pis. 126.

The maiden

Molina " says the bulbs, when boiled or roasted,

berries are similar to those of C. obovata.^^

Lindley, J.

'

eatable but not inviting.

It is called illmu.

Illustr. Bot.

T.

is

grown as a fruit in the Public Gardens of Jamaica.

Haemodoraceae.

very pleasant to the taste.

Northern Mexico.

<

is

natives of the cotmtry

Condalia mexicana Schlecht.

'

says the fruit

West Indies, says Morris,"

are an excellent food.

'

'"

U.S. Nat. Mus. 509.

bulbosa)

1885.

1 88

STURTEV ant's NOTES ON EDIBLE PLANTS

C. obovata Hook,

blue-wood,

This plant

Texas.

texan logwood.

a shrub of San Antonio, Texas and westward.

is

and

deep red berry is acidulous, edible

is

used in

The

small,

jellies.'

C. spathulata A. Gray.

The

Western Texas.

berries are similar to those of C. obovata."

Conferva sp. Confervae. Green cakes are made of the slimy river confervae in Japan, which, pressed and dried, are used as food.

Conium maculatum

Linn.

herb bennet.

Umbelliferae.

poison hemlock.

Europe and the Orient. Poison hemlock has become naturalized in northeastern America from Europe. Although poisonous, says Carpenter,' in the south of England, comparatively harmless in London and

it is

Conopodium denudatum Koch. KIPPERNUT.

Western Evirope.

The

small, tuberous roots of this herb,

known

Convolvulus arvensis Linn.

its

to Lindley.^

It

as earth chestnuts.* children.

by

but are

roots, says Johnson,* are edible

plant gives

earth chestnut,

arnut.

Umbelliferae.

tubers are frequently dug and eaten

Old World

eaten as a potherb by the peasants of Russia.

jurnut.

pignut.

are available for food and are

The

is

little

Convohulaceae.

When

when

boiled or roasted,

In England, says Don,^ the

boiled, they are very pleasant.

eaten in England except by children.

field bindweed.

This tropics, middle Asia and naturalized in America from Europe. flavor to the liquor called noyeau, imported from Martinique, according reached Philadelphia in 1876 in the packing of exhibits at the Centennial.

Copaifera coleosperma Benth.

The

Tropical Africa.

Leguminosae.

aril is

used in preparing a nourishing drink.'

C. hymenaeifolia Moric.

Cuba.

This species

is

said to be the mosibe of eastern tropical Africa, a tree which

yields a red-skinned, fattening, bean-like seed.'

Corchorus acutangulus Lam. Cosmopolitan

Tiliaceae.

This plant

tropics.

is

the papau ockroe of the Barbados and

by the negroes as a salad and potherb.'" '

Havard, V.

Proc.

U. S. Nat. Mus. 509.

1885.

Ibid.

Carpenter, *

MueUer, F. Don, G.

* '

W.

B.

Veg. Phys. Bot. 203.

Set. Pis. 126.

Hist. Dichl. Pis. 3:291.

Johnson, C. P. Lindley, J.

1834. 1862.

Useful Pis. Gt. Brit. 114.

Med. Econ.

Bot. 209.

1849.

M. T. Treas. Bot. 2:1282. rrM. Bot. 2:1319. 1876. " De Candolle, A. Geog. Bot. 2:102b. Masters.

1850.

1891.

{Bunium flexuosum)

(C. dissectus)

1876. -

1855.

is

eaten

sturtevant's notes on edible plants

189

C. antichorus Raeusch.

Old World

tropics.

C. capsularis Linn.

The whole

plant

is

boiled as a potherb.'

jute.

Cosmopolitan tropics. This plant is extensively cultivated in Bengal for its fiber, which forms one of the jutes of commerce so extensively exported from Calcutta.^ It

was introduced into the United States shortly before 1870 and placed under experimental culture,' and, in 1873, favorable reports of its success came from many of the southern states.

Th young

much used

shoots are

Egypt and

in India.*

jew's mallow.

corchorus.

C. olitorius Linn,

as a potherb in

Cosmopolitan tropics. This plant yields some of the jute of commerce but is better known as a plant of the kitchen in tropical countries. It is cultivated in Egypt, India and in France. In Aleppo, it is grown by the Jews, hence the name, Jew's mallow. The leaves are used as a potherb.'

mentioned by Pliny * among Egyptian potherbs, and Alpinus,' 1592, says that no herb is more commonly used among the Egyptian foods. Forskal * also mentions its It is

Egypt and notes it among the cultivated esculents of Arabia. In India, occurs wild and the leaves are gathered and eaten as spinach.' In tropical Africa, it both spontaneous and cultivated as a vegetable *" and it is in the vegetable gardens of

cultivation in it

is

In Jamaica, the plant

Mauritius."

is

met with

frequently

in gardens but has, in a great

measure, ceased to be cultivated, although the leaves are used as a spinach.'^ cultivated in French gardens for its

recorded

by Btur"

young

leaves,

which are eaten

It is

in salads.''

now It is

as in American gardens in 1863 but the plant seems not to have been

mentioned by other writers as growing in this country. C.

procumbens Boj. This plant was carried to the Mauritius where

Tropical Africa.

it

is

cultivated in

kitchen gardens.'* C. siliquosus Linn,

broom-weed.

