52 sturtevant's notes on edible plants 



has only escaped from gardens. It is odtivated in the whole of Brazil, Peru and Mexico. 

 In Jamaica, the fruit is sought after only by negroes. The plant has quite recently been 

 carried to Sierra Leone.^ It is not mentioned among the fruits of Florida by Atwood^ 

 in 1867 but is included in the American Pomological Society's list for 1879. The smell 

 and taste of the fruit, flowers and whole plant resemble much those of the black currant. 

 The pulp of the fruit, says Lunan,' is soft, white and of a sweetish taste, intermixed with 

 oblong, dark colored seeds, and, according to Sloane, the unripe fruit dressed like turnips 

 tastes like them. Morelet * says the rind of the fruit is thin, covering a white, tmctuous 

 pulp of a peculiar, but delicious, taste, which leaves on the palate a flavor of perfimied 

 cream. It has a peculiarly agreeable flavor although coupled with a biting wild taste. 

 Church' says its leaves form corossol tea. 



A. paludosa Aubl. 



Guiana, growing upon marshy meadows. The species bears elongated, yellow berries, 

 the size of a hen's egg, which have a juicy flesh.' 



A. palustris Linn, alligator apple, cork-wood, monkey apple, pond apple. 



American and African tropics. The plant bears fruit the size of the fist. The seeds, 

 as large as a bean, lie in an orange-colored pulp of an unsavory taste but which has some- 

 thing of the smell and relish of an orange.'' The fruit is considered narcotic and even 

 poisonous in Jamaica but of the latter we have, says Lunan,* no certain proof. The wood 

 of the tree is so soft and compressible that the people of Jamaica call it corkwood and 

 employ it for stoppers. 



A. punctata Aubl. 



Guiana. The plant bears a brown, oval, smooth fruit about three inches in diameter 

 with little reticulations on its surface. The flesh is reddish, gritty" and filled with little 

 seeds. It has a good flavor and is eaten with pleasure.' It is the pinaou of Guiana. 



A. reticulata Linn. anon, bullock's heart, corazon. corossol. custard apple. 

 Tropical America. Cultivated in Peru, Brazil, in Malabar and the East Indies. 

 This delicious fruit is produced in Florida in excellent perfection as far north as St. Augus- 

 tine; it is easily propagated from seed. Masters *" says its yellowish pulp is not so much 

 relished as that of the sotu^op or cherimoyer. Lunan " says, in Jamaica, the fruit is much 

 esteemed by some people. Unger ^ says it is highly prized but he calls the fruit brown, 



> Unger, F. U. S. Pat. Off. Rpt. 350. 1859. 

 'U. S. D.A. Rpt. 144. 1867. 



Lunan, J. Hort. Jam. 2:180. 1814. 



Morelet Trav. Cent. Amer. 21. 1 87 1. 

 Church, A. H. Food 203. 1887. 



Unger, F. U. S. Pat. Off. Rpt. 350. 1859. 



' Sloane, H. Nat. Hist. Jam. 2:169. 1725. (A.aquatica) 



' Lunan, J. Hort. Jam. i:ii. 1814. 



' Lindley, J. Trans. Hort. Soc. Land. 5:101. 1824. 

 "> Masters, M. T. Treas. Bot. 1:70. 1870. 

 " Lunan, J. Hort. Jam. 1:256. 1814. 

 Unger, F. U. S. Pat. Off. Rpt. 350. 1859. 



