132 STURTEVANT S NOTES ON EDIBLE PLANTS 



C. edulis Ker-Gawl. 



American tropics. This plant is cviltivated in the islands of St. Christopher, Trinidad 

 and probably elsewhere. The tubers are said to be quite large and when rasped to a pulp 

 furnish, by washing and straining, one of the classes of arrowroot known as tons les mois.^' * 

 It is one of the hardiest of arrowroot plants. It is the adeira ' or achiras * of Peru. 



C. glauca Linn. 



Mexico and West Indies. This is one of the West Indian arrowroot cannas.^ 



Cannabis sativa Linn. Urticaceae. fimble. callow grass, hemp. 



Caspian, central Asia and northwestern Himalayas. Hemp is spontaneous in the 

 north of India and in Siberia. It has also been foimd wild in the Caucasus and in the 

 north of China. Its native country is probably the region of the Caspian. Hemp was 

 cultivated by the Celts. ^ The Scythians, according to Herodotus,' cultivated it. The 

 Hebrews and the ancient Egyptians did not know it, for no mention is made of it in the 

 sacred books and it does not appear in the envelopes of the mummies. Its culture is ancient 

 throughout the southern provinces of India as a textile plant and for the stimulating proper- 

 ties of the leaves, flowers and seeds.' Dioscorides ^ alludes to the strength of the ropes 

 made from its fibre and the use of the seeds in medicine. Galen refers to it medicinally. 

 It was known in China as early as A. D. 220.^" It was introduced into the United States 

 before 1639, as Wm. Wood " mentions it. 



Hempseed was served fried for dessert by the ancients. ^^ In Russia, Poland and neigh- 

 boring countries, the peasants are extremely fond of parched hempseed and it is eaten even 

 by the nobility. The oil expressed from the seed is much used as food during the time 

 of the fasts in the Volga region. ^^ The plant is cultivated by the Hottentots for the purpose 

 of smoking and it is used in like manner by the negroes of Brazil." In the East, hemp 

 is grown largely for the sake of the churras, or resin, which possesses intoxicating properties. 

 The Arabs smoke the sun-dried leaf mixed with tobacco in huge pipes, '^ while the Africans 

 smoke the hemp alone. For fibre purposes and for seed, the plant is largely grown in 

 Russia and North America. 



Mueller, F. Sel. Ph. 8S. 1891. 



Balfour, J. H. Bot. Man. 607. 1875. 



Mueller, F. Sel. Ph. 88. 1891. 



* Pickering, C. Chron. Hht. Ph. 717. 1879. 

 'Mueller, F. Sel. Ph. 88. 1891. 



De CandoUe, A. Gwg. Bo/. 2:835. i855- 

 ' Ibid. 



8 Ibid. 



' Targioni-Tozzetti Journ. Hort. Soc. Lend. 9: 149. 1855. 

 "Stille, A. Therap. Mat. Med. 1:956. 1874. 

 " Pickering, C. Chron. Hist. Ph. 77. 1879. 

 Soyer, A. Pantroph. 48. 1853. 

 " Loudon, J. C. Enc. Agr. 107. 1866. 

 "Stille, A. Therap. Mat. Med. 1:957. 1874. 

 " Masters, M. T. Treas. Bot. 1:214. '^-o. 



