STURTEVANT S NOTES ON EDIBLE PLANTS 409 



P. scorbiculatum Linn, koda millet. 



Old World tropics. This grain is grown to some extent in most parts of India. The 

 seed is an article of diet with the Hindus, particularly with those who inhabit the hill 

 regions and the most barren parts of the coimtry, for it is in such districts it is chiefly 

 cultivated, being an unprofitable crop and not sown where others more beneficial will 

 thrive.' It is used only by the poorest classes, says Elliott ^ and is not reckoned very 

 wholesome. Graham' says this millet is very common and cheap about Bombay but 

 unwholesome. It is the agrion krithon, furnishing good bread and gruel but which, at 

 first, killed the horses of the Greeks until by degrees they became accustomed to it, as 

 related by Theophrastus. 



Passifiora alata Ail. Passifloreae. passion flowers. 



Peru. A plant of climbing habit, grown in greenhouses for its flowers. The fruit 

 is edible. 



P. boumapartea Baxt. 



Tropical Africa. This species is ctdtivated in greenhouses for its beautiful red, white 

 and blue flowers. The friiit is edible. 



P. caerulea Linn, blue passion flower. 



Brazil. The fruit is egg-shaped, the size of a Mogul plum and yellow when ripe.* 

 It is cultivated in the gardens of Egypt. 



P. coccinea Aubl. 



Guiana. The aril of the fruit is edible.^ 



P. edulis Sims. 



Brazil and the West Indies. The pulp of the fruit is orange-colored, the taste acid 

 and the flavor somewhat like that of an orange.* The fruit in India is the size of an 

 egg, green at first but, when ripe, is of a beautiful plimi color ' and of an agreeable and 

 and cooling taste.' 



P. filamentosa Cav. 



South America. It has edible fruit.' 



P. foetida Linn, love-in-a-mist. wild water lemon. 



Brazil and Jamaica. The fruit is yellow, enclosed in a netted calyx and has a pleasant 

 smell, though all the other parts of the plant have a disagreeable odor when touched. 



Simmonds, P. L. Trop. Agr. 340. 1889. 

 2 Elliott, W. Bot. Soc. Edinb. 7:289. 1863. 

 ' Pickering, C. Chron. Hist. Pis. 332. 1879. 

 * Don, G. Hist. Dichl. Pis. 3:53. 1834. 

 ' Don, G. Hist. Dichl. Pis. 3:50. 1834. 

 Don, G. Hist. Dichl. Pis. 3:53. 1834. 

 ' Firminger, T. A. C. Card. Ind. 197. 1874. 

 Smith, J. Diet. Econ. Pis. 197. 1882. 

 Masters, M. T. Treoi. Bo/. 2:851. 1870. 



