266 sturtevant's notes on edible plants 



Bory on the branches of plum and other trees throughout Greece and around Constan- 

 tinople. According to Forskal, it is imported in shiploads from Greece into Egypt and 

 mixed in bread. According to Lindley, it has a peculiar power of imbibing and retaining 

 odors. 



E;:ocarpus cupressiformis Labill. Santalaceae. Australian currants. 

 Australia. The fruit is eaten and is made into preserves.' 



Fagopyrum cymosum Meissn. Polygonaceae. perennial buckwheat. 



Himalayas and China. This is a common Himalayan plant which forms an excellent 

 spinach and is called pullop-bi.^ It occurs also in China.* The plant seeds badly and 

 hence is not valued as a cereal. 



F. esculentum Moench. brank. buckwheat., notch-seeded buckwheat. 



Europe and northern Asia. Buckwheat seems to have been unknown to the Greeks 

 and Romans. It grows wild in Nepal, China and Siberia and is supposed to have been 

 brought to Europe at the beginning of the sixteenth century from northern Asia. Accord- 

 ing to Buckman,' it is mentioned in a German Bible printed in 1522. It is mentioned 

 by Tragus,* 1552, as cultivated in the Odenwald under the name of heydenkorn. Caesal- 

 pinus,' 1583, describes it as cultivated, probably in Italy imder the name oi formentone 

 aliis sarcsinum. Dodoenaeus,' 161 6, says it was much cultivated in Germany and Bra- 

 bant. It must have secured early admittance to America, for samples of American growth 

 were sent to Holland by the colony of Manhattan Island as early as 1626. It is at present 

 cultivated in the United States as a field crop, as also in northern Europe, in China, 

 Japan and elsewhere. Eraser' found large fields of it at 11,405 feet elevation near the 

 temple of Milun in the Himalayas. In northern India and Ceylon, it is of recent intro- 

 duction and its cultivation is confined to narrow limits. Notch-seeded buckwheat is a 

 native of the moimtainous districts of China and Nepal, where it is cultivated for its seeds.'" 



F. tataricum Gaertn. Tartarian buckwheat. 



Europe and northern Asia. Tartarian buckwheat is of the same origin as buckwheat, 

 though it is much less widely distributed and was introduced at a much later period into 

 Europe.!' It has been cultivated from time immemorial in Nepal and on the confines 

 of China. 



Fagus ferruginea Ait. Cupuliferae. American beech. 



North America. The nuts are esteemed delicious and are found in season in the 



' Sibthorp, J. Fl. Craecae 2:314. 1813. (Borrera prunasiri) 

 ' Smith, A. Treas. Bot. 2:674. 1870. (Leptomeria acerba) 

 ' Hooker, J. D. Ilimal. Journ. 2:$j. 1854. (Polygonum cymosum) 

 < Mueller, F. Sel. Ph. 196. 1891. 



'Pickering, C. Ceog. Distrib. Ans. Pis. 1:137. 1863-1876. 

 De CandoUe, A. Geog. Boi. 2:953. 1855. (Polygonum fagopyrum) 

 ' Ibid. 

 > Ibid. 



Fraser fine. Bri/. 17:630. 1859. 8th Ed. 

 "Mueller, F. Sel. Pis. 124. 1880. 

 " Unger, F. U. S. Pat. Off. Rpt. 306, 307. 1859. (Polygonum tataricum) 



