268 sturtevant's notes on edible plants 



F. narthez Boiss. asafetida. 



Baltistan. Kaempfer says that in Afghanistan and Khorassan there are two varie- 

 ties, one called Kama-i-gawi, which is grazed by cattle and used as a potherb and the 

 other called Katna-i-anguza, which affords the asafetida of commerce. Among the 

 Mohammedan and Hindu population of India, the gum is generally used as a condiment 

 and, in regions where the plant grows, the fresh leaves are cooked as an article of diet.' 



Ficus aspera Forst. f. Fig. Urticaceae. tongue fig. 



Islands of New Hebrides. This is a tropical species of fig whose fruit may be eaten.' 



F. benghalensis Linn, banyan. 



East Indies and African tropics. The sweetish fruit of the banyan is eaten in India 

 in times of scarcity. 



F. brassii R. Br. 



A shrub of Sierra' Leone. It bears an edible fruit about as large as that of the white 

 Ischia fig.' 



F. carica Linn. fig. 



Europe, Orient and Africa. The fig is indigenous, says Unger,* in Syria, Persia, 

 Asia Minor, Greece and north Africa and has been cultivated in these countries from 

 time immemorial and even as far as southern Germany. The fig had its place as a fruit 

 tree in the garden of Alcinous. According to one Grecian tradition, Dionysius Sycetes 

 was the discoverer of the fig tree; according to another, Demeter brought the first fig tree 

 to Greece; a third tradition states that the fig tree grew up from the thunderbolt of 

 Jupiter. The fig is mentioned by Athenaeus, Colvmiella and Macrobius, and six varieties 

 were known in Italy in the time of Cato. Pliny enumerates 29 sorts in his time. At 

 the present time, no less than 40 varieties are entmierated for Sicily by Dr. Presl. The 

 fig tree is enimierated among the fruit trees of Charlemagne. It was carried to England 

 in 1525 or 1548 by Cardinal Pole.^ Cortez carried the fig tree to Mexico in 1560,' and 

 figs are mentioned as cultivated in Virginia in 1669 ' and were observed growing out of 

 the ruins of Frederica, Georgia, by Wm. Bartram,' about 1773, and at Pearl Island near 

 New Orleans. Downing ^ describes 1 5 varieties as the most desirable sorts for this 

 country and says the fig reached here in 1790. 



F. cooperi Hort. 



Tropical America. The purple fruit, at the Department of Agriculture Conservatory, 

 February 16, 1880, was edible but was not very attractive.'" 



' Fluckiger and Hanbury Pharm. 283. 1879. 

 = Unger. F. U. S. Pal. Off. Rpt. 332. 1859. 

 ' Sabine, J. Trans. Hort. Soc. Land. 5:448. 1824. 



* Unger, F. V. S. Pat. Off. Rpt. 331. 1859. 

 ' Thompson, R. Treas. Bot. 1:493. 1870. 



Unger, F. U S. Pat. Off. Rpt. 331. 1859. 



'Shrigley. N. True Rel. Va., Md. 5. 1669. Force Coll. Tracts. 3 : 1844. 

 Bartram, W. Hist. Mass. Hort. Soc. 27. 1880. 

 ' Downing, A. J. Fr. Fr. Trees Amer. 2^1. 1857. 

 ' Sturtevant, Dr. Visit to Wash. Feb. 16, 1880. 



