248 sturtevant's notes on edible plants 



Dryas octopetala Linn. Rosaceae. mountain avens. 



Northern temperate and arctic regions. In Iceland, the leaves of this plant are used 

 as a substitute for tea.' 



Duguetia longifolia Baill. Anonaceae. 



Guiana, Peru and Trinidad. The fruit is nearly round, as big as a Reinette apple, 

 the surface divided by reticulated divisions, the skin thin, and the red, delicate, viscous 

 flesh excellent and very agreeable.* It is very much prized by the Caribs.' 



Durio oxleyanus Griff. Malvaceae. 



Malay Islands. This is probably the form of the durian from which the cioltivated 

 species has originated.^ 



D. zibethinus Murr. durian. 



Malayan Archipelago. Accounts of this far-famed fruit had reached Europe as 

 early as 1640, as Parkinson^ mentions it. The fruit is of the size of a man's head and 

 the seed, with its enveloping pulp, about the size of a hen's egg. The pulp is a pure white, 

 resembling blanc mange and as delicious in taste as the finest cream. The odor is, how- 

 ever, intolerable. Wallace ' says that to eat durians is a sensation worth a voyage to 

 the East to experience. The tmripe fruit is used as a vegetable. Bayard Taylor ^ says: 

 " Of all fruits, at first the most intolerable but said by those who have smothered their 

 prejudices, to be of all fruits, at last, the most indispensable. When it is brought to you 

 at first, you clamor till it is removed; if there are durians in the next room to you, you 

 cannot sleep. Chloride of lime and disinfectants seem to be its necessary remedy. To 

 eat it, seems to be the sacrifice of self respect; but endure it for a while, with closed nostrils, 

 taste it once or twice, and you will cry for durians thenceforth, even I blush to write 

 it even before the glorious mongosteen." 



Durville utilia Bory. Algae. 



This seaweed is employed in soups in Chile.* 



Dysoxylum spectabile Hook. f. Meliaceae. 



A tree of New Zealand, called by the inhabitants kohe, or wahahe. Its leaves have 

 a bitter taste and are employed as a substitute for hops.' 



Echinocactus hamatocanthus Muehlenpf. Cactaceae. 



Mexico. The ripe fruit is red and " as delicious as that of the strawberry cactus." i" 



' Buysraan, M. Card. Chron. 26:810. 1886. 



'Lindley, J. Trans. Horl. Soc. Land. $: 101. 1824. {Anona longifolia) 

 ' Unger, F. U. S. Pat. Off. Rpl. 351. 1859. {Anona longijolia) 

 < Masters, M. T. Treaj. Bo^ 2:1290. 1876. 

 ' Pickering, C. Chron. Hist. Pis. 816. 1879. 

 Wallace, A. R. Malay Arch. 85, 86. 1869. 

 ' Taylor, B. Siam 193. 1892. 

 ' Berkeley, M. J. Treas. Bol. i'.t,'/. 1870. 

 Smith, A. Treds. Bot. 1:570. 1870. 

 Havard, V. U. S. Nat. Herb. 3:^65. 1896. 



