352 ORIGIN OF CULTIVATED PLANTS. 



persisted in these countries from custom, and on account 

 of the abundance of the product. 



From all time the distinction has existed between the 

 quinoa with coloured leaves, and the quinoa with green 

 leaves and white seed ^ The latter was regarded by 

 Moquin ^ as a variety of a little known species, believed 

 to be Asiatic ; but I believe that I showed conclusively 

 that the two American quinoas are two varieties, pro- 

 bably very ancient, of a single species.^ The less coloured, 

 w^hich is also the most farinaceous, is probably derived 

 from the other. 



The white quinoa yields a grain which is much 

 esteemed at Lima, according to information furnished by 

 the Botanical Magazine, where a good drawing may be 

 seen (pi. 3641). The leaves may be dressed in the same 

 manner as spinach.^ 



No botanist has mentioned the quinoa as wild or 

 semi-wild. The most recent and complete work on one 

 of the countries where the species is cultivated, the 

 Flora of Chili, bj^ CI. Gay, speaks of it onl}^ as a culti- 

 vated plant. Pere Feuillee and Humboldt said the same 

 for Peru and New Granada. It is perhaps due to the 

 insignificance of the plant and its aspect of a garden 

 weed that collectors have neglected to bring back wild 

 specimens. 



Kiery — Ama rantus frumentaceus, Roxburgh. 



This annual is cultivated in the Indian peninsula for 

 its small farinaceous grain, which is in some localities the 

 principal food of the natives.^ Fields of this species, of a 

 red or golden colour, produce a beautiful effect.^ From 

 Roxburgh's account, Dr. Buchanan " discovered it on the 

 hills of Mysore and Coimbatore," which seems to indicate 

 a wild condition. Amarantus speciosus, cultivated in 

 gardens and figured on pi. 2227 of the Botanical Maga- 



* Molina, Hist, Nat. du Chili, p. 101. 



* Moquin, in De Candolle, Prodromus, xiii. part 1, p. 67. 

 » A. de Candolle, Geogr. Bof. Rais., p. 952. 



* Bon Jardinier, 1880, p. 5G2. 



» Roxburgh, Fl. Ind., edit. 2, vol. iii. p. 609 ; Wight, Icones, pi. 720; 

 Aitchison, Catalogue of Punjab Plants, p. 130. 

 ^ Madden, Trans. Edin. Bot. Sac, v. p. 118. 



