STURTEVANT S NOTES ON EDIBLE PLANTS 4OI 



immemorial as a spring salad ' and are likewise thus used by the French peasantry,^ as 

 well as elsewhere throughout Europe, but the references imply generally the use of the 

 wild plant. 



O. barrelieri Linn. 



South America. The acid leaves are eaten in America.' 



O. camosa Molina, oca. 



Chile. 'The tubercles are the oca of Peru.* 



O. cemua Thvmb. 



South Africa. The leaves are eaten.' 



O. compressa Linn. f. 



South Africa. The acid leaves are eaten at the Cape of Good Hope.' 



O. comiculata Linn. 



Borders of temperate and tropical regions. In India, the leaves are used as a pot- 

 herb.^ 



O. crassicaixlis Zucc. 



Peru and Mexico. This seems one of the best of the wood sorrels which yield an 

 edible root.' It has nutritious tubers and edible leaves.' 



O. crenata Jacq. arracacha. oca. 



Peru. This species is cultivated in South America for its tuberous roots, which are 

 about the size of hen's eggs, the skin being full of eyes like a potato. Hemdon '" calls 

 these tubers, when boiled or roasted, very agreeable to the taste. Carruthers " says the 

 plant is cultivated about Lima for its very acid leaf-stalks. It was introduced into Eng- 

 land in 1829 but was found to be watery and insipid. There is a red and a yellow 

 variety.'* 



O. deppei Lodd. 



South America and Mexico. The plant produces fleshy, edible roots of moderate 

 size. The roots are served boiled. The yotmg leaves are dressed like sorrel, put in soups 

 or used as greens, and the flowers are excellent in salad, alone or mixed with com salad.'' 



' Johnson, C. P. Useful. Pis. Ct. Brit. 65. 1862. 

 Noisette Man. Jard. 322. 1829. 

 BaiUon, H. Hist. Ph. s: 2,2. 1878. 

 Ibid. 



Unger, F. V. S. Pat. Off. Rpt. 355. 1859. 

 Baillon, H. Hist. Pis. ^-.^2. 1878. 



' Dutt, U. C. Mai. Med. Hindus 124. 1877. 

 Mueller, F. Sel. Pis. 312. 1891. 



Unger, F. U. S. Pat. Off. Rpt. 355. 1859. 



" Hemdon, W. L., and Gibbon, L. Explor. Vail. Amca. iii^i. 1854. 



" Carruthers, W. Treaj. 5o<. 2:830. 1870. 



" Bon /ar<i. 543. 1882. 



" Morren Card. Chron. 68. 1841. 



