STURTEVANT S NOTES ON EDIBLE PLANTS 24I 



D. pentaphylla Linn. yam. 



Tropical Asia. In India, this yam is common in jungles and is found in the South 

 Sea Islands. Wight ' has never seen it cultivated in India, although the natives dig the 

 tubers to eat. It is cultivated in Amboina and sometimes in Viti.^ In India, the male 

 flowers are sold in the bazaars and eaten as greens.' The tubers are eaten in Viti * and 

 Hawaii.* It is a good yam.* Graham ' says the tubers are dreadfully nauseous and 

 intensely bitter even after being boiled. They are put into toddy to render it more 

 potent, as they have intoxicating properties, and a few slices are sufficient. In China, 

 the " nauseous tubers are sometimes cooked and eaten." * 



D. piperifolia Hiunb. & Bonpl. 



South America. This species has edible roots.' 



D. purpurea Roxb. pondi cherry sweet potato. 



East Indies. The Pondicherry sweet potato is known only in a cultivated state, '" 

 and was brought to India from the Mauritius, where it is much grown. The tuber is 

 of a dull, crimson-red outside and of a glistening white within. 



D. quinqueloba Thimb. yam. 



Japan. This species is an edible yam of Japan." 



D. rubella Roxb. yam. 



East Indies. This is a common but very excellent yam of India, as good perhaps as 

 any in cultivation. The tuber is of great size, crimson-red on the outside and of a glisten- 

 ing white within. 



D. sativa Linn. yam. 



Tropics. Pickering '' states that this species is fotmd in tropical America and is 

 cultivated by the Waraus of the delta of the Orinoco. The word igname was heard by 

 Vespucius on the coast of Para and was fotmd by Cabral, in 1500, applied in Brazil to a 

 root from which bread was made. This yam was carried by European colonists to the 

 Malayan Archipelago. Its roots, says Seemann,'' are acrid and require to be soaked 

 before boiling. Browne '* says it is cultivated in the southern United States for its large, 

 flattened and sometimes palmated roots, which are boiled, roasted and eaten like the 

 potato. 



'Wight, R. Icon. Pis. 3:814. No date. 

 'Seemann, B. Fl. Viti. 308. 1865-73. 

 Drury, H. Useful Pis. Ind. 183. 1873. 

 Seemann, B. Fl. Viti. 108. 1865-73. 

 ' Pickering, C. Chron. Hist. Pis. /[i6. 1879. 

 Mueller, F. Sel. Pis. 155. 1891. 

 'Pickering, C. Chron. Hist. Pis. 729. 1879. 

 Smith, F. P. Contrib. Mat. Med. China 86. 1871. 

 Mueller, F. Sel. Pis. 1^$. 1891. 

 "> Drury, H. Useful Pis. Ind. 183. 1873. 

 "Mueller, P. Sel. Pis. 1^^. 1891. 

 "Pickering, C. Chron. Hist. Pis. Ti^. 1879. 

 "Seemann, B. Fl. Viti. 307. 1865-73. 

 U. S. Pat. Off. Rpt. 389. 1854. 



