PLANTS CULTIVATED FOR THEIR SUBTERRANEAN PARTS. 75 



and not good to eat. The two plants are very different, 

 especially in the flower. The one belongs to the Aracece, 

 the other to the Xymphceacece ; the one belongs to the 

 class of Monocotyledons, the other to that of the Dico- 

 tyledons. The nelumbo of Indian origin has ceased to 

 grow in Egypt, while the colocasia of modern botanists 

 has persisted there. If there is any confusion, as seems 

 probable in the Greek authors, it must be explained by 

 the fact that the colcas rarely flowers, at least in Egypt. 

 From the point of view of botanical nomenclature, it 

 matters little that mistakes were formerly made about 

 the plants to which the name colocasia should be applied. 

 Fortunately, modern scientific names are not based upon 

 the doubtful definitions of the ancient Greeks and 

 Romans, and it is sufficient to say now, if the etymology 

 is insisted upon, that colocasia comes from colcas in 

 consequence of an error. 



Ape, or Large-rooted Alocasia — Alocasia macrorrhiza, 

 Schott; Arum macrorrhizurn , Linnaeus. 



This araceous plant, which Schott, places now in the 

 genus Colocasia, now in the Alocasia, and whose names 

 are far more complicated than might be supposed from 

 those indicated above,^ is less frequently cultivated than 

 the common colocasia, but in the same manner and nearly 

 in the same countries. Its rhizomes attain the length 

 of a man's arm. They have a distinctly bitter taste, 

 which it is indispensable to remove by cooking. 



The aborigines of Otahiti call it ape, and those of 

 the Friendly Isles kappe.^ In Ceylon, the common name 

 is hahara, according to Thwaites.^ It has other names 

 in the Malay Archipelago, which argues an existence 

 prior to that of the more recent peoples of these 

 regions. 



The plant appears to be wild, especially in Otahiti.^ 

 It is also wild in Ceylon, according to Thwaites, who has 

 studied botany for a long time in that island. It is 



* See Engler, in D. C. Monographice Phanerogarum, ii. p. 502. 



• Forster, De Plantis Esculentis Insularum Oceani Austi-alis, p. 58. 



• Thwaites, Enum. PI. Zeyl., p. 336. 



* Nadeaud, Enum. des Plantes LndigineSf p. 40. 



