892 



or ash-gray and wrinkled, very white, soft and fleshy within, as easily 

 sliced as a turnip, and abounding with an acrid, clammy juice. 

 Apart from this acrimony, which cannot compare for intensity with 

 that of Cassava and the various esculent Aracese, the root has neither 

 bitterness nor any other unpleasant taste, nor, though so large and en- 

 during, is it at all tough, woody or stringy in texture, being apparently 

 purely farinaceous, and composed chiefly of starch, with probably a 

 portion of gluten. I have the best reason for believing that were the 

 roots dressed like yams, by roasting them in hot wood-ashes a suffi- 

 cient time to dissipate their acrimony, as in the latter, they would 

 prove no way inferior to that vegetable.* Had I the facilities for 

 trying the experiment I should certainly do so, but partial failures 

 must be anticipated before the exact degree and duration of heat to 

 be applied could be ascertained, and the experience necessary to en- 

 sure uniform success in the operation acquired. That there is reason 

 in roasting a yam as well as an egg there can be no doubt, and we all 

 know how much the simple process of boiling potatoes demands for 

 its successful issue some exercise of man's noblest attribute. The 

 tubers of the Tamus dug up from the hedge-rows in autumn, when 

 the berries are ripening, would probably furnish as good yams as if 

 cultivated expressly for use, because in the West Indies the " ruinate 

 yams,' 1 or those that have become wild on old forsaken or ruined 

 plantations, are esteemed the best. 



The beautiful large scarlet berries, hanging in festoons on the 

 bushes, ripen too late (with the decaying leaves) to add much to the 

 ornamental aspect of the plant in autumn, yet are not without their 

 use. These berries abound with a nearly insipid, watery juice, which 



* On turning over several old authors to learn what may have been said by them 

 on the subject, I find by reference to Matthiolus that my idea of converting Black 

 Bryony roots into home-grown yams is not altogether a new one. That learned com- 

 mentator on Dioscorides tells us, on the authority of one Martin Guidotti, a perfumer 

 (myropola) of Trent, and a most diligent herbalist, that the roots of Tamus roasted 

 in hot ashes are no contemptible dish (haud ingratum sit edulium), Matth. edit. Valgr. 

 1565, p. 1287. Tt is, however, but fair to add that Guidotti attributes medical virtues 

 (probably imaginary) to these yams, which would make them unfit food for some tem- 

 peraments. It is well known that the young shoots of the Black Bryony when they 

 first appear above ground in the spring are eaten in some countries like asparagus, 

 although by no means devoid of active properties, which it requires long boiling to 

 render inert ; why, therefore, should the root be less susceptible of conversion into 

 good and wholesome aliment ? Matthiolus's figure of his Vitis nigra is one of Smilax 

 aspera, but his description applies to Tamus, which was the true Vitis nigra of ancient 

 authors. 



