Chapter XVI 
ON PUSCOLULO 
In the Province of Popaydan, 
there grows a bush called pusco- 
lulo,’ which is like hell’s-little- 
fig in size, leaf and shape. It 
bears a fruit very similar to an 
apple in size, colour and rind; 
but it is covered all over with 
tiny spines (hairs) which easily 
rub off. The flesh is between 
green and yellow, watery, and 
full of little seeds like those of 
the pepper; they are eaten to- 
gether with the flesh. The flavor 
tends more to sour than to sweet, 
and eating too many [fruits] sets 
the teeth on edge’’ (Cobo, 1890, 
1, 461; Cobo, 1956, 1, 209-210). 
Chapter XXIII 
ON THE NARANJILLAS 
In the Province of Quito, there 
grows a bush more or less as tall 
as a man; its leaf is like that of 
hell’s-little-fig, a little larger and 
spiny along the veins. The fruit 
which it bears is called naranjil- 
las (‘‘little oranges’’), because of 
a resemblance to oranges. It is 
of the size of a medium-sized 
peach, round, orange-coloured ; 
the rind and core are like those 
of the tomato; the inside is of a 
watery, bittersweet consistency ; 
it has many little seeds, like the 
tomato,and of good taste’’ (Cobo, 
1890, 1,470; Cobo, 1956, I, 213). 
Both descriptions agree that the leaves are sinuate, 
since they are compared with those of ‘‘hell’s-little-fig, ”” 
the colonial Spanish name for Ricinus communis L. But, 
while the fruit of puscolulo is said to be covered with 
spine-like hairs, naranjilla is described as having a smooth 
fruit like the tomato. Another difference is the presence 
of spines on the veins of the leaves of naranjilla, a charac- 
ter not mentioned for puscolulo. 
From the references given above, it appears that, by 
the middle of the 17th Century, there were known in 
Popaydn and Quito solanaceous plants with edible fruits 
which differed both in names and morphological charac- 
teristics. Apparently, Cobo did not notice (or at least he 
fails to mention it) the affinities of the two plants which 
he described. The same observation can be made in the 
case of other plants from regions far away from his resi- 
‘Perhaps this must be read ppochcco, ‘‘fruit sour or acid,’’ in Qui- 
chua, which is, I believe, the ‘“‘naranjita de Quito.’’ (Note by the 
editor Marcos Jiménez de la Espada. ) 
[ 218 | 
