29 STURTEVANT S NOTES ON EDIBLE PLANTS 



G. urbanum Linn, avens. clove-root, herb bennett. 



Northern temperate regions, Australia and New Zealand. The root, according to 

 Lindley,' is used as an ingredient in some ales. 



Gigantochloa apus Kurz. Gramineae. bamboo. 



Java. The young shoots are used as a vegetable.* 



G. ater Kurz. bamboo. 



Java. This bamboo in Java attains a height of 70 feet and is extensively cultivated. 

 The young shoots aflord a culinary vegetable.' 



G. robusta Kurz. bamboo. 



Malay. This bamboo attains the height of a himdred feet. The yoimg shoots are 

 used as a vegetable.* 



G. verticillata Munro. bamboo. i^ 



Java. The plant grows to a height of 120 feet, with stems nearly a foot thick. This 

 is one of the most extensively cultivated of ail Asiatic bamboos. The young shoots are 

 used as a cvilinary vegetable.* 



Gigartina lichnoides Harvey. Algae, ceylon moss. 



Ceylon moss is a seaweed much used in the East as a nutritive article of food and 

 for giving consistence to other dishes. It is of a very gelatinous nature and when boiled 

 down is almost wholly convertible into jelly.* 



Ginko biloba Linn. Coniferae. ginko. maiden-hair tree. 



China and Japan. The fruit of the ginko is sold in the markets in all Chinese towns 

 and is not unlike dried almonds, only whiter, fuller and more round. The natives seem 

 very fond of it, although it is rarely eaten by Europeans.' In Japan, the seeds furnish 

 an oil used for eating and burning.* The fruit of the maiden-hair tree is called in China 

 pa-kwo. The Chinese consume the nuts of this tree at weddings, the shells being dyed 

 red; they have a fishy -taste.' This tree is largely cultivated as an ornamental in Europe, 

 Asia and North America. 



Gladiolus edulis Burch. Irideae. edible gladiolus. 



South Africa. The bulb-like roots are edible and taste like chestnuts when roasted.'" 



1 Pickering, C. Chron. Hist. Pis. 506. 1879. 

 'Mueller, F. Set. Pis. 216. 1891. 

 Ibid. 



* Ibid. 

 ' Ibid. 



Harvey, W. H. Man. Brit. Algae. 1841. 

 'Fortune, R. Wand. China 118. 1847. 



Pickering, C. Chron. Hist. Pis. 797. 1879. 

 Smith, F. P. Contrib. Mat. Med. China 103. 1871. 

 "Mueller, F. Sel. Pis. 217. 1891. 



