86 sturtevant's notes on edible plants 



bloom. It is consumed by the natives ' in an unripe state in their curries.' This goxird 

 is cultivated throughout Asia and its islands and in France as a vegetable.* It is described 

 as delicate, quite like the cucumber and preferred by many.* The bloom of the fruit 

 forms peetha wax and occurs in sufficient quantity to be collected and made into candles. 

 This cucurbit has been lately introduced into European gardens. According to Bret- 

 schneider,' it can be identified in a Chinese book of the fifth century and is mentioned 

 as cultivated in Chinese writings of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. In 

 1503-08, Ludovico di Varthema * describes this gourd in India imder the name como- 

 langa. In 1859, Naudin ^ says it is much esteemed in southern Asia, partictilarly in China, 

 and that the size of its fruit, its excellent keeping qualities, the excellence of its flesh and 

 the ease of its culture shovild long since have brought it into garden culture. He had 

 seen two varieties: one, the cylindrical, ten to sixteen inches long and one specimen twenty- 

 four inches long by eight to ten inches in diameter, from Algiers; the other, an ovoid fruit, 

 shorter, yet large, from China. The long variety was grown at the New York Agricul- 

 tural Experiment Station in 1884 from seed from France. The fruit is oblong-cylindrical, 

 resembling very closely a watermelon when, imripe but when ripe covered with a heavy 

 glaucous bloom. 



This plant is recorded in herbariums as from the Philippine Islands, New Guinea, 

 New Caledonia, Fiji Islands, Tahiti, New Holland and southern China and as ctiltivated 

 in Japan and in China.' 



This species is the Cumbulant of Rheede Hort. Mai., 8, p. 5, t. 3; the Camolenga of 

 Riunphius Amb. 5, 395, t. 143; the Cucurbita Pepo of Loureiro Cochinch. 593. 



Berberis angulosa Wall. Berberideae. barberry. 



India. This is a rare Himalayan species with the largest flowers and fruit of any 

 of the thirteen species found on that range. In Sikkim, it is a shrub four or more feet 

 in height, growing at an elevation of from 11,000 to 13,000 feet, where it forms a striking 

 object in auttmm from the rich golden and red coloring of its foliage. The fruit is edible 

 and less acid than that of the common species.' 



B. aquifolium Pursh. mahonia. mountain grape. Oregon grape. 



Western North America. This shrub is not rare in cultivation as an ornamental. 

 It has deep blue berries in clusters somewhat resembling the frost grape and the flavor 

 is strongly acid. The berries are used as food, and the juice when fermented makes, on 

 the addition of sugar, a palatable and wholesome wine. It is said not to have much value 

 as a fruit. It is common in Utah and its fruit is eaten, being highly prized for its medicinal 



Firminger, T. A. C. Card. Ind. 126. 1874. 



' MueUer, F. Sel. PL 67. 1891. 



' Robinson, W. Parks, Card. Paris 503. 1878. 



* Bon Jard. 432. 1882. 



Bretschneider, E. Bot. Sin. 59, 78, 83, 85. 1882. 



Jones, J. W. Trav. Varthema 1503-08. Hakl. Soc. Ed. 161. 1863. 



' Naudin Revue Cucurbit Ann. Set. Nat. 4th Ser., t. 12, p. 10. 



De CandoUe, A. & C. Monog. 3:513. 1881. 



Card, and For. 443. 1889. 



