I50 STURTEVANT S NOTES ON EDIBLE PLANTS 



Louisiana to season their food.* Its use at or near Madrid on the Mississippi by the 

 Indians is mentioned in the Portuguese Relation * of De Soto's expedition. The pecan 

 is now extensively cultivated in the Southern States for its fruit. 



C. porcina Nutt. broom hickory, pignut. 



North America. The pignut is a large tree of Eastern United States. The nuts 

 are variable in form, hard and tough, the kernel sweetish or bitterish but occasionally 

 eaten by children. 



C. sulcata Nutt. big shellbark. king nut. 



Pennsylvania to Illinois and Kentucky. The nuts of this tree are eaten by the 

 Indians and are considered of fine quality. This is one of the species recommended for 

 culture by the American Pomological Society. 



C. tomentosa Nutt. mocker nut. square nut. white-heart hickory. 



Eastern North America. This hickory bears a nut with a very thick and hard shell. 

 The kernel is sweet and in some varieties is as large as in the shellbark, but the difficulty 

 of extracting it makes it far less valuable. A variety is fotmd with prominent angles, 

 called square nut.' 



Caryocar amygdaliferum Cav. Ternstroemiaceae. caryocar. 



A high tree in Ecuador. The kernel of the nut is edible and has the taste of almonds.* 

 This is the almendron of Mariquita. " The nuts are fine." ' 



C. amygdalifonne Ruiz & Pav. 



Peru. The tree bears nuts that taste like almonds.' 



C. brasiliense St. Hil. piquia-oil plant. 



Brazil. This species bears an oily, mucilaginous fruit, containing a sort of chestnut 

 eaten in times of famine.' This is perhaps the Acantacaryx pinguis Arruda, a large tree 

 that produces most abvmdantly a fruit the size of an orange, of which the pulp is oily, 

 feculous and nourishing. It is the delight of the inhabitants of Ceara and Piauhy and 

 is called piqui.^ 



C. but3rrosum Willd. 



Guiana. This plant is culfvated for its nuts in Cayenne. These are esculent and 

 taste somewhat like a Brazil nut.' It is called pekea by the natives of Guiana. It ftu'- 

 nishes a timber valuable for shipbuilding.'" 



1 Pickering, C. Chron. Hist. Ph. y^c). 1879. 

 De Soto Disc, Conq. Fla. Hakl. Soc. Ed. 9:94. 184 1. 

 Emerson, G. B. Trees, Shrubs Mass. 1:222. 1875. 

 <Don, G. Hisl. Dichl. Pis. 1:65^. 1831. 

 ' Humboldt, A. Trar. 2:368. 1889. 

 Don, G. Hist. DicU. Pis. 1:654. 1831. 

 'Burton, R. F. Explor. Braz. 1:76. 1869. 

 'Koster, H. Trar. 5ro2. 2:364. 1817. 

 Don, G. Hist. Dichl. Pis. 1:654. 1831. 

 "Smith, A. Treas. Bol. 1:229. 1870. 



