22 STURTEVANT S NOTES ON EDIBLE PLANTS 



Nandowessies Indians of the West " consume the sugar which they have extracted from 

 the maple tree." In 1870, the Winnebagoes and Chippewas are said often to sell to the 

 Northwest Pur Company fifteen thousand pounds of sugar a year. The sugar season 

 among the Indians is a sort of carnival, and boiling candy and pouring it out on the snow 

 to cool is the pastime of the children. 



A. tataricum Linn. Tartarian maple. 



Orient. The Calmucks, after depriving the seeds of their wings, boil them in water 

 and afterwards use them for food, mixed with milk and butter.' 



Achillea millefolitun Linn. Compositae. hundred-leaved grass, milfoil, ncse- 



BLEED. SANGUINARY. THOUSAND-SEAL. YARROW. 



Eiu-ope, Asia and America. In some parts of Sweden, yarrow is said to be employed 

 as a substitute for hops in the preparation of beer, to which it is supposed to add an intoxi- 

 cating effect.^ 



Achras sapota Linn. Sapotaceae. naseberry. sapodilla. sapota. 



South America. This is a tree found wild in the forests of Venezuela and the Antilles. 

 It has for a long time been introduced into the gardens of the West Indies and South 

 America but has been recently carried to Mauritius, to Java, to the Philippines, and to 

 the continent of India.' The sapodilla bears a round berry covered with a rough, brown 

 coat, hard at first, but becoming soft when kept a few days to mellow. The berry is about 

 the size of a small apple and has from 6 to 12 cells with several seeds in each, surrounded 

 by a pulp which in color, consistence, and taste somewhat resembles the pear but is sweeter.* 

 The fruit, when tree-ripe, is so full of milk that little rills or veins appear quite through 

 the pulp, which is so acerb that the fruit cannot be eaten until it is as rotten as medlars.* 

 In India, Firminger ' says of its fruit: " a more luscious, cool and agreeable fruit is not to 

 be met with in any country in the world; " and Brandis ' says: " one of the most pleasant 

 fruits known when completely ripe." It is grown in gardens in Bengal. 



Achyranthes bidentata Bltime. Amarantaceae. 



Tropical Asia. The seeds were used as food during a famine in Rajputana, India. 

 Bread made from the seeds was very good. This was considered the best of all substitutes 

 for the usual cereals.* 



Aciphylla glacialis F. Muell. Umbelliferae. 



Australia. This species is utilized as an alimentary root.* 



' Browne, D. J. Trees Amer. 73. 1846. 



-U S. Disp. 17. 1865. 



' Unger, F. U. S. Pat. Off. Rpl. 349. 1859. 



< Lnnan, J. Hort. Jam. 2:2. 1814. 



5 Ibid. 



Firminger, T. A. C. Gard. Ind. 255. 1874. 



' Brandis, D. Forest Fl. 288. 1874. 



King Bot. Soc. Edinb. 10:198, 244. 1870. (A. aspera) 



Baillon, H. Hisl. Ph. y-.ig^. 1881. 



