316 BOTANICAL GAZETTE. 



Notes on Edible Plants. I. 



RANUNCUL ACE.E . 



The natural order Ranunculacece includes in general plants of 

 an acrid, caustic or poisonous nature, sometimes insipid, but often 

 dangerous, and reference to their uses as poisons or in medicine 

 are frequent. It has long been remarked, however, that the irri- 

 tant principle has in general so little stability as to be expelled 

 by heat, boiling or drying, and it may not exist in organs yet 

 immature, hence various plants of this order have found use as 

 aliments, as well as portions of the plant in which the dangerous 

 substance does not appear to reside. 



Among the species to which alimentary qualities have been 

 ascribed are Clematis flammula, whose young shoots when boiled 

 are said to be eaten (Maout & Decaisne) : Ranunculus aurico- 

 mus and R. lanuginosus, the leaves boiled and eaten (Duchesne); 

 R. bulbosus, L., whose boiled leaves are edible (Lightfoot) ; R. 

 edulis, Boiss. , whose small tubers together with the young stems, 

 leaves and blossoms, are brought to market in North Persia 

 (Unger); R. ftcaria, L., the pilewort, whose young leaves are 

 boiled as a food by the Swedish peasantry (Linnaeus); R. repens, 

 L. , the mildest of the genus, and said to be eaten as a pot-herb 

 (Marty n); and R. sceleratus, L., which serves the shepherds of 

 Wallachia as an edible after boiling (Don.), although Lindley 

 says that beggars use its acrid leaves to produce ulcers and sores 

 in order to excite compassion. Caltha palustris, in the Eastern 

 United States, is a popular spring green, and under the name of 

 cowslips is largely collected from the marshes about the villages 

 of Massachusetts. Various species of Nigella produce pungent 

 seeds, used as a condiment and a spice, as N. arvensis, L. (Don). 

 N. damascena, L , is cultivated for its seeds in Turkey (Archer), 

 and N. sativa, L., has been cultivated in Europe and the East, 

 the seeds used for seasoning curries (A. Smith), as a pepper sub- 

 stitute in France (Guibort), and for spreading over bread and 

 mixing with cakes by the Egyptians (A. Smith). Aquilegia Can- 

 adensis, L, var. formosa, Fisch., furnishes in its roots an aliment 

 for the Indians of northwest America (R. Brown, Jr.), while 

 Pceonia albiflora, Pal., furnishes food in its roots to the Tartars 

 of Mongolia, who eat them after boiling, and also mix the pow- 

 dered seeds with their tea (Pallas), and the same statement is 

 made for P. edulis in Paradisus Londonensis. 



— E. Lewis Sturtevant, M. D. 



