STURTEVANT S NOTES ON EDIBLE PLANTS 20I 



Crotalaria glauca Willd. Leguminosae, 



African tropics. The people of Madi eat its flowers, pods and leaves as spinach.^ 



C. laburnifolia Linn. 



Asiatic tropics. This is an upright, perennial plant, bearing short, black and light 

 brown beans the size of soy beans. It is sometimes cultivated.* 



Croton corymbulosus Rothr. Euphorbiaceae. chaparral tea. encenilla. 



Nortb- America. An infusion of the flowering tops makes a very palatable drink, 

 one much used by the Mexicans and Indians as well as by colored (U. S.) soldiers who 

 prefer it to coffee.' 



Cryptocarya moschata Nees & Mart. Laurineae. Brazilian nutmeg. 

 Brazil. This tree produces the spice known as BraziUan nutmegs.* 



C. peumus Nees. 



Chile. The fruit is edible.' 



Cryptotaenia canadensis DC. Umbelliferae. honewort. 



North America. This species is very generally cultivated in Japan. The tips are 

 used as greens and to flavor soups; the blanched stems are used as a salad and a potherb; 

 the root also is utilized.' 



Cucumeropsis edulis Cogn. Cucurbitaceae. 



Tropical Africa. This is a cuctunber-like plant which bears edible fruits of one foot 

 in length and three inches in diameter.' 



Cucumis angaria Linn. Cucurbitaceae. bur cucumber, gherkin, goareberry gourd. 



west INDIAN gherkin. WILD CUCUMBER. 



West Indies. This is the wild cucumber of Hughes. It is a native of the West Indies, 

 and the green fniit is eaten there but it is far inferior to the common cuctunber. Sloane ' 

 says the fruit is of a pale green color, oval, as big as a walnut, having many short, blunt, 

 thick tubercles, sharper than those of other cucumbers, and that within the pulp are a great 

 many small seeds like those of other cucvunbers. It is cultivated in Jamaica, but oftener the 

 fruits are collected from the wild plants. In France, it is called Concombre arada and is 

 sometimes grown in gardens, the fruit being called sweet and e.xcellent when grown under 

 good circumstances of soil. This vegetable is described by Marcgravius * in Brazil 1648, 

 the name Cucumis sylvestris Brazileae indicating an uncultivated plant. Ten years later. 



' Speke, J. H. Journ. Disc. Source Nile 565. 1864. 



'Georgeson ^mer. Gord. 14:85. 1893. 



'Havard, V. Totr. Bot. Club Bui. 23:46. 1896. 



Masters, M. T. Treas. Bol. 1:354. 1870. 



'Molina Hisl. Chili i:i2<). 1808. (Peumus mammosa) 



'GeoTgeson Amer. Card. 12:714. 1891. 



' Mueller, F. Sel. Pis. 131. 1891. (Corynosicyos edulis) 



'Sloane, H. Nat. Hist. Jam. 1:227. i774- 



' Marcgravius Hist. Rerum Nat. Bras. 44. 1648. 



