and on some American Plants. 27 



resided for a considerable time at Buenos Ay res, he told me he 

 knew it well, and that it is a common weed in the gardens and 

 in the neighbourhood, bearing small tubers like those of the 

 potato, but too bitter for use. Whether this be the original 

 stock of our common potato improved by cultivation, future 

 observation must determine. Molina, in his History of Chili, 

 speaking of the potato, says, " It is indeed found in all the 

 fields of that country, but those plants that grow wild, called 

 by the Indians Maglia, produce only very small roots of a 

 bitter taste." 



There appeared lately in the English newspapers an account 

 of a root which is very much cultivated in Peru under the name 

 of Arracacka^ and which would be a very desirable acquisition 

 to this country. The before-mentioned Don Francisco Antonio 

 Zea, formerly professor of botany at Madrid, who has lately 

 arrived in this country from Santa Fe de Bogota, (New Granada,) 

 informs me that the Arracacha grows abundantly at Santa Fe, 

 Junga and Pamplona, where it is very much cultivated and eaten 

 in the same manner as we do potatoes in this country ; and says 

 that the plant which produces it belongs to the natural order 

 UmhellifercB, and that it has a tapering root, about six inches 

 long and two inches thick. I have little doubt that this is the 

 same with the Heracleum tuberosum, foliis pinnatis ; foliolis sep- 

 tenis; ftorihis radiatis ; of Molina, who gives the following 

 account of it : " This plant resembles very much in its leaves, 

 flowers, and seeds, the Common Cow Parsnip, but is distin- 

 guished from it by the greater number of roots it bears, which 

 are six inches long and three inches thick, of a yellow colour, 

 and of a very agreeable taste." 



Don Zea has also afforded me another piece of information, 

 relating to a small species of Mays, or Indian corn, which was 

 introduced last year from France under the name of Mays de 

 Poulet, and which ripens its ears two months earlier than the 

 common kind. I had suggested to Mr. Sabine, (who has men- 

 tioned it in the Horticultural Transactions,) that it was very 

 probably the Zea Caragua of Molina ; and my opinion is now 

 confirmed by Don Zea, who knew it at once on its being shewn 



