31 6 STURTEV ant's NOTES ON EDIBLE PLANTS 



Lowell * says that sweet potatoes of excellent quality can be raised about Boston, but they 

 are of no agricultural importance in this region. In 1773, Bartram saw plantations of sweet 

 potatoes about Indian villages in the South, and Romans refer to their tise by the Indians 

 of Florida in 1775. At the present day, sweet potatoes are quite generally cultivated 

 in tropical and subtropical countries, as in Africa from Zanzibar to Egypt,'' in India, 

 China, Japan, the Malayan Archipelago, New Zealand, the Pacific islands, tropical Amer- 

 ica, and southern United States as far north even as New York. They are grown to a 

 small extent in the south of Europe, Canary Islands and Madeira. 



I. batatilla G. Don. 



Venezuela. This species furnishes tubers which are used as sweet potatoes.' 



I. biloba Forsk. pohue. 



Borders of the tropics. Ellis * says, in Tahiti, the stalks of the pohue are eaten in 

 times of famine. a^ 



I. digitata Linn. 



Borders of the tropics. This species is commonly cultivated for food in western 

 tropical Africa.' 



I. fastigiata Sweet, wild potato. 



Tropical America. Humboldt ^ mentions this species as cultivated in America under 

 the name, batata. 



I. grandifiora Lam. 



Tropical America. Ainslie ' says, in India, the seeds are eaten when young. 



I. hederacea Jacq. 



Borders of the tropics. This species is often cultivated in tropical regions.' 



I. leptophylla Torr. man-of-the-earth. man-root, moonflower. 



Western North America. The wild potato \'ine is a showy plant of the deserts of 

 North America and is commonly called man-root or man-of-the-earth, being similar in 

 size and shape to a man's body. The Cheyennes, Arapahoes and Kioways roast it for 

 food when pressed by himger but it is by no means palatable or nutritious. Its enormous 

 size and depth in the ground make its extraction by the ordinary Indian implements a 

 work of much difficulty. ' 



I. macrorrhiza Michx. 



Georgia and Florida. Henfrey " says this species has edible, farinaceous roots. 



'Lowell, J. Boston Adven. 1821. Oct. 27. 



*Speke, J. H. Journ. Disc. Source Nile 575. 1864. 



' Mueller, F. Sel. Pis. 240. 1891. 



* Ellis, W. Polyn. Research. i:$T,. 1833. 



> Smith, A. Treas. Bat. I :i2g. 1870. {Batatas paniculata) 



' De Candolle, A. Geog. Bot. 2:823. i855- 



' .\inslie, W. Mat. Ind. 2:219. 1826. 



" De Candolle, A. Geog. So/. 2:1043. 1855. {Pliarbitis hederacea) 



'U.S. D. A. Rpt. 407. 1870. 



"Henfrey, A. Bot. 321. 1870. 



