ding tips should be taken off, as the process of flowering 

 would hinder the root from coming to its greatest size, 

 care being taken not to remove more than the budding 

 extremities, lest the growth of the root should thereby also 

 suffer ; with the same view, any luxuriance in the shoots 

 ought to be prevented, since it must be at the expence 

 of the root. From time to time, and particularly after 

 weeding the ground, fresh mould should be laid round the 

 foot of each plant, to aid likewise in the enlargement 

 of the root. In favourable situations, the Arracacha, I 

 am told, attains its full size in six months. It does not 

 seem to require a rich soil or much moisture ; since here, 

 on a loose but poor soil, in the St. Andrew's Mountains, 

 where very little rain fell from the time it was planted 

 until it was full grown, it throve and reached maturity in 

 eight months. The soil which suits Yams, appears equally 

 adapted to the Arracacha. 



In Bogota and Popayan, they obtain a succession of 

 Arracachas through the whole year, by planting shoots 

 at every decrease of the moon. 



The root rasped and macerated in water, deposits a 

 fecula, which is in very general use at Bogota, as a light 

 nourishment for the sick, in the same manner as the fecula 

 of the Maranta arundinacea is in Jamaica. 



In the Exotic Flora, I inclined to an opinion, that the 

 Conium moschatum, of Humb. and Kunth. Nov. Gen. v. 5. p. 

 14. t. 420, might be the same as our Arracacha ; but the 

 more compound leaves of Humboldt's plant, their more 

 obtuse segments, less deeply serrated, spotted when dry, 

 the much larger umbel, trifid involucre, larger fruit, which 

 is broad at the base, and the divaricating styles, together 

 with the odour of musk, (whereas our plant has the heavy 

 smell of Conium maculatum,) have induced me to consider 

 it distinct. It is the Arracacia moschata of De Candolle. 

 It grows in cold places, in the province of Los Pastos, near 

 Teindala, at an elevation of eight thousand four hundred 

 feet above the level of the sea, where it is called by the 

 natives, Saccharacha ; a name not very dissimilar to tha 

 of our plant. 



Fig. 1. Male Flower, young. 2. Stamen from the same. 3. Male Flower, 

 with Stamens exserted. 4. Female Flower, with a Bractea. 5. P eta1 ' 

 Fruit, immature, 7. Partial Umbel. — All more or less magnified. 



