354 BOTANICAL GAZETTE. 



Guinea pepper employed by the negroes from time immemorial ; 

 X. aromatica, used by the negroes of Guiana as a nutmeg; X. 

 frutescens, used as a seasoner in Brazil (Baillon); X. glabra of 

 Jamaica, pronounced by Browne as having an agreeable fruit; 

 X. grandijlora, (Baillon), and X. sericea, St. Hil., whose seeds 

 furnish a spice in Brazil (St. Hillaire). 



The genus Xylopia seems to include edible species referred by 

 some authors to the genera Unona and Habzelia. 



BERBERIDE.E. 



This natural order includes a number of edibles of however 

 slight importance. 



Lardizabala biternata, Ruiz, et Pav. of Chili and Peru, has 

 fruits which are sold in the markets, the pulp being sweet and of 

 pleasing taste (Don) ; Boquila trifoliata also has edible berries 

 about the size of a pea, eaten in Chili (Maout & Decaisne) ; and 

 Holboellia angustifolia, Wall, of Nepal, and H. latifolia, Wall, of 

 Sikkim, have mealy and insipid, yet edible, fruits. 



Berberis aquifo/ium, Pursh. of Western North America, bears 

 sour fruit, but not unpleasant to the taste (Howell); the juice 

 when fermented makes, on the addition of sugar, a palatable and 

 wholesome wine (Rothrock) ; B. aristata, D C. of the mountains 

 of Hindustan, has been introduced into European fruit gardens. 

 It is said to yield purple fruits, which, in India, are dried like 

 raisins and used at desert (Downing); B. Asiatica, Roxb., has 

 large ovoid or subglobose berries, red or black, which are eaten 

 in the East Indies (Brandis); B. buxifolia, Lam. from Magellan's 

 Straits to Chili, has comparatively large, black, hardly acid, 

 slightly astringent fruit, eaten in Valdivia and Chiloe (Muellei); 

 B. Canadensis, Pursh., of the Alleghanies of Virginia and south- 

 ward, is a small shrub with red berries of an agreeable taste 

 (Pursh.) ; B. cristata of Nepal furnishes fruits which are dried 

 and sent down as raisins to the plains (Wight) ; B. Darwinii 

 Hook, of Chiloe and South Chili, is grown in cottagers' gardens 

 in England, and the fruit esteemed by children as equal to black 

 currants (Gard. Chron.); B. dulcis, D. Don, probably the B. 

 buxifolia, Lam., has ripened fruit in Edinburg, described as large 

 and excellent (Downing) ; B. glumacea, Spreug. is abundant in 

 spruce forests in Oregon, the fruit blue, acid, but eatable (New- 

 berry) ; B. heteropoda is an edible barberry from Turkistan, and 

 is growing in the Experimental collection of the University of 

 California (Hilgard) ; B. lycium has fruit which in China is pre- 

 served, and whose young shoots and leaves are used as a vegeta- 

 ble, or for infusion as a tea (Smith) ; B. Nepalensis, Spreng. of 



