i ai Si os 
Tas. 4617. 
ULLUCUS rusgrosus. 
Ulluco. 
Nat. Ord. BasELLACEs.—PENTANDRIA MonoGynia. 
: 
_ Gen. Char, Fores membranacei. Calyx exterior apertus, inferne cum inte- 
riore longiore coalitus, bipartitus; laciniis equalibus,’ aristatis v. setiferis. 
Stamina inclusa, inferne in urceolum subcarnosum calyci adnatum inter se coalita ; 
Jilamentorum pars libera e basi calycis exserta, breviuscula, subulata, erecta ; 
antherae ovate. Ovarium subovatum. Stylus breviusculus, teres, apicem versus 
subincrassatus, Stigma superficies extrema styli. Fructus ovoideus, ealycibus 
immutatis inferne involutus. Pericarpium baccatum. Semen verticale.—Herba 
Peruviana. Caules carnosi. Folia alterna, petiolata, integerrima, carnosa, sub- 
nervosa. Flores pedicellati, in spicas simplices aut subramosas dispositi. Spice 
br eves, pauciflore, laxe, angulatim flexuose. Bracteze remotiuscule, valde inequa- 
les, inferiores basi pedicelli: bractea inferior magna, elongata, persistens ; superiores 
apice pedicelli minutissine, cum fructibus decidua. Moq. 
Utucus tudberosus. 
Uxiucus tuberosus. “ Lozano, in Senan. Nuov. Grenad. 1809. p.185.” De Cand. 
Prodr. v. 3. p.360. “ Mog. Bibl. Univ. Genev. 1849.” 
MELLoca tuberosa. Lindl. Garden. Chron. 1847. p. 685, and 1848. p. 828. (fig.) 
and in Med. § Gicon. Bot. p.159.f.229. Mog.in De Cand. Prodr.v.13.p.225. 
Meuxoca Peruviana. Mog. in De Cand. Prodr. v. 13. p. 225. 
MELLoca tuberosa? Mog. in De Cand. Prodr, v.13. p, 224. 
Basewua tuberosa. H. B. KX. Nov. Gen. et Sp. Am. v. 2. p. 189. 
The present plant is deserving of a figure in our Magazine, 
in part as a botanical curiosity, and in part as yielding tubers 
which are eaten in Peru, and which, in times of the potato-panic, 
have been introduced to Europe, with the vain hope of its 
proving a succedaneum for that invaluable esculent. During the 
prevalence of the famine occasioned by the failure of the Potato, 
various attempts were made to cultivate what might be con- 
sidered a substitute for it, but altogether without success. 
Whatever the vegetable might be, either our climate was not 
suited to it, or the substance obtained from it was worthless, or 
not agreeable to the English palate :—none was found to answer. 
For a time the Uduco claimed the public attention, by the in- 
troduction of its tubers, through Professor Jameson of Quito, 
DECEMBER Ist, 1851. 
