STURTEVANT S NOTES ON EDIBLE PLANTS 403 



British territory. One authority says that on the Nipigan coast of Lake Superior " the 

 surface is flaming red with berries, more deHcious than anything of the kind I have ever 

 tasted." 



Cx3ma digyna Hill. Polygonaceae. mountain sorrel. 



Mountains of the north and arctic region, northern America as far as latitude 64 

 to 80 north.' The leaves are chopped with scurv>' grass or water cress and are fermented 

 and eaten by the Alaska Indians, who are very partial to this dish.^ 



Oxystelma esculentum R. Br. Aclepiadeae. 



Australia. Royle ' says this plant is described as being edible. 



Pachira aquatica Aubl. Malvaceae, malabar chestnut. 



Tropical America. The mealy seeds of this tree, when roasted, taste like chestnuts. 

 The yoimg leaves and flowers are used as a vegetable.^ There is nothing better than this 

 chestnut cooked with a little salt.' 



P. grandiflora Tussac. 



West Indies. The seeds are eaten as chestnuts are.* 



P. insignis Savign. 



Mexico and Guiana. The seeds, young leaves and flowers serve as food.^ 



Pachyrhizus angulatus Rich. Leguminosae. 



Tropical Asia, Central America, the East and West Indies, Mauritius and Fiji Islands. 

 The root, a single turnip-formed tuber, when young, is eaten, both raw and boiled, by the 

 inhabitants of India and the Matiritius.* Its coarse roots furnish food to the poor in China, 

 when boiled, or when dried, and pounded into a flour.' In the Malay Archipelago, the plant 

 produces a large, edible, tuberous root.'" The Fiji Islanders, who call the plant yaka or 

 ivayaka, obtain a tough fiber from the stems, with which they make fishing nets." In 

 China and Cochin China, where it is cultivated, the tubers, which are cylindrical and 

 about two feet long, are eaten boiled as yams are.'^ Smith '' says the tubers are eaten 

 but are deleterious if not thoroughly cooked. A kind of arrowroot is made from the root 



' Kane, E. K. Arctic Explor. 2:^60. 1857. App. XVIIL 

 ' DaU, W. H. U. S. D. A. Rpt. 422. 1870. 

 Royle, J. F. Illustr. Bot. Himal. 1:274. 1839. 



* Unger, F. U. S. Pat. Off. Rpt. 315. 1859. {Carolinea princeps) 

 ' Belanger Trans. N. Y. Agr. Soc. 568. 1858. (Carolinea princeps) 

 ' Tussac Fl. Antill. 4:12. 1808-1827. 



' Unger, F. U. S. Pat. Off. Rpt. 315. 1859. {Carolinea insignis) 



Don, G. Hist. Dichl. Ph. 2:361. 1832. 



Williams, S. W. U. S. Pat. Off. Rpt. 474. i860. {Dolichos bvlhosus) 

 " Pickering, C. Chron. Hist. 680. 1879. 

 "Smith, A. Treoi. Bo/. 2:834. 1870. 

 "Loudon, J. C. Arb. Frut. Brit. 2:()^<). 1844. 

 "Smith, F. P. Contrib. Mat. Med. China 88. 1871. 