Tropical America. its

This plant

is

called ti

by the

inhabitants of

leaves as a tea substitute." '

Don, G.

Hist. Dichl. Pis. 1:542.

'Brandis, D.

U. S. D. A. Rpt. 15.

'Smith, A.

1831.

(Antichorus depressus)

Forest Fl. 57. 1876.

1870.

Treas. Bot. 1:329.

1870.

Ibid. '

Bostock and Riley Nat. Hist. Pliny 4:349.

'

Alpinius PI. Aegypt. 39.

'Forskal '

Aeg. Arab,

xciii,

loi.

Speede Ind. Handb. Card. 155.

'"Oliver,

"

Fl.

Bojer,

D.

W.

"Burr, F. "

Hart. Maurit. 42.

1

168.

1837.

1883.

Chron. Hist. 380.

Treas. Bat. \:t,29.

(C. obtorius)

868.

1837.

Field, Card. Veg. 338.

Pickering, C.

"Smith, A.

1775. 1842.

Fl. Trap. Afr. 1:262.

"Macfadyen /om. 1:108. " Vilmorin Lei Ph. Potag.

1856.

1592.

1863.

1879. 1870.

Panama who

use

STURTEVANT

190

NOTES ON EDIBLE PLANTS

S

C. tridens Linn.

Cosmopolitan

used as a potherb in Egypt.*

It is

tropics.

C. tiilocularis Linn.

Old World

In Arabia this plant

tropics.

herb in Sennaar and Cordova, where Cordia collococca Linn.

The

Jamaica. C. loureiri

Roem.

C.

myza

with a sweetish pulp and

is red,

and that C.

The

pickled in India.

and

small, acid

is edible.

edible.*

selu.

The

Tropical Asia and Australia. is

used as a pot-

et Schiilt.

Assyrian plum.

Linn.

It is

clammy cherry.

Boragineae.

fruit is red,

The drupe

China.

used as a potherb.'

is

native.*

it is

young

tender,

The

ripe fruit is also eaten.

fruit is eaten as

kernel tastes

a vegetable and

somewhat

like

a

filbert

of the cultivated tree is better.^

obUqua Willd.

The yotmg

Tropical India. C. rothii

Roem.

fruit is pickled

and

is

also eaten as a vegetable.'

et Schult.

The

Western India.

fruit is eaten.'

C. sebestena Linn.

The

Tropical America.

has been observed growing at C. vestita Hook.

Himalayan

f.

&

plant bears a mucilaginous, edible

Key

fruit.

Nuttall

'

says

it

eaten and

is

West, Florida.

Thoms.

The

region.

fruit is filled

with a gelatinous pulp, which

is

preferred to that of C. myxa.^

CordyUne indivisa Steud.

New Zealand. The C. terminalis Kvmth.

dracaena.

Liliaceae.

berries are eaten

dracaena.

by the

ti.

New Zealanders.*"

ti.

This plant, common in the islands of the Papuan In the Samoan Islands, some 20 varieties, mostly edible,

Tropical Asia and Australia. Archipelago,

is

there cultivated.

are distinguished

'

Unger, F.

'Don, G. '

* '

U.

Brandis, D.

Pat. Off. Rpt. 355.

Forest Fl. 336.

1859.

1831.

Pickering, C.

Unger, P.

1874.

Useful Pis. Ind. 158.

Brandis, D.

"

thick, fleshy roots contain large quantities of saccharine

U. S. Pat. Off. Rpt. 356. Unger, F. 1859. Don, G. Hist. Dichl. Pis. 4:376. 1838.

Nuttall, T.

>

S.-

The

Hist. Dichl. Pis. 1:542.

Drury, H. '

by name."

1879.

No. Amer. Sylva 2:147.

1865.

Forest Fl. 338.

U.

Pickering, C.

1873.

Chron. Hist. Pis. 594.

(C. angustiiolia)

1874.

Pat. Off. Rpt. 347.

1859.

(Dracaena indivisa)

Chron. Hist. Pis. 438.

1879.

{Dracaena terminalis)