sturtevant's notes on edible plants 153 



C. ptunila Mill, chinquapin. 



Southern United States. Pursh ' says the nuts are sweet and delicious; Vasey,^ that 

 they are not comparable to those of C. dentata but are eaten by children. 



C. sativa Mill. European chestnut. 



Europe, Japan and North America. The native country of the chestnut is given by 

 Targioni-Tozzetti ' as the south of Europe from Spain to Caucasus; Pickering* says, 

 eastern Asia. Other writers say it was first introduced into Europe from Sardis in Asia 

 Minor; it is called Sardinian balanos by Dioscorides and Dios balanos by Theophrastus. 

 It is evident from the writings of Virgil that chestnuts were abundant in Italy in his time. 

 There are now many varieties cultivated. Chestnuts which bear nuts of a very large size 

 are grown in Madeira. In places, chestnuts form the usual food of the common people, 

 as in the Apennine mountains of Italy, in Savoy and the south of France. They are used 

 not only boiled and roasted but also in puddings, cakes and bread. Chestnuts afford a 

 great part of the food of the peasants in the mountains of Madeira.^ In Sicily, chestnuts 

 afford the poorer class of people their principal food in some parts of the isle; bread and 

 puddings are made of the flour.' In Tuscany, they are ground into flour and chiefly used 

 in the form of porridge or pudding. In the coffee-houses of Lucca, Pesda and Pistoja, 

 pates, muffins, tarts and other articles are made of chestnuts and are considered delicious.' 

 In Morea, chestnuts now form the principal food of the people for the whole year.' 

 Xenophon states that the children of the Persian nobility were fattened on chestnuts. In 

 the valleys inhabited by the Waldenses, in the Cevennes and in a great part of Spain, 

 the chestnut furnishes nutriment for the common people. Charlemagne commended the 

 propagation of chestnuts to his people.' In modern Europe, only the fruits of cultivated 

 varieties are considered suitable for food.'" This species is enumerated by Thunberg '' as 

 among the edible plants of Japan. 



Castanospermum australe A. Cunn. & Eraser. Leguminosae. moreton bay chestnut. 

 Australia. Eraser '^ says the fruit is eaten by the natives on all occasions and when 

 roasted has the flavor of a Spanish chestnut. Europeans, from necessity, have subsisted 

 on the fruit for two days, the raw fruit griping but the roasted being innoxious. 



Catesbaea spinosa Linn. Rubiaceae. 



A shrub of the West Indies. The fruit is yellow, pulpy and of an agreeable taste." 



'Pursh, P. PL Amer. Septent. 2:625. 1814. 

 ^Vasey U.S. D. A. Rpt. 175. 1875. 

 Thompson, R. Treas. Bot. 1:235. 1870. 

 * Pickering, C. Chron. Hist. Pis. 77. 1879. (C. vesca) 

 ' Phillips, H. Comp. Orch. 86. 1831. 

 Hooker, W. J. Land. Journ. Bot. 1:144. i834- 

 ' Loudon, J. C. Enc. Agr. 53. 1866. 

 Loudon, J. C. Enc. Agr. 122. 1866. 

 ' Unger, F. U. S. Pat. Off. Rpt. 313. 1859. (C. vesca) 

 1 Emerson, G. B. Trees, Shrubs Mass. i:iSg. 1875. {C. vesca) 

 " Thunberg, C. P. Fl. Jap. 195. 1784. {Fagus castanea) 

 "Hooker, W.J. Bot. Misc. 1:2^3. 1830. 

 " Masters, M. T. Treas. Bot. 1:239. 1870. 



