252 sturtevant's notes on edible plants 



in high estimation either for the pot or as a medicine. This rush can be subjected to regular 

 cultivation in ponds, says Mueller,' for the sake of its edible, wholesome tubers. It is 

 largely cultivated all over China. The tuber is sweet and juicy with a chestnut flavor 

 and is universally used as food. A kind of arrowroot is made from it.^ 



Elettaria cardamomum Maton. Scitamhieae. ceylon cardamom. 



East Indies. From time immemorial, great numbers of the natives have derived 

 a livelihood from the cultivation of this plant. The fruit is used as an aromatic in medicine 

 throughout the East Indies and is largely consumed as a condiment. It furnishes the 

 Ceylon cardamom and the large cardamom of Guibourt mentioned in his history of drugs. 

 It is cultivated in Crete.* 



Eleusine aegj^jtiaca Desf. Gramineae. eleusine. 



Cosmopolitan tropics and subtropics. This grass grows most abundantly on waste 

 ground, also on the flat roofs of the Arab houses in Unganyembe. The natives gather 

 the ears, dry them in the sun, beat out the grain on the rocks, grind and make a stir-about 

 of it.^ Its grain is used in southern India. It has a small seed, covered in part with a 

 bearded husk through which the shining seed is seen. 



E. coracana Gaertn. eleusine. natchnee. ragee. 



South America, East Indies and Egypt. This grass is cultivated on a large scale 

 in many tropical coimtries. It is the most productive of all the Indian cereals, says Elliott,* 

 and is the staple grain of the Mysore country. In Sikkim, says Hooker,' the seeds are 

 fermented to make a drink called nturwa. On the Coromandel coast, writes Ainslie,' 

 it is a useful and most valuable grain, which is eaten and prized by the natives. The 

 grain is of the size of a mustard seed and is dark in color; it is either made into cakes, or 

 is eaten as a porridge; it is pleasant to the taste and in its nature aperient. It is enumerated 

 by Thunberg ' among the edible plants of Japan. Grant " found this grass cultivated 

 everywhere along his route through central Africa. Its flour, if soaked for a night in 

 water, makes a very fair unleavened bread. A coarse beer, tasting pleasantly bitter, 

 is also made from this grain mixed with that of durra. Schweinfurth '" says it is called 

 telahoon by the Arabians, by the Abyssinians tocusso and is grown only in the poorest soils. 

 It has a disagreeable taste and makes only a wretched sort of pop. It has been grown 

 in small quantities at the Michigan Agricultural College." 



' Mueller, F. Sel. Pis. 226. 1891. (JHeleocharis tuberose) 

 ' Smith, P. P. Contrib. Mat. Med. China 92. 1871. 



Masters, M. T. Treas. Bol. 1:446. 1870. 



* Speke, J. H. Journ. Disc. Source Nile 587. 1864. 

 ' Elliott, W. Bot. Soc. Edinb. 7:288. 1863. 



Hooker, J. D. Journ. Hart. Soc. Lond. 23. 1852. 



' Ainslie, W. Mat. Ind. 1:2^$. 1826. (Cynosurus coracanus) 



* Thunberg, C. P. Fl. Jap. xl. 1784. (Cynosurus coracanus) 

 ' Speke, J. H. Journ. Disc. Source Nile 587. 1864. 



"> Schweinfurth, G. Heart AJr. 1:248. 1874. 

 " Beal, W. J. Rur. N. Y. Nov. 2, 1878. 



