STURTEVANT S NOTES ON EDIBLE PLANTS 253 



E. tocussa Fresen. 



Abyssinia. This plant furnishes a bread com and is called dagussa.' Parkyns,^ 

 who ate of the bread in Abyssinia, says its taste is unpleasant as it leaves a gritty, sandy 

 taste in the mouth and passes through the stomach with but little change. Its native 

 coxintry is given by Unger as the East Indies. 



Elymus arenarius Linn. Gramineae. lyme grass, rancheria grass. 



Europe and western North America. The seed of this grass is threshed out and eaten 

 by the Digger Indians.' It is indigenous to France and is used as an ornamental plant 

 in gardens.^ 



Embelia nagushia D. Don. Myrsineae. 



Himalayan region. The fruits are eaten in Sikkim as well as the leaves, which are 

 sour to the taste.' 



E. ribes Burm. f. 



Tropical Asia. In Silhet, the berries are collected and used to adulterate black 

 pepper.* 



Emilia sonchifolia DC. Compositae. 



Asia and tropical Africa. The leaves are eaten raw in salads in China.' Its leaves 

 are eaten raw in salads, according to Miuray.' In France, it is grown in flower gardens." 



Empetrum nignmi Linn. Empetraceae. crakeberry. crowberry. monox. 



Arctic and subarctic climates. The berries are eaten by the Scotch and Russian 

 peasantry. The fruits are black, about the size of juniper berries, of a firm, fleshy sub- 

 stance and are insipid in taste.'" They are consimied in a ripe or dry state by the Indians 

 of the Northwest, are eaten by the Tuski of Alaska " and are gathered in autumn by the 

 western Eskimo and frozen for winter food.'* 



Encephalartos caffer Miq. Cycadaceae. hottentot bread-fruit, kaffir bread. 



South Africa. The interior of the trunk and the center of the ripe female cones con- 

 tain a spongy, farinaceous pith, made use of by the Kaffirs as food." On the female cone, 



' Unger, F. U. S. Pat. Off. Rpt. 306. 1859. 

 ' Parkyns, M. Life Abyss. i:t,o?,. 1856. 



Newberry Pacific R. R. Rpt. 6:92. 1857. 



Vilmorin Fl. PI. Ter. 362. 1870. 3rd Ed. 



Hooker, J. D. Treas. Bot. 1:276. 1870. {Choripetalum undulatum) 



Brandis, D. Forest Fl. 284. 1874. 



' Drury, H. Useful Pis. Ind. 196. 1873. 



Ainslie, W. Mat. Ind. 2:213. 1826. 



Vilmorin Fl. PI. Ter. 186. 1870. 3rd Ed. {Cacalia sonchifolia) 

 "Johns, C. A. Treoi. Bot. 1:449. 1870. 

 " Dall, W. H. Alaska 379. 1897. 

 " Seemann, B. Anlhrop. Journ. i'.coAn. 1865. 

 " Masters, M. T. Treoi. Bo/. 1:450. 1870. 



