sturtevant's notes on edible plants 185 



varieties. Father Carli 1 noticed them in Congo in 1667 under the name of colla. Barth ^ 

 says the chief article of African produce in the Kano markets is the guro or kolanut, which 

 forms an important article of trade and which has become to the natives as necessary 

 as coffee or tea is to us. The nuts contain the alkaloid thein. A small piece of one of 

 their seeds is chewed before each meal as a promoter of digestion; it is also supposed to 

 improve the flavor of anything eaten after it or, as Father Carli ' says, " they have a little 

 bitterness but the water drank after makes them very sweet." This plant was introduced 

 into Martinique about 1836. Its amylaceous seeds, of a not very agreeable taste, are 

 much sought after by the negroes.* 



Colea telfairii Boj. Bignoniaceae. 

 Madagascar. The fruit is eaten. 



Coleus aromaticus Benth. Labiatae. coleus. country borage. 



East Indies. This is the covmtry borage of India. Every part of the plant is delight- 

 fully fragrant, and the leaves are frequently eaten and mixed with various articles of food 

 in India.* In Burma, it is in common use as a potherb. A purple coleus was observed 

 in cultivation in northern Japan by Miss Bird,' the leaves of which are eaten as spinach. 



C. barbatus Benth. 



East Indies and tropical Africa. About Bombay, this species is commonly cultivated 

 in the gardens of the natives for the roots, which are pickled.'' 



C. spicatus Benth. 



East Indies. Wilkinson * quotes Pliny as saying that the Egyptians grew this plant 

 for making chaplets and for food. 



Colocasia antiquorum Schott. Aroideae. dasheen. taro. 



Tropical Asia. This is very probably an Indian plant, as it is cultivated in the whole 

 of central Asia in very numerous varieties and has a Sanscrit name. It was carried west- 

 ward in the earliest times and is cultivated in the delta of Egypt tmder the name of Quolkas.^ 

 Clusius, writing in 1601, had seen it in Portugal. The Spaniards are said to call it alcoleaz 

 and to have received it from Africa.'" Boissier " cites it as common in middle Spain. Lunan '^ 

 says there are several varieties cultivated in Jamaica which are preferred by the negroes 



' Churchill CoW. Foy. 1:501. 1744. 



'Barth, H. Trav. Disc. No., Cent. Afr. 1:514. 1857. 



Churchill CoW. Foy. 1:501. 1744. 



* Berlanger Trans. N. Y. Agr. Soc. 568. 1858. (Sterculia acuminata) 

 ' Drury, H. Useful Pis. Ind. 154. 1873. 



* Bird Unheal. Tracks Jap. 1:175. 1881. 



' Pickering, C. Chron. Hist. Pis. 732. 1879. 



Wilkinson, J. G. Anc. Egypt. 2:7,^. 1854. (Ocymum zatarhendi) 



' De CandoUe, A. Geog. Bot. 2:817. 1855. {Arum colocasia) 



Ibid. 



Ibid. 



'^Lxxna.n Hort. Jam. 1:212. 1814. 



