468 sturtevant's notes on edible plants 



reached the East Indies through the agency of the Portuguese and Spaniards. It has 

 but recently reached China and the Philippines, the west coast of Africa and the Island 

 of Mauritius. Voight ' says, in India, its fruit is of a delicious flavor. Firminger ^ states 

 that those he has gathered have been nothing better than a hard, xmeatable berry. The 

 guava is cultivated in the West Indies, in Florida and elsewhere, and the fruits are 

 occasionally seedless. The fruit is smooth, crowned with the calj^, not unlike in shape 

 and size to a pomegranate, having an agreeable smell and turning yellow when ripe. The 

 rind is about an eighth of sui inch in thickness, brittle and fleshy and contains a firm pulp 

 of white, red or yellow color in the different varieties and is of an agreeable taste. It is 

 full of bony seeds.' The fruit is esteemed raw and also in preserves. 



P, incanescens Mart. 



Brazil. The berry is edible.* 



P. indicum Raddi. ' 



Brazil. The species is cultivated for its fruit.' 



P. montanum Sw. spice guava. 



A large tree of West Indies. The fruit is eatable, green in color and soft when ripe. 

 It has a very pleasing smell, like that of strawberries, which the pulp also resembles in 

 taste, leaving its rich flavor on the palate for some time after eating. This fruit makes 

 excellent marmalade.* The fruit is edible.' 



P. pigmeum Arruda. 



A shrub of Brazil. The fruit is about the size of a gooseberry and is greatly sought 

 after on account of its delicious flavor which resembles that of the strawberr>'. It is the 

 marangaba of the Brazilians.* 



P. polycarpon Lamb. 



Tropical America. The berries are yellow, the size of a cherry and of exquisite taste.' 

 The fruit is yellow inside, the size of a plima and of a delicate taste.'" 



P. nifum Mart. 



Brazil. The plant produces a palatable fruit." 



Psophocarpus tetragonolobus DC. Leguminosae. goa bean. 



This plant is grown in India for the sake of its edible seeds and also for use as a 

 string bean. The pod is six to eight inches long, half an inch wide, with a leafy kind of 



' Firminger, T. A. C. Card. Ind. 263. 1874. {P. pumilum) 



2 Ibid. 



'Lunan, J. Hort. Jam. i:$50. 1814. 



< Mueller, F. Sel. Pis. 392. 1891. 



Don, G. Hist. Dichl. Ph. 2:833. 1832. 



Lunan, J. /Tort. /am. 1:351. 1814. 



' Mueller, F. Sel. Pis. 188. 1876. (P. cordaHim) 



Gardner, G. Trav. Braz. 146. 1846. 



Mueller, F. Sel. Pis. 393. 1891. 



Don, G. Hist. Dichl. Pis. 2:831. 1832. 



"Mueller, F. Sel. Pis. 393. 1891. 



