STURTEVANT S NOTES ON EDIBLE PLANTS 44I 



P. terebinthus Linn, cyprus turpentine, terebinth. 



Southern Europe and Mediterranean region. This is the cultivated form of P. vera, 

 grown in Palestine and S\Tia.' The plant is a large and stout tree of the Mediterranean 

 flora and furnishes Cyprus turpentine. The nuts are shaped like the filbert, long and 

 pointed, the kernel pale, greenish, sweet and more oily than the almond. It is the 

 terebinthus of Theophrastus,^ and the senawher or snowber of the Arabs. The species 

 was introduced into the United States for trial ctdture in 1859.' 



P. vera Linn, pistacia nut. 



Mediterranean and the Orient. The tree is indigenous to Persia, Bactria and Syria 

 but is cultivated in the Mediterranean regions. Seeds of the nut were distributed from the 

 United States Patent Office in 1854.* The fruit is oval, about the size of an olive and 

 contains a kernel, oily and mild to the taste.* The nuts are used in ices, creams, conserves 

 and all kinds of confectionery.* The nut is eaten raw like almonds and is much esteemed 

 by the Turks, Greeks and Italians. There are several varieties, of which the Aleppo is 

 considered the best for its fruits.' In Kabul, pistacia trees are said by Harlan * to yield 

 a crop of fruit one year, followed always by a crop of blighted fruit destitute of a kernel 

 the next. 



Pisum arvense Linn. Leguminosae. field pea. grey pea. 



Eurasia. This is the pea most commonly cultivated in Egypt and it is also grown 

 in India.' In China, this pea is eaten and seems to have been introduced from the cotmtry 

 of the Vigurs, ditring the T'ang time.'" This species is considered by Lindley as the original 

 of all OMX cultivated peas. In Scotland and England, some 13 or more varieties of the 

 field pea are grown. A variety allied to this species has been found in the ancient lacustrine 

 deposits of Switzerland." 



P. jomardi Schrank. Egyptian pea. 



Egypt. This species is edible and is perhaps cultivated.** 

 P. sativum Linn. pea. 



Eiu-ope and northern Asia. The pea in India goes back to a remote period as is 

 shown by its Sanscrit name. The discovery of its seed in a tomb at Thebes proves it to 

 have been an ancient Egyptian plant. It was seen in Japan by Thunberg,'' 1776. Its 



' Unger, F. U. S. Pat. Off. Rpt. 323. 1859. 



Theophrastus lib. 3, c. 14. 



U. S. Pat. Off. Rpt. 20. 1859. 



U. S. Pat. Off. Rpt. XXXIL 1854. 



Loudon, J. C. Arb. Frut. Brit. 2:546. 1844. 



Hooker, W. J. Joum. Bot. 1:109. 1834. 



'Loudon, J. C. Arb. FnU. Brit. %:^(>. 1844. 



U. S. Pat. Off. Rpt. 533. 1861. Note. 



De Candolle, A. Geog. So/. 2:960. 1855. 



Smith, F. P. CoTUrib. Mat. Med. China 172. 1871. 

 " Heer, O. Garden. July 15, 1876. 

 "Unger, F. U. S. Pat. Off. Rpt. 3,17. 1859. 

 " Thunberg, C. P. Fl. Jap. XXXlll. 1784. 



