26 sturtevant's notes on edible plants 



Aerva lanata Juss. Amarantaceae. 



Tropical Africa and Arabia. According to Grant,' this plant is used on the Upper 

 Nile as a pot-herb. 



Aesculus califomica Nutt. Sapindaceae. California horse-chestnut, 



A low-spreading tree of the Pacific Coast of the United States. The chestnuts are 

 made into a gruel or soup by the western Indians.'' The Indians of California pulverize 

 the nut, extract the bitterness by washing with water and form the residue into a cake 

 to be used as food.* 



A. hippocastaniun Linn, horse-chestnut. 



Turkey. The common horse-chestnut is cultivated for ornament but never for the 

 piupose of a food supply. It is now known to be a native of Greece or the Balkan 

 Mountains.'' Pickering* says it was made known in 1557; Brandis,* that it was culti- 

 vated in Vienna in 1576; and Emerson,^ that it was introduced into the gardens of France 

 in 161 5 from Constantinople. John Robinson ' says that it was known in England 

 about 1580. It was introduced to northeast America, says Pickering,' by Etiropean 

 colonists. The seeds are bitter and in their ordinary condition inedible but have been 

 used, says Balfour/" as a substitute for coffee. 



A. indica Coleb. 



Himalayas. A lofty tree of the Himalaya Moimtains called kunour or pangla}^ In 

 times of scarcity, the seeds are used as food, ground and mixed with flour after steeping 

 in water. '^ 



A. parviflora Walt, buckeye. 



Southern states of America. The fruit, according to Browne," may be eaten boiled 

 or roasted as a chestnut. 



Afzelia africana Sm. Leguminosae. 



African tropics. A portion of the seed is edible." 



A. quanzensis Welw. makola. 



Upper Nile. The yoimg purple-tinted leaves are eaten as a spinach.'' 



Pickering, C. Chron. Hist. Pis. 465. 1879. 

 Pickering, C. Chron. Hist. Pis. 582. 1879. 



U. S. D. A. Rpt. 405. 1870. 



* Robinson, J. Agr. Mass. 34. 1850. 

 'Pickering, C. Chron. Hist. Pis. 892. 1879. 

 Brandis, D. Forest Fl. lo^. 1876. 



' Emerson, G. B. Trees, Shrubs Mass. 2:546. 1875, 

 Robinson, J. Letter to Dr. Sturlevant Oct. 13, 1881. 

 Pickering, C. Chron. Hist. Pis. 892. 1879. 



Balfour, J. H. Man. Bot. 459. 1875. 



" Pickering, C. Chron. Hist. Pis. 735. 1879. {Pavia indica) 



"Brandis, D. Forest Fl. 113. 1876. 



" Browne, D. J. Trees Amer. 121. 1846. (A. macroslachya) 



MBaillon, H. Hist. Pis. 2:161. 1872. 



"Speke, J. H. Journ. Disc. Source Nile 568. 1864. 



