sturtevant's notes on edible plants 8i 



B. minor Jacq. prickly pole, tobago cane. 



Jamaica. The fruit is dark piirple, the size of a cherry and contains an acid juice 

 which Jacquin says is made into a sort of wine. The fruit is edible but not pleasant.'' ^ 



Bagassa guiaoensis Aubl. Urticaceae. 



Gviiana. The tree bears an orange-shaped edible fruit.' 



Balanites aegyptica Delile. Simaruheae. zachun-oil tree. 



Northern Africa, Arabia and Palestine. A shrubby, thorny bush of the southern 

 border of the Sahara from the Atlantic to Hindustan.'' It is called in equatorial Africa 

 m'choonchoo; the edible drupe tastes like an intensely bitter date.^ 



Balsamorhiza hookeri Nutt. Compositae. balsam-root. 



Northwestern America. The thick roots of this species are eaten raw by the Nez 

 Perc6 Indians and have, when cooked, a sweet and rather agreeable taste.' 



B. sagittata Nutt. oregon sunflower. 



Northwestern America. The roots are eaten by the Nez Perc^ Indians in Oregon, 

 after being cooked on hot stones. They have a sweet and rather agreeable taste.' 

 Wilkes * mentions the Orgeon simflower of which the seeds, poimded into a meal called 

 mielito, are eaten by the Indians of Puget Sound. 



Bambusa. Gramineae. 



In India, the Bambusa flowers so frequently that in Mysore and Orissa the seeds 

 are mixed with honey and eaten like rice.' The farina of the seeds is eaten in China.'" 

 In Amboina, in the East Indies, the young bamboo shoots, cut in slices and pickled, are 

 used as a pro-vdsion for long voyages and are sold in the markets as a culinary vegetable.'' 

 In the Himalayas, the young shoots are eaten as a vegetable, and the seeds of a variety 

 called praong in Sikkim are boiled and made into cakes or into beer.'^ Williams " says: 

 " In China the tender shoots are cultivated for food and are, when four or five inches 

 high, boiled, pickled, and comfited." Fortune '* says: " In China the yoimg shoots are 

 cultivated for food and are taken to market in large quantities." 



' Titford, W. J. Hort. Bot. Amer. 112. 1814. (Cocos guineensis) 



' Lunan, J. Hort. Jam. 2:94. 1814. 



Masters, M. T. Treas. Bot. 1:117. 1870- 



Smith, J. ZJoOT. 5o/. 455. 1871. 



' Speke, J. H. Journ. Disc. Source Nile 564. 1864. 



'U. S. D. A. Rpt. 406. 1870. {B.incana) 



' Black, A. A. Treas. Bot. 1:120. 1870. (B. helianthoides) 



Wilkes, C. U. S. Explor. Exped. 4:434. 1845. 



Humboldt, A. Views Nature 3$$. 1850. 



' Williams, S. W. U. S. Pat. Off. Rpt. 475. i860. 

 " La Billardi&re Voy. Recherche Perouse 1:395. 1799- 

 "Hooker, J. D. Himal. Journ. 1:313. 1854. 

 Williams, S. W. U. S. Pal. Off. Rpt. 475. i860. 

 "Fortune, R. Resid. Chinese 190. 1857. 



