STURTEVANT S NOTES ON EDIBLE PLANTS 47 1 



P. tuberosa DC. 



Tropical India and Burma. Brandis ' says the large, tuberous roots are eaten. 



Pulicaria odora Reichb. Compositae. 



South Europe. In Yemen, this species is cultivated for its pleasant odor and edible 

 leaves.' 



Pulmonaria officinalis Linn. Boragineae. Jerusalem cowslip, lungwort. 

 Europe. Gerarde ' says the leaves are used among potherbs. 



Punica granatum Linn. Lythrarieae. pomegranate. 



Asia Minor, ^ Armenia, central Caucasus ' and the Himalayas.' The pomegranate is 

 of very ancient ctilture in Palestine, Persia, northern India and has been distributed east- 

 ward to northern China.' On account of the profusion of its seeds, it was with the ancients 

 a mystical fruit, typifying procreation, increase and abundance.' Yet seedless fruits 

 from Djillalabad are eniunerated by Harlan ^ as among the fruits in the market at Kabul. 

 Sir A. Barnes mentions a famous pomegranate without seeds grown in gardens near the 

 Kabul River, and in i860 cuttings from a seedless variety from Palestine were distributed 

 as a much esteemed variety from the United Patent Office.'" Bumes," in his Travels in 

 Bokhara, remarks on the pomegranate seeding in Mazenderan as a remarkable peculiarity. 

 According to Athenaeus, Aphrodite first planted the pomegranate on Cyprus and in Greece. 

 The fancy of the Greeks derived this fruit from the blood of Dionysius Zagreus. The 

 pomegranate was known in Egypt and was cultivated even in the time of Moses. It was 

 raised in the gardens about Carthage. Darius Hystaspes, according to Herodotus, ate 

 of its fruit. Homer mentions the pomegranate as present in the gardens of Alcinous. 

 The Romans brought it from Carthage to Italy, for which reason they call its fruits mala 

 punica. Pliny enimierates nine different kinds and these at the present day have increased 

 greatly. The pomegranate is now found growing wild in the southern Tyrol, southern 

 Switzerland, as also in Spain, southern France and Greece.'^ The pomegranate was observed 

 by Wm. Bartram," about 1773, growing out of the ruins of Frederica, Georgia, and it 

 now thrives everywhere on the Gulf coast of Florida.'* It was mentioned as found in 

 California by Father Baegert,'* 1751-1768. 



' Brandis, D. Forest Fl. 141. 1876. 



' Pickering, C. Chron. Hist. Pis. 211. 1879. 



'Gerarde, J. Herb. 663. 1597. 



De Candolle, A. Geog. Bot. 2:892. 1855. 

 Ibid. 



Royle, J. F. lUustr. Bot. Himal. 1:208. 1839. 

 ' Unger, F. V. S. Pat. Off. Rpt. 342. 1859. 

 Hooker, W. J. Journ. Bot. 1:119. 1834. 



U. S. Pat. Off. Rpt. 530. 1 86 1. 

 " U. S. Pat. Off. Rpt. 34. i860. 

 " Darwin, C. Ans. Pis. Domest. 2:152 Note. 1893. 

 "Unger, F. U. S. Pat. Off. Rpt. 342. 1859. 

 " Hist. Mass. Hort. Soc. 27. 1880. 

 "Redmond, D. Amer. Pom. Soc. 57. 1875. 

 ^^ Smithsonian Inst. Rpt. 356. 1864. 



