sturtevant's notes on edible plants 267 



Boston markets. Porcher ' says the young leaves are used by the common people of 

 the South as a potherb. In Maine, the buds are eaten by the Indians. 



F. sylvatica Linn. European beech. 



Europe. In Hanover, the oil of the nut is used as a salad oil and as a substitute for 

 butter.2 In France, the nuts are roasted and serve as a substitute for coffee.' Sawdust 

 of beech wood is boiled in water, baked and then mixed with flour to form the material 

 for bread io- Norway and Sweden.* 



Farsetia clypeata R. Br. Cruciferae. 



Southern Etirope and the Orient. This plant has the same properties as the cresses.' 



Fedia comucopiae Gaertn. Valerianeae. horn-of-plenty. valerian. 



Mediterranean region. According to Robinson,' this species is grown in France as 

 a salad plant. It is also grown in flower gardens.' 



Feronia elephantum Correa. Rutaceae. elephant apple, wood apple.' 



East Indies. The fruit is of the size of a large apple and is covered with a hard, gray, 

 scabrous, woody rind. The pulp is universally eaten on the coast of Coromandel.' The 

 interior of the fruit, says Firminger ' is filled with a brown, soft, mealy substance, rather 

 acid and smelling of rancid butter. Brandis ^^ says a jelly is made of it in India, and 

 Wight " says that this very pleasant jelly resembles black-currant jelly. Dutt ^^ says 

 it is cultivated in India for its fruit, the pulp of which is eaten and made into a chatni. 



Ferula assa-foetida Linn. Umbelliferae. asafetida. food-of-the-gods. 



Persia and Afghanistan. Asafetida is called food-of-the-gods by the Persians, who 

 hold the juice in high esteem as a condiment,'' eat the leaves as greens and the root when 

 roasted. Gerarde " says it is reported to be eaten in Apulia. The young shoots and heads 

 are considered by the Khirgls as a great delicacy. The fetid odor disappears on boiling. '^ 



F. longifolia Fisch. 



South Russia. The aromatic, long roots are esteemed as a vegetable.'^ 



' Porcher, F. P. Res. So. Fields, Forests 275. 1869. {F. americana) 

 Hooker, W. J. Lond. Journ. Bot. T.184. 1855. 

 ' Loudon, J. C. Arb. Frut. Brit. 3:1963. 1854. 

 < Church, A. H. Food 71. 1887. 

 'BaUlon, H. Hist. Pis. 3:225. 1874. 



Robinson, W. Parks, Card. Paris 504. 1878. 



' Vilmorin F/. P/. Ter. 11 79. 1870. 3rd Ed. {Valeriana comucopiae) 



Lindley, J. Trans. Hort. Soc. Lond. 5:118. 1824. 

 Firminger, T. A. C. Card. Ind. 218. 1874. 



' Brandis, D. Forest Fl. 57. 1874. 



" Pickering, C. Chron. Hist. Pis. 370. 1879. 



" Dutt, U. C. Mat. Med. Hindus i^i. 1877. 



"Smith, J. Diet. Econ. Pis. 26. 1882. 



" Gerarde, J. Herb. 2nd Ed. 1057. 1633 or 36. 



"Schuyler rrAitan 1:228. 1876. 



"MueUer, F. Sel. Pis. igg. 1891. 



