STURTEV ant's NOTES ON EDIBLE PLANTS I5I 



C. glabnun Pers. 



Guiana. It furnishes edible nuts.' It is sometimes cultivated, and the trees are 

 much used in shipbuilding and for other purposes. The natives make much use of 

 the nuts. 



C. nuciferum Linn, butternut. 



A lofty tree of British Guiana which produces the souari or butternut of the English 

 markets. These nuts are shaped something like a kidney flattened upon two sides and have 

 an exceedingly hard, woody shell of a rich, reddish-brown color, covered all over with 

 round wart-like protuberances, which encloses a large, white kernel of a pleasant, nutty 

 taste yielding a bland oil by pressure.^ 



C. tomentosum Willd. butternut. 



Guiana. The plant bears a sweet and edible nut.* 



Caryota obtusa GrifE. Palmae. 



A very large palm of the Mishmi Mountains in India. The central part of the trunk 

 is used by the natives as food.* 



C. urens Linn, jaggery palm, toddy palm, wine palm. 



Malabar, Bengal, Assam and various other parts of India. The center of the stem 

 is generally soft, the cells being filled with sago-like farina, which is made into bread and 

 eaten as gruel. But the main value of this palm consists in the abundance of sweet sap 

 which is obtained from the cut spadix and which is either fermented or boiled down into 

 syrup and sugar.' 



Casearia esculenta Roxb. Samydaceae. 



Tropical Asia. The leaves are eaten by the natives.' 



Casimiroa edulis La Llave. Rutaceae. Mexican apple, white sapota. 



Mexico. This tree grows wild and is cultivated in the states of Sinaloa, Durango 

 and elsewhere in Mexico and is known by the name of zapote bianco. The fruit is about 

 an inch in diameter, pale yellow in color and is most palatable when near decay. It has 

 a very rich, subacid taste, and the native Califomians are very fond of it.' Masters* 

 says its fruit has an agreeable taste but induces sleep and is unwholesome and that the 

 seeds are poisonous. 



Don, G. Hist. Dichl. Pis. 1:654. 1 831. 

 Smith, A. Treas. Bot. 1:229. 1870. 

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

 Griffith, W. Palms Brit. Ind. 170. 1850. 

 'Brandis, D. Forest Fl. 550. 1876. 

 Black, A. A. Treas. Bot. 1:231. 1870. 

 ' Cal. Slate Bd. Hort. Rpt. 80. 1880. 

 'Masters, M. T. Treas. Bot. 1:232. 1870. 



