96 ESCULENT HOOTS. 



TUBEROUS-ROOTED TROPCEOLUM. Thomp. 

 Ysano. Tropoeolum tuberosum. 



This is a perennial plant from Peru, and deserves mention 

 as a recently introduced esculent. It produces an abundance 

 of handsome yellow and red tubers, about the size of small 

 pears, the taste of which is not, however, very agreeable. 

 On this account, a particular mode of treatment has been 

 adopted in Bolivia, where, according to M. Decaisne, they 

 are treated in the following manner : 



The tubers designated " Ysano," at La Paz, require to be 

 prepared before they are edible. Indeed, when prepared like 

 potatoes, and immediately after being taken up, their taste is 

 very disagreeable. But a mode of making them palatable 

 was discovered in Bolivia ; and the Ysano has there become, 

 if not a common vegetable, at least one which is quite edible. 

 The means of making them so consists in freezing them after 

 they have been cooked, and they are eaten when frozen. In 

 this state it is said that they constitute an agreeable dish, and 

 that scarcely a day passes at La Paz without two lines of 

 dealers being engaged in selling the Ysano, which they pro- 

 tect from the action of the sun by enveloping it in a woollen 

 cloth, and straw. Large quantities are eaten sopped in treacle, 

 and taken as refreshment during the heat of the day. 



Propagation and Culture. The plant may be propagated 

 by pieces of the tubers, in the same manner as potatoes ; an 

 eye being preserved on each piece. The sets should be 

 planted in April or May, according to the season, about four 

 feet apart, in light, rich soil. The stems may be allowed to 

 trail along the ground, or pea-sticks may be placed for their 

 support. In dry soils and seasons, the former method should 

 be adopted ; in those which are moist, the latter. The tubers 

 are taken up in October, when the leaves begin to decay, and 

 stored in sand. 



