60 TfiE A^IERICAX ftOTAMtsT. 



Willow Bark for Smoklng. — Further correspond' 

 ence in The Atlantic Slope Naturalist brings out the fact 

 that the so-called "red. willow" used for smoking by the 

 American Indians, is not a willow at all, but the well 

 known silky cornel or kinnikinik {Cornus sericea). This 

 cornel has purplish twigs, and being found froin Maine to 

 Dakota and southward to the Gulf, is doubtless the plant 

 used throughout under the name of willow. One writer 

 notes that when the silk}- cornel was not to be obtained, 

 the bark of the panicled cornel (C. paniculata) was used 

 instead. 



Names of the Elephant's Ear.— In The American 

 Botanist for Juh'the old and fearful question of the popu- 

 lar names of Coyocasi'a antiquoriim esculenta w^as brought 

 up again and along with its usual complement of errors 

 w^e note the interesting statement that "in Porto Rico it 

 is called bleeding heart." Now, on the face of it, "bleeding 

 heart" does not sound ver}' Spanish-like; besides I have 

 3'et to hear the equivalent of the words in Spanish as ap- 

 plied to any plant. The name is properly applied to those 

 ornamental hybrids of Caladium spp. which happen to 

 have the central area of the leaf blade reddish in color. In 

 Porto Rico the edible variety of elephant's ear is called 

 "Malang" ; it is popularly and erroneously believed to be 

 a variety of "Yautia" {Xanthosoma spp,). Until Prof O. 

 F. Cook straightened out the matter two years ago, the 

 15 or more varieties of "Yautia" were treated as "Taro" 

 b}^ nearh' all ^vriters. No\v let us get this thing correct 

 for once : Colocasia antiquorum var. esculenta is called 

 "Taro" in Polynesia, "Malanga" in Porto Rico, "Cocoes" 

 in Jamaica, and "Eddoes" or "Eddas" in the Gold Coast 

 and British West Indies. Xanthosoma spp. are known as 

 "Taya," "Tanj^a" and "Tanier" throughout the West In- 

 dies; (it doesn't make much difference hOw it is spelled — 

 the sound is surely Negri tic if not its origin also) ; in 

 Porto Rico it is alwaj'S "Yautia," and in South America 

 it is highly respected under several local names. The two 

 genera stand side by side in that aristocratic family of 



