65 



Pedaliackae. 

 Sesamum indicum, Linn.; Sesame, Gingelly or Qingili 



(India), Til (Bengal), Benniseed (Sierra Leone), Sim-aim 

 (Sudan, E. Africa), Goma (Japan). 



Annual, believed to be a native of Tropical Africa; widely 



spread by cultivation in the Tropica and Sub-tropics. The chief 



use of the plant is in the production of oil from the seed — hi 1 

 and white, the best quality oil being* obtained from the white 

 seed — used everywhere as rood and as a substitute for olive oil. 

 The seeds are made into sweetmeats and toasted and ground they 

 are made into cakes, and they have also been submitted to Kew 

 for identification with the statement " found in raspberry jam.'* 

 The cake made from the residue after the extraction of the oil is 

 an important cattle food. Cases of poisoning have been known 

 to occur, believed to be due to the presence of soluble oxalates or 

 free oxalic acid in the seed. 



There is a large trade in the -eed in Pan ope, of which 

 Marseilles is perhaps the most important centre, with India, 

 China, and Africa the main sources of supply. The Custom > 

 Keturns were included in "Seeds unenumerated " -prior to 



1917, in which year the amount imported into the- United 

 Kingdom was 115,404 quarters chiefly from British India 

 (92,778 qrs.), China (13,120 qrs.)j Xigeria (7,587 qrs), und the 

 remainder from other foreign countries and British Possessions 

 not enumerated. 



The seeds of Ceratotheca sesamoides, Endl., are eaten like 

 those of Sesamum in Uganda. 



la. ix. 3 (1915), pp. 511-514. 



Labiateae. 



Coleus rotundifolius, A. Chev.; Madagascar Potato, Hausa 

 Potato, Salaga (Togoland) Potato, Fra-Fra (Gold Coast) Potato. 



Perennial, 1 ft. high, cultivated in many part- of Tropical 

 Africa and in Java, Ceylon, Mauritius, Madagascar, &c, for 

 the tubers, used as food, like the ordinary potato. 



la. ix. 3 (1915 f , pp. 531-533. 



The " Umbondive " or " Kaffir Potato " (Plectranthus escv- 



Icntus, X. E. Br.), is a favourite food of the natives in Natal- 

 and f * Bisga * ' (Hausa) (Plectranthus floribundus, "N. E. Br., 

 var. longipes) ds cultivated in Nigeria for the tuberous root- 

 stocks, used as food, and they are also so used in Southern 

 Rhodesia. " Benefing " {Hyptu spicigera, Lam.), an annual, 

 5 ft. high, of French West Africa, is cultivated and used for 

 food in much the same way as Sesamuvr indicum in British 

 West Africa, Uganda, Nile region, &c. The tubers of 

 " Crosnes " or "Chinese Artichoke" (Stachys Sieboldii, Miq.). 

 are used for food in China and Japan, where the plant is culti- 

 vated for the purpose: introduced into Britain as a new esculent 

 in 1885, and also cultivated in France for the Paris market-. 

 The well-known culinary herbs "Thyme'* (Thymus vulgaris, 

 Linn.). "Marjoram" or "Sweet Marjoram " {Origanum 

 Marjorana, Linn.), and "Mint" {Mentha viridis, Linn.), also 



* belong to this Order. (K.B. % 1916, "Culinary Herbs," pp. 



202-203.) 



E 



