STURTEVANT S NOTES ON EDIBLE PLANTS 405 



food of the people of Radack. It is chewed raw for the aromatic juice and is also baked 

 in pits. 



P. pedunculatus R. Br. breadfruit, screw pine. 



Australia and New Holland. Fraser saj's this plant is called breadfruit and is 

 eagerly eaten by the natives. 



P. sp.? screw pine. 



Under the name of kapupu, a staple article of food is prepared in the- islands of the 

 Gilbert group from the soft, central portion of the fruit heads of species of pandanus.^ 

 Adams' says, among the Meia-co-shimah Islands, he first had the curiosity to taste the 

 fruit of the screw pine and found it refreshing and juicy but very insipid. When perfectly 

 mature, he continues, they certainly look very tempting and resemble large, rich-colored 

 pineapples. The stones, though very hard, contain a pleasant kernel. 



Pangium edule Reinw. Bixineae. 



Java. The bark is used for poisoning fish, and the nuts, when macerated in water, 

 are rendered partially wholesome but are used only as a condiment.* 



Panicum colonum Linn. Gramineae. millet. 



Tropics. This millet grows wild in parts of India in sufficient plenty to be collected 

 in times of scarcity to be employed as food.* 



P. decompositum R. Br. Australian millet. 



East Indies and Australia. The aborigines convert the small, millet-Hke grains 

 into cakes.' 



P. miliaceum Linn, millet. 



Tropics. This species was cultivated in southern Europe in the time of Hippocrates 

 and Theophrastus ' and was known to the Romans in the time of Julius Caesar. It is the 

 kegchros of Strabo, who states that it thrives excellently in Gaul and is the best protection 

 against famine.' It is described by Pliny ' as constituting the principal food of the 

 Sarmatians, who say that the Ethiopians know of no other grain but milkt and barley. 

 It is also mentioned by Hesiod '* and is referred to as cultivated in Italy by Columella " 

 and Virgil." In the embassy of Theodosius ''to Attila, 448-9 A. D., beyond the Danube, 



' Hooker, W. J. Bol. Misc. 1:250. 1830. 



* Card. Chron. 1878. 



' Adams, A. Voy. Samarang 2:302. 1848. 



Smith, J. Dom. Bot. 403. 1871. 



' Simmonds, P. L. Trap. Agr. 338. 1889. 



Mueller, F. Sel. Pis. 316. 1891. 8th Ed. 



'MueUer, F. Set. Pis. 318. 1891. 8th Ed. 



Unger, F. U. S. Pat. Of. Rpt. 305. 1859. 



Pickering, C. Chron. Hist. Pis. 79. 1879. 



" Hooker, W. J. Journ. Bot. 1:214. '834. 



" Phillips, H. Comp. Kitck. Card. 1:334. 183 1. 



" Virgil Georgics lib. i, line 216. 



"Guizot, F. P. G. Hist. Civil. 3:220. 1857. 



