494 sturtevant's notes on edible plants 



R. integrifolia Benth. & Hook. f. 



California. The fresh, red berries are described by Palmer as coated with an icy- 

 looking, white substance, which is pleasantly acid and is used by the Indians to make 

 a cooling drink. 



R. parviflora Roxb. 



India. Mixed with salt, the fruit is used like tamarind in the Benar Valley and 

 Bhawar.^ 



R. punjabensis J. L. Stew. 



Himalayan region. In India, the fruit is eaten.' 



R. semialata Murr. nut-gall tree. 



Eastern Asia. The pulp of the fruit is acid and is eaten in Sikkim and Nepal and used 

 medicinally.* 



R. tjrphina Linn, staghorn sumach. Virginian sumach. 



North America. The leaves can be used as ordinary sumach, as Mueller ' says. 



Rhynchosia volubilis Lour. Leguminosae. 



China and Japan. The seeds of the wild plant are used for food in Japan.'* ^ 



Ribes aciculare Sm. Saxifragaceae. needle-spined gooseberry. 



Siberia. The berries are glabrous, yellowish or purplish, sweet and of a grateful taste.' 



R. alpinum Linn, alpine currant. 



Europe and northern Asia. The fruit is sweet and not very acid but is much less 

 palatable than that of the red currant.' 



R. ambiguum Maxim. 



Japan. The fruit is a large, orange-yellow berry nearly half an inch in diameter. 

 The country people eat these berries.'* 



R. americanum Mill, black currant. 



North America. Josselyn " says the black currants " are reasonably pleasant in 

 eating." Emerson '^ says the fruit is black, watery and insipid. In Nebraska, Thompson '* 

 says the fruit is large, musky but palatable. 



Brewer and Watson Bot. Cat. i:iii. 1880. 

 ' Brandis, D. Forest Fl. iig. 1874. 



Brandis, D. Forest Fl. 120. 1874. 



Ibid. 



Mueller, F. Sel. Pis. 418. 1891. 



'Rein Indust. Jap. 62. 1889. 



' Georgeson Amer. Card. 14:84. 1893. 



Don, G. Hist. Dichl. Pis. 3:178. 1834. 



Johnson, C. P. Useful Ph. Gt. Brit. 109. 1862. 

 ' Georgeson Amer. Card. 12:205. 1891. 

 " Josselyn, J. Voy. 59. 1865. Reprint. 



" Emerson, G. B. Trees, Shrubs Mass. 2:^7%. 1875. (R. floridum) 

 " Thompson, R. O. U. S. D. A. Rpt. 126. 1866. (R. floridum) 



