STURTEVANT S NOTES ON EDIBLE PLANTS 255 



Epilobium angustifolium Linn. Onagrarieae. fire weed, willow-herb. 



Northern climates. In England, says Johnson,^ the leaves are much used for the 

 adulteration of tea. The leaves form a wholesome vegetable when boiled, and the young 

 shoots make a good substitute for asparagus. The people of Kamchatka, says Lightfoot,^ 

 eat the young shoots which creep under the ground and they brew a sort of ale from the 

 dried pith. Richardson ' says the young leaves, imder the name of I'herbe fret, are used 

 by the Canadian voyagers as a potherb. 



E. latifolium Linn. 



Northern and arctic regions. This species furnishes a vegetable of poor quality 

 for northern Asia and Iceland.* 



E. tetragonum Linn, square-stemmed willow-herb. 



Eturope. This plant is used as a vegetable in Iceland and northern Asia.^ 



Equisetum fluviatile Liim. Equisetaceae. horsetail, joint grass, scrub grass. 



Evirope and adjoining Asia. The starch contained in the tubers of the rhizome is 

 nutritious, according to Lindley.* This is the plant which was eaten by the Romans 

 under the name equisetum. Coles, in his Adam in Eden, speaking of horsetails, says, 

 " the yoimg heads are dressed by some like asparagus, or being boyled are often bestrewed 

 with flower and fried to be eaten." 



E. hyemale Linn, dutch rush, horsetail, scouring rush, shave grass. 

 Northern climates. Lindley ' says, it serves as food in time of famine. 



Eremurus spectabilis Bieb. Liliaceae. 



Asia Minor and Persia. In May and Jime the young shoots are sold as a vegetable 

 in the villages of the Caucasus, Kurdistan and Crimea. The flavor is intermediate between 

 spinach and purslane and is by no means a disagreeable vegetable.' 



Eriobotrya japonica Lindl. Rosaceae. Japanese plum, loquat. 



A fruit tree indigenous in Japan and China and much cultivated in India. The 

 loquat was first made known by Kempfer in 1690. It was brought to Europe by the 

 French in 1784 and in 1787 was imported from Canton to Kew. It has not fruited at 

 Paris in the open air but is successfully cultivated in the south of France, and its fruit is 

 common in the markets of Toulon. At Malta, it succeeds admirably. In Florida, it is 

 spoken of as if well known under the name of Japanese pltim in 1867, ripening its fruit 

 in February and March. In the Gixlf States, it is said to do well, the fruit is the size of 

 a large plimi, juicy, subacid, refreshing, and altogether delightful and unique in flavor 



' Johnson, C. P. Useful Pis. Gt. Brit. 10^. 1862. 



s Lightfoot, J. Fl. Scot. J .197- 1789- 



' Hooker, W. J. Fl. Bor. Amer. 1:205. 1840. 



* Unger, F. U. S. Pat. Off. Rpt. 359. 1859. 

 ' Ibid. 



Lindley, J. Med. Econ. Bot. 22. 1849. 

 ' Ibid. 



'Calvert, H. Card. Chron. $> i855- 



