NOTES ON EDBLE PLANTS 



Aberia caffra Harv. & Sond. Bixineae. kai apple, kau apple, kei apple. 



r 



South Africa. The fruits are of a golden- yellow color, about the size of a small apple. 

 They are used by the natives for making a preserve and are so exceedingly acid when 

 fresh that the Dutch settlers prepare them for their tables, as a pickle, without vinegar.* 



Abronia arenaria Menzies. Nyctagineae. 



Seashore of Oregon and California. The root is stout and fusiform, often several 

 feet long.^ The Chinook Indians eat it.' 



Abrus precatorius Linn. Leguminosae. coral-bead plant, love pea. red-bead 



VINE. rosary-pea TREE. WILD LICORICE. 



A plant common within the tropics in the Old World, principally upon the shores. 

 The beauty of the seeds, their use as beads and for necklaces, and their nourishing qualities, 

 have combined to scatter the plant.* The seeds are used in Egypt as a pulse, but Don * 

 says they are the hardest and most indigestible of all the pea tribe. Brandis says the 

 root is a poor substitute for licorice. 



Abutilon esculentum A. St. Hil. Malvaceae. 



Brazil. The Brazilians eat the corolla of this native plant cooked as a vegetable.'' 



A. indicum Sweet 



Old World tropics. The raw flowers are eaten in Arabia.' The leaves contain 

 a large quantity of mucilage. 



Acacia Leguminosae. 



From various acacias comes gum arable which is stated by some to be a highly nutri- 

 trious article of food. Dimng the whole time of the gum harvest in Barbary, the Moors 

 of the desert live almost entirely upon it. It is claimed that six ounces are sufficient for 

 the support of a man during twenty-four hotirs. Gum arable is also used as food by the 



' Jackson, J. R. Treas. Bol. 2:1255. 1876. 



' Brewer and Watson Bol. Col. 2:4. 1880. (A. latifolia) 



' Brown, R. Sot. Soc. Edinb. 9:381. 1868. 



* De CandoUe, A. Gwg. Bo/. 2:769. 1855. 

 Don, G. Hist. Dichl. Pis. 2:342. 1832. 



Brandis, D. Forest Fl. 139. 1876. 



' Saint Hilaire, A. Fl. Bras. Merid. 1:160. 1825. 

 ' Forskal F/. ^eg. ^ra6. XCIII. 1775. {Hibiscus esculeiUus) 



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