48 sturtevant's notes on edible plants 



Anamirta paniculata Colebr. Menispermaceae. 



East Indies. A strong, climbing shrub found in the eastern part of the Indian Penin- 

 sula and Malay Islands. From this plant is produced a deleterious drug illegally used 

 in England to impart bitterness to beer.' 



Ananas sativus Schult. Bromeliaceae. pineapple. 



Tropical America. In 1493, the companions of Columbus, at Guadeloupe island, 

 first saw the pineapple, the flavor and fragrance of which astonished and delighted them, 

 as Peter Martyr records. The first accurate illustration and description appear to have 

 been given by Oviedo in 1535. Las Casas,^ who reached the New World in 1502, men- 

 tions the finding by Columbus at Porto Bello of the delicious pineapple. Oviedo,' who 

 went to America in 1513, mentions in his book three kinds as being then known. Benzoni,* 

 whose History of the New World was pubUshed in 1568 and who resided in Mexico from 

 1541 to 1555, says that no fruit on God's earth could be more agreeable, and Andre Thevet,* 

 a monk, says that in his time, 1555-6, the nanas was often preserved in sugar. De Soto,' 

 1557, speaks of " great pineapples " " of a very good smell and exceeding good taste " in 

 the Antilles. Jean de Lery,' 1578, describes it in his Voyage to Brazil as being of such 

 excellence that the gods might luxuriate upon it and that it should only be gathered by 

 the hand of a Venus. Acosta,' 1578, also describes this fruit as of " an excellent smell, 

 and is very pleasant and delightful in taste, it is full of juice, and of a sweet and sharp 

 taste." He calls the plant ananas. Raleigh,' 1595, speaks of the " great abundance of 

 pinas, the princesse of fruits, that grow under the Sun, especially those of Guiana." 



Acosta states that the ananas was carried from Santa Cruz in Brazil to the West 

 Indies, and thence to the East Indies and China, but he does not pretend by this that 

 pineapples were not to be found out of Brazil, for he describes an idol in Mexico, Vitzili- 

 putzli, as having " in his left hand a white target with the figures of five pineapples, made 

 of white feathers, set in a crosse." Stephens,'" at Tuloom, on the coast of Yucatan, found 

 what seemed intended to represent a pineapple among the stucco ornaments of a ruin. 

 We do not know what to make of Wilkinson's " statement of one instance of the pineapple 

 in glazed pottery being among the remains from ancient Egypt. It has probably been 

 cultivated in tropical America from time immemorial, as it now rarely bears seeds. 

 Humboldt '^ mentions pineapples often containing seeds as growing wild in the forests of 



* Masters, M. T. Treas. Bot. 1:58. 1870. {A. cocculus) 

 Irving, W. Columbus 2:324. 1848. 



Mcintosh, C. Book Card. 2:61^1. 1855. 



Ibid. 



Ibid. 



" De Soto Disc. Conq. Fla. 1557. Hakl. Soc. Ed. 18. 1851. 



' Booth, W. B. Treas. Bot. 1:60. 1870. 



Acosta Nat. Mor. Hist. Ind. 1578. Hakl. Soc. Ed. 1:236. 1880. 



Raleigh Disc. Guiana. Hakl. Soc. Ed. 73. 1848. 

 "Stephens Trav. Yucatan 2:406. 1841. 



" Wilkinson Anc. Egypt. 2:36. 1854. 



" De CandoUe, A. P. Ceog. Bot. 2:927. 1855. 



