STURTEVANT S NOTES ON EDIBLE PLANTS 1 99 



England," noted by Rev. Francis Higginson.* Wood says: * " The white thorn affords 

 hawes as big as an English cherrie which is esteemed above a cherrie for his goodneese 

 and pleasantnesse to the taste." Josselyn' says of it: " Hawthorn: the berries being as 

 big as services and very good to eat and not so stringent as the hawes in England." The 

 fruit is somewhat hard and tough but is eatable and rather agreeable to the taste.^ 



Crataeva magna DC. Capparideae. 



Cochin China. The roundish, ash-colored fruits are eatable.* 



C. obovata TTahl. 



Madagascar. The fruit is eatable.^ 



C. religiosa Forst. f. 



Old World tropics. In equatorial Africa, the fresh shoots are made into spinach 

 and the young branches into tooth-scrubbers.' In India, this plant furnishes food for man.' 



C. tapia Linn, garlic pear. 



South America. The fruit is edible but not very good.' It is the size of a small 

 orange, eatable but not pleasant.'" In Jamaica, the fruit is spherical, orange-sized, mth 

 a hard, brown shell, a mealy pulp like that of a pear, sweetish, smelling Hke garHc, and 

 near the center there are many kidney-shaped seeds. It is edible but not very pleasant." 



Crescentia cujete Linn. Bignoniaceae. calabash tree. 



Tropical America. The fruit of this tree resembles a gourd. The plant is found 

 wild or cultivated in various parts of tropical America and in the West Indies. The hard, 

 woody shell of the fruit is made to serve many useful domestic purposes in the household 

 economy of the people of these countries, such as basins, cups, spoons, water-bottles and 

 pails. Wafer,'^ apparently, speaks of this tree and of C. cuctwbitina during his visit to the 

 Isthmus, 1679-86: " There are two sorts of these trees but the difference is chiefly in the 

 fruit; that of the one being sweet, the other bitter. The substance of both is spongy and 

 juicy. That of the sweeter sort does not incline to a tart, sourish taste. The Indians, 

 however, eat them frequently on a march, tho they are not very delightful. They only 

 suck out the juice and spit out the rest. The bitter sort is not eatable." Henfrey '^ 

 says the subacid pulp of the fruit is eaten; Seemann," that it affords food to the negroes. 



' Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll. ist Ser. 1:118. 1806. Reprint of 1792. 

 ' Wood, W. New Eng. Prosp. ist Ed. 16. 1634. 

 ' Josselyn, W. /?ar. 93. 1865. 



* Emerson, G. B. Trees, Shrubs Mass. 1:4^5. 1875. 

 ' Don, G. Hist. Dichl. Pis. 1:276. 1831. 



Ibid. 



' Speke, J. H. Journ. Disc. Source Nile 561. 1864. (C. adansonii) 



Unger, F. U. S. Pat. Off. Rpt. 337. 1859. 



'Ainslie, W. Mat. Ind. 2: ig^;. 1826. 



' Grisebach, A. H. R. Fl. Brit. W. Ind. 17. 1864. 



" Lunan, J. Hort. Jam. I'.^iT- 1814. 



"Wafer Voy. Isth. Amer. 93. 1699. 



"Henfrey, A. Bo<. 331. 1870. 



" Hooker, W. J. Journ. Bot. 9:143. 1857. 



