STURTEVANT S NOTES ON EDIBLE PLANTS 95 



Silver-Leaf Beet. 

 IX. 

 Poiree blonde d. carde blanche. Vilm. 1883. 



s. Curled Swiss Chard. 



X. 



Curled-Leaf Beet. Burr 291. 1863. 

 Beck's Seakale Beet. Card. Chron. 1865. 

 Poiree a blanche frisee. Vilm. 1883. 



Betula alba Linn. CupuUferae. canoe birch, lady birch, paper birch, white 



BIRCH. 



Europe, northern Asia and North America. The bark, reduced to powder, is eaten 

 by the inhabitants of Kamchatka, beaten up with the ova of the sturgeon,' and the inner 

 bark is grotmd into a meal and eaten in Lapland in times of dearth.^ Church ' says saw- 

 dust of birchwood is boiled, baked and then mixed with flour to form bread in Sweden 

 and Norway. In Alaska, says Dall,^ the soft, new wood is cut fine and mingled with 

 tobacco by the economical Indian. From the sap, a wine is made in Derbyshire, England, 

 and, in 1814, the Russian soldiers near Hamburg intoxicated themselves with this fer- 

 mented sap. The leaves are used in northern Europe as a substitute for tea,^ and the 

 Indians of Maine make from the leaves of the American variety a tea which is relished. 

 At certain seasons, the sap contains sugar. In Maine, the sap is sometimes collected in 

 the spring and made into vinegar. 



B. lenta Linn, black birch, cherry birch, mahogany birch, sweet birch. 

 North America. The sap, in Maine, is occasionally converted into vinegar. 



B. nigra Linn, red birch, river birch. 



From Massachusetts to Virginia. The sap contains sugar in the spring, according 

 to Henfrey.* 



Billardiera mutabilis Salisb. Pittosporeae. apple-berry. 



Australia. This species is said by Backhouse ' to have pleasant, subacid fruit. 



Bixa orellana Linn. Bixineae. annatto. 



South America. This shrub furnishes in the reddish pulp surrounding the seeds 

 the annatto of commerce, imported from South America and used extensively for coloring 

 cheese and butter. The culture of this plant is chiefly carried on in Guadeloupe and 

 Cayenne, where the product is known as roucou. It is grown also in the Deccan and 



' Royle, J. F. Illustr. Bot. Himal. 1:345. 1839. 



'Johnson, C. P. Useful Pis. Gt. Brit. 241. 1862. 



Church, A. H. Food 71. 1887. 



DaU, W. H. U. S. D. A. Rpt. 176. 1868. 



Johnson, C. P. Useful Pis. Gt. Brit. 241. 1862. 



Henfrey, A. Bot. 356. 1870. 



'Syme, J. T. Treas. Bot. 1:144. 1870. 



