STURTEVANTS NOTES ON EDIBLE PLANTS 121 



Bromelia Sp. Bromeliaceae. 



In the Malay Archipelago, Wallace ' left two men for a month, by accident, on an 

 island near Ceram, who " subsisted on the roots and tender flower-stalks of a species of 

 Bromelia, on shell fish and on a few turtle's eggs." 



Brosium alicastnun Sw. Urticaceae. alicastrum snakewood. breadnut. 



American tropics. The fruit, boiled with salt-fish, pork, beef or pickle, has frequently 

 been the support of the negro and poorer sorts of white people in times of scarcity and 

 has proved a wholesome and not impleasant food.^ 



B. galactodendron D. Don. cow-tree, milk-tree. 



Gtiiana; the palo de vaca, arbol de leche, or cow-tree of Venezuela. Humboldt' says: 

 " On the barren flank of a rock grows a tree with coriaceous and dry leaves. Its large, 

 woody roots can scarcely penetrate into the stone. For several months of the year not 

 a single shower moistens its foliage. Its branches appear dead and dried; but when the 

 trunk is pierced there flows from it a sweet and nourishing milk. It is at the rising of 

 the sun that this vegetable fountain is most abundant. The negroes and natives are 

 then seen hastening from all quarters, furnished with large bowls to receive the milk which 

 grows yellow and thickens at its surface. Some empty their bowls under the tree itself, 

 others carry the juice home to their children." This tree seems to have been noticed first 

 by Laet* in 1633, in the province of Camana. The plant, according to Desvaux, is one 

 of the palo de vaca or cow-trees of South America. From incisions in the bark, milky 

 sap is procured, which is drunk by the inhabitants as a milk. Its use is accompanied by 

 a sensation of astringency in the lips and palate. This cow-tree is grown in Ceylon and 

 India, for Brandis ^ says it yields large quantities of thick, gluey milk without any acridity, 

 that it is drunk extensively, and that it is very wholesome and nourishing. 



Broussonetia papyrifera Vent. Urticaceae. paper mulberry, tapa-cloth tree. 



A tree of the islands of the Pacific, China and Japan. It is cultivated for the inner 

 bark which is used for making a paper as well as textile fabrics.' The fleshy part of the 

 compotmd fruit is saccharine and edible.' 



Bruguiera g3minorrhiza Lam. Rhizophoreae. 



Muddy tropical shores from Hindustan to the Samoan Islands. Its fruit, leaves and 

 bark are eaten by the natives in the Malayan Archipelago.* 



Bryonia alba Linn. Cucurbitaceae. white bryony. 



West Mediterranean cotmtries. Loudon says the young shoots are edible. 



' Wallace, A. R. Mday Arch. 526. 1869. 

 5 Browne U. S. D. A. Rpl. 198. 1870. 

 Humboldt, A. Trav. 2:48, 49. 1889. 

 < Humboldt, A. Trav. 2:^8. 1889. 

 Brandis, D. Forest Fl. 427. 1876. 

 Mueller, P. Sel. Pis. 78. 1891. 

 'Hanbury, D. Set. Papers 231. 1876. 

 Pickering, C. Chron. Hist. Pis. ^oo. 1879. 



