sturtevant's notes on edible plants 69 



A. integrifolia Linn. f. jack. 



East Indies. On account of its excellent fruit, this tree is a special object of ctdti- 

 vation on the two Indian peninsulas, in Cochin China and southern China. It has only 

 recently been introduced into the islands of the Pacific Ocean, as well as upon the island 

 of Mauritiift, the Antilles and the west coast of Africa. It is scarcely to be doubted that 

 it occurs here and there growing wild and that perhaps Ceylon and the peninsula of Further 

 India may be looked upon as its original native land.^ The jack seems to be the Indian 

 fruit described by Pliny, who gives the name of the tree as pala, of the fruit, ariena; and to 

 be the chagui of Friar Jordanus,* about 1330, whose " fruit is of such size that one is enough 

 for five persons." Firminger ' says the fruit of this tree is perhaps about one of the largest 

 in existence and is an ill-shapen, imattractive-looking object. The interior is of a soft, 

 fibrous consistency with the edible portions scattered here and there, of about the size 

 and color of a small orange. It is considered delicious by those who can manage, to eat 

 it, but it possesses the rich, spicy scent and flavor of the melon to such a powerful degree 

 as to be qtiite unbearable to persons of a weak stomach, or to those not accustomed to it. 

 There are two varieties in India. Lunan * says the thick, gelatinous covering which envel- 

 opes the seeds, eaten either raw or fried, is delicious. The roimd seeds, about half an 

 inch in diameter, eaten roasted, have a very mealy and agreeable taste. The fruit, says 

 Brandis,' is an important article of food in Burma, southern India and Ceylon. The 

 tree has a very strong and disagreeable smell. 



A. lakoocha Roxb. 



Malay and East Indies. The iU-shapen fruit, the size of an orange and of an austere 

 taste, is sometimes eaten. Firminger ' says also that he has met with those who said 

 they liked it, a fact which he could otherwise have hardly credited. Brandis ^ says the 

 male flower-heads are pickled. 



Arum Aroideae. 



The several species of arum possess a combination of extremely acrid properties, 

 with the presence of a large quantity of farina, which can be separated from the poisonous 

 ingredient by heat or water and in some instances by merely drying. The arums form 

 the most important plants of the tropics. In a single Polynesian Island, Tahiti, the 

 natives have names for 33 arums. Taro, the general name, is grown in vast quantities 

 in the Fiji group on the margins of streams under a system of irrigation. When the root 

 is ripe, the greater part is cut off from the leaves and the portion which is left attached 

 to them is at once replanted. These roots are prepared for use by boUing and are then 

 pounded into a kind of flour, which is preserved imtil wanted for use. Large quantities 

 of tare are also stored in pits where it becomes solid and is afterwards used by the 



1 Unger, F. U. S. Pat. Off. Rpt. 315. 1859. 



' Jordanus, Fr. Wonders East Hakl. Soc. Ed. 13. 1863. 



Firminger, T. A. C. Card. Ind. 185. 1874. 



Lunan, J. Hort. Jam. 1:^88. 1814. 

 ' Brandis, D. Forest Fl. 426. 1874. 



Firminger, T. A. C. Card. Ind. 188. 1874. 

 ' Brandis, D. Forest Fl. 427. 1874. 



