sturtevant's notes on edible plants 89 



its spreading.* The berries are preserved in sugar, in syrup, or candied and are esteemed 

 by some. They are also occasionally pickled in vinegar, or used for flavoring. There 

 are varieties with yellow, white, purple, and black fruits. A celebrated preserve is made 

 from a stoneless variety at Rouen, France. The leaves were formerly used to season 

 meat in Engfend.^ The berries are imported from Afghanistan into India under the name 

 of currant. A black variety was found by Tournefort ' on the bank of the Euphrates, 

 the fruit of which is said to be of delicious flavor. 



Bertholletia excelsa Humb. & Bonpl. Myrtaceae. Amazon nut. almonds of the 



AMAZON. BRAZIL NUT. BUTTERNUT. CREAMNUT. PARA NUT. NIGGERTOE. 



Brazil. This is one of the most majestic trees of Guiana, Venezuela and Brazil. 

 It furnishes the triangular nuts of commerce everjrwhere used as a food. It was first 

 described in 1808.* An oil is expressed from the kernels and the bark is used in caulking 

 ships. 



Besleria violacea Aubl. Gesneraceae. 

 Guiana. The purple berry is edible.^ 



Beta vulgaris Linn. Chenopodiaceae. beet, chard. Chilian beet, leaf-beet. 



MANGEL. MANGEL WURZEL. MANGOLD. ROMAN KALE. SEA BEET. SEA-KALE 

 BEET. SICILIAN BEET. SPINACH BEET. SUGAR BEET. SWISS CHARD. 



Europe and north Africa. The beet of the garden is essentially a modern vegetable. 

 It is not noted by either Aristotle ' or Theophrastus,^ and, although the root of the chard 

 is referred to by Dioscorides and Galen,* yet the context indicates medicinal use. Neither 

 Colimiella, Pliny nor Palladius mentions its culture, but Apicius,' in the third century, 

 gives recipes for cooking the root of Beta, and Athenaeus,*" in the second or third century, 

 quotes Diphilus of Siphnos as saying that the beet-root was grateful to the taste and a 

 better food than the cabbage. It is not mentioned by Albertus Magnus " in the thirteenth 

 century, but the word bete occurs in English recipes for cooking in 1390. 



Barbarus,^ who died in 1493, speaks of the beet as having a single, long, straight, 

 fleshy, sweet root, grateful when eaten, and Ruellius,'' in France, appropriates the same 

 description in 1536, as does also Fuchsius " in 1542; the latter figures the root as described 



' Hist. Mass. Hort. Soc. 30. 1880. 

 Gerarde, J. Herb. 1326. 1633 or 1636. 

 Tournefort Foy. Lctoji/ 2:168. 1718. 

 Humboldt, A. Views Nat. IT). 1850. 

 ' Don, G. Hist. Dichl. Pis. 4:652. 1838. 



5ca/iger Aristotle 29. 1566. 



' Theophrastus Hist. PL Bodaeus Ed. 778. 1644. 



Fuchsius Hist. Stirp. 807. 1542. 



Apicius Opson. lib. 3, c. 2, p. 2. 

 "> Turre, I>ryo(/> 443. 1685. 



" Albertus Magnus Veg. Jessen Ed. 1867. 

 " Dioscorides Ruellius Ed. 124. 1529. 

 Ruellius Nat. Stirp. 481. 1536. 

 " Fuchsius Hist. Stirp. 807. 1543. 



