STURTEVANT S NOTES ON EDIBLE PLANTS 433 



by Gray ' as in fertile soil, Pennsylvania to Illinois and Texas, yet it seems to be the 

 miliomail figiired by Hernandez ^ in his Mexican history, published in 1651. It is described 

 by Bitrr ' under the names given above. The petite tomato du Mexique, as received from 

 Vilmorin, in 1883, can be assigned to this species, as can also a strawberry tomato grown 

 in 1885 at the New York Agricultviral Experiment Station. 



P. pubescens Linn, ground cherry, husk tomato, strawberry tomato. 



North America. This is the camaru.* It is also found wild in the United States. 

 The fruit is edible.^ This species has a wide range, extending from New York to Iowa, 

 Florida and westward from Texas to the borders of California and southward to tropical 

 America. It is described by Marcgrav ^ and Piso ' in Brazil about the middle of the 

 seventeenth century, and Feuille,' 1725, mentions it as cultivated and wild in Peru. It 

 has been introduced into many regions. Loureiro ' records it in Cochin China; Bojer,'" 

 as cultivated in the Mauritius and in all the tropical countries; and it also occurs in the 

 descriptions of garden vegetables in France and America. It was cultivated by Miller 

 in England in 1739 and was described by Parkinson in 1640. It had not reached the 

 kitchen garden in 1807 but had before 1863. Its synonymy seems as given below: 



Camaru. Marcg. 12. 1648; Piso 223. 1658. 



Halicacabum sive Alkekengi Virginense. Ray 681. 1686. 



Alkekengi Virginianum, fructu luteo. Toum. 151. 1719. 



Alkekengi Virginianum, fructu luteo, vulgo Capuli. Feuille3:5. 1725. 



Alkekengi Barbadense nanum, Alliariae folio. Dill. Elth. 10. f. 9. t. 9. 1774. 



Physalis pubescens. Linn. Sp. 262. 1762. 



P. virginiana Mill, strawberry tomato. 



North America. This species has also been grown from seedsmen's strawberry tomato. 

 It is a low, spreading plant. 



P. viscosa Linn. 



Eastern United States. The berry is edible.'' 



Phytelephas macrocarpa Ruiz et Pav. Palmae. ivory palm. 



Tropical America. The seed at first contains a clear, insipid fluid, with which travelers 

 allay their thirst, afterwards this liquor becomes milky and sweet; at last the fruit is almost 

 as hard as ivory." This hard albimien fiunishes a vegetable ivory of commerce. 



' Gray, A. Synopt. Fl. 2: Pt. i. 233. 1878. 

 2 Hernandez A^OTa ffii/. Afeae. 295. 1651. 

 ' Burr, F. Field, Card. Veg. 593. 1863. 



* Masters, M. T. Treas. Bot. 2:?,i2. 1870. 

 'Nuttall, T. Gen. No. Amer. Pis. 1:130. 1818. 



Piso Hist. Rerum Nat. Braz. 12. 1648. 

 ' Piso De Ind. 223. 1658. 



' Feuillee Obs. 3:5. 1725. 



'Loureiro F/. CocAin. 133. 1790. 

 " Boier, W. Hort. Maurit. 237. 1837. 

 " Martyn Miller's Card. Diet. 1807. 

 "Nuttall, T. Gen. No. Amer. Pis. 1:12,0. 1818. 

 " Seemann, B. Pop. Hist. Palms 327. 1856. 



