STURTEVANT S NOTES ON EDIBLE PLANTS 45 1 



described; the green, the golden and the large-leaved golden. The golden varieties are 

 not mentioned by Bauhin in his Phytopinax, 1596, nor in his Pinax, 1623, but are men- 

 tioned as if well known in Le Jardinier Solitaire, 1612. The green variety is figured b)' 

 nearly all the earlier botanists. The golden has the following synonymy: 



Pourpier dori. Le Jard. Solit. ^yS. 1612; Toum. 236. 1719; Vilm. 518. 1883. 

 Red or Golden. Quintyne 199. 1693. 

 Portulaca saliva lutea sive aurea. Ray 1039. 1688. 



Golden' purslane. Ray 1039. 1688; Townsend 19. 1726; Mawe. 1778; Burr 392. 

 1863. 



In England, Mcintosh ' says the young shoots and leaves are used in summer salads 

 and are sometimes used in French and Italian soups and in pickles. This purslane is 

 cultivated in Yemen,^ sold in btmdles at Mocha ' and, in Burma, is used by the natives 

 for a potherb.* In 1605, Champlain * says the Indians on the Maine coast brought him 

 "purslane, which grows in large quantities among the Indian com, and of which they 

 made no more account than of weeds." Cutler, 1785, says it occurs in cornfields and is 

 eaten as a potherb and "is esteemed by some as little inferior to asparagus. It was pre- 

 viously mentioned by Josselyn' prior to 1670. Purslane has never been much valued 

 in America. In 1819, Cobbett ' mentions it in his American Gardener, as " a mischievous 

 weed that Frenchmen and pigs eat when they can get nothing else. Both use it in salad, 

 that is to say, raw." Sir Richard Hawkins,* at the Island of Saint Anna, ofE Cape Saint 

 Thomas, foimd great store " of the hearbe ptu^lane " which was very useful to his 

 scurvy-suffering crew. Purslane is also mentioned by NieuhofE ' as cultivated in Brazil 

 in 1647. 



P. quadrifida Linn. 



Old World tropics. This species is much uged as a potherb in India.'" 



P. retusa Engelm. 



Western North America. This species is eaten by the Apache Indians. 



Potentilla anserina Linn. Rosaceae. goose grass, goose tansy, silver-weed. 



Temperate regions. In some of the Hebrides, says Lightfoot," the roots have often 

 supported the inhabitants for months together. Boiled or roasted, they taste like 

 parsnips. 



'Mcintosh, C. Book Card. 2:171. 1855. 

 ' Pickering, C. Chr on. Hist. Ph. 611. 1879. 

 ' Ibid. 



* Ibid. 



'Champlain Voy. 1604-1610. Prince Soc. Ed. 2:75. 1878. 



Josselyn, J. New Eng. Rar. 81. 1672. 



' Cobbett, W. Amer. Card. 157. 1846. 



Hawkins, R. Voy. So. Seas. Hakl. Soc. Ed. 1:86. 1847. 



Churchill CoW. Foy. 2:132. 1732. 



"Royle, J. F. Illuslr. Bot. Himal. 1:221. 1839. 

 " Lightfoot, J. Fl. Scot. 269. 1789. 



