STURTEVANT S NOTES ON EDIBLE PLANTS 515 



Ruscus aculeatus Linn. Liliaceae. box holly, butcher's broom, jew's myrtle. 



Etirope and the Orient. The tender shoots are eaten in the spring by the poor in 

 Europe as an asparagus.' 



Ruta graveolens Linn. Rutaceae. rue. herb-of-grace. 



Mediterranean countries and cultivated in gardens. Formerly the English as well 

 as the Germans and Dutch used the green leaves of rue in their ragouts. The leaves are 

 also used as a pickle. The Italians are said to eat the leaves in salads. It was* intro- 

 duced into Britain before 1562.2 Rue is included among American garden medicinal plants 

 by McMahon,' 1806, and by succeeding writers on American gardening. 



Sabal adansoni Guems. Palntae. 



Southern United States. The soft interior of the stem is edible.^ 



S. palmetto Lodd. palmetto palm. 



Coast of North Carolina and southward. In Florida, the cabbage is eaten and is 

 excellent. The drupes are said to afford nourishing food to the Indians and hunters but 

 are not palatable to whites until they become accustomed to them. In Plaine Descrip- 

 tion of Barmudas,^ 1613, it is said: " there is a tree called a Palmito tree, which hath 

 a very sweet berry, upon which the hogs doe most feede; but our men, finding the sweet- 

 nesse of them, did willingly share with the hogs for them, they being very pleasant and 

 wholesome, which made them carelesse almost of any bread with their meate." " The 

 head of the Palmito tree is verie good meate either raw or sodden." " Of necessitie, I 

 must needs mention a Palme-tree once againe, I have foimd it so good; take a hatchet 

 and cut him, or an augur and bore him, and it yields a very pleasant liquor, much like 

 tmto your sweete wines." 



Saccharum officinarum Linn. Gramineae. sugar cane. 



Tropics. From the elaborate investigation of Ritter,' it appears that this species 

 was originally a native of Bengal and of the Indo-Chinese countries, as well as of Borneo, 

 Java, Bali, Celebes and other islands of the Malay Archipelago. There is no evidence 

 that it is now fovmd anywhere in a wild state. The first historical allusion to sugar seems 

 to be by Theophrastus (others say by Strabo),' who lived 321 B. C. He speaks of a sort 

 of honey procured from canes or reeds. Varro, 68 B. C, mentions the exceeding sweet- 

 ness of the Indian reed, but says the juice is derived from the root of the plant. Lucan ' 

 says of the Indians near the Ganges " they drink the sweet juices of the tender reed." 

 Dioscorides says there is a sort of concreted honey which is called sugar and is foimd upon 



' Card. Chron. 214. 1877. 



' Mcintosh, C. Book Card. 2:242. 1855. 



' McMahon, B. Amer. Card. Cal. 584. 1806. 



* Seemann, B. Pop. Hist. Palms ^6. 1856. 



^Plaine Desc. o) Barmudas 13. 1613. Force Coll. Tracts 3: No. 3. 1844. 



' Fluckiger and Hanbury Pharm. 650. 1879. 



'Hooker, W. J. Journ. Bot. 1:217. 1834. 



Ibid. 



