^8 sturtevant's notes on edible plants 



sufficiently developed. In 1729, Switzer ' describes the plant in a book devoted to this 

 and other novelties but adds that he had never seen it; this indicates that celeriac was 

 little known in England at this date, for he adds that the gentleman, who had long been 

 an importer of curious seeds, furnished him with a supply from Alexandria. Celeriac is 

 again named in England in 1752,* 1765,' and by succeeding writers but is little known 

 even at the present time. In 1806, McMahon * includes this in his list of American garden 

 esculents, as does Randolph for Virginia before 1818. Biur describes two varieties, and 

 two varieties are oflered in our seed catalogs. The history of celeriac is particularly 

 interesting, as we seem to have a record of its first introduction and of a size at that time 

 which is not approached in modern culture. 



Jo. Baptista Porta, a Neapolitan, writes thus in his Villae, published at Frankfurt 

 in 1592 (lib. 10, chap. 21), the translation being liberal: "There is another kind of 

 celery called Capitatvim, which is grown in the gardens of St. Agatha, Theano and other 

 places in Apulia, granted from nature and unseen and unnamed by the ancients. Its 

 bulb is spherical, nearly of the size of a man's head. It is very sweet, odorous and grate- 

 ful. Except in rich land, it degenerates, until it differs from the common apium in no 

 respects, except in its root, round like a head." 



A. prostratum Labill. Australian celery. 



Australian and Antarctic regions. Mueller ' says this plant can be utilized as a 

 culinary vegetable. 



Apocjraum reticulatum Linn. Apocynaceae. dogbane. 



East Indies. According to linger,* this plant furnishes a food. 



Aponogeton distachyum Thunb. Naiadaceae. cape asparagus, cape pond-weed. 



South Africa. This plant has become naturalized in a stream near Montpelier, 

 France. Its flowering spikes, known as water untjie, are in South Africa in high repute 

 as a pickle ^ and also afford a spinach.* In Kaffraria, the roasted roots are reckoned a 

 great delicacy.' 



A. fenestrale Hook, lattice-leaf, water- yam. 



Madagascar. Ellis '" says this plant is not only extremely curious but also very 

 valuable to the natives who, at certain seasons of the year, gather it as an article 

 of food, the fleshy root, when cooked, yielding a farinaceous substance resembling the 

 yam. 



Switzer, S. Raising Veg. 9. 1729. 



Miller Card. Did. 1752, from Miller Card. Diet. 1807. 



Stevenson Card. Kal. y). 1765. 



McMahon, B. Amer. Gard. Cal. 5%l. 1806. 

 'Mueller, F. 5^. P/i. 44. 189 1. 



Unger, F. U. S. Pat. Off. Rpt. 359. 1859. 

 ' Hooker, W. J. Bot. Misc. 2:265. 183 1. 

 Mueller, F. 5e/. P/i. 45. 1891. 



Thunberg, C. P. Trar. 1:156. 1795. 

 '"Ellis, W. Three Visits Madagas. 5^. 1859. (Ouvirandra fenestralis) 



