STURTEVANT S NOTES ON EDIBLE PLANTS 517 



was introduced about 1820 to 1825.' The Otaheite cane, brought to the West Indies 

 by Bougainville and Bligh, was introduced far later.^ 



According to Hallam,' Gesner, who died in 1564, was the first botanist who men- 

 tions sugar cane. Sugar cane, according to various observers, never bears seed in the 

 West Indies, Malaga, India, Cochin China, or the Malay Archipelago,^ but Lunan 

 speaks of the seed in Jamaica as being oblong, pointed and ripening in the valve of the 

 flower. 



The use of sugar is well known. In South America a cane-wine called guarapo is 

 in common use, prepared from the juice of the stalk allowed to run into fermentation.' 

 The natives of Easter Island, who suffer great distress from want of fresh water, drink 

 the juice.' In southern China, the stalks, cut into six- or ten-inch lengths, raw and boiled, 

 are continually hawked around the streets for eating.' The elephant cane of Cochin 

 China is grown for the stalks, which are chewed. The epidermis of the stalk is so brittle, 

 that, instead of crushing in the mills, the stalks break into small fragments.' In central 

 Africa, a red-stalked variety is the most frequent and the negroes make no fiu-ther use 

 of it than eating the cane,' and the Uganda may often be seen passing, chewing the end 

 of a long cane that trails behind them.'" This cane also appears in the markets of Para- 

 guay, where it is eaten." This species is, vmdoubtedly, says Unger,'* a plant peculiar to 

 China, and has been cidtivated there independently and perhaps still earlier than the 

 Indian sugar cane. This is also the sugar cane of the Malays, according to Ainslie." 

 De Candolle " says it was introduced into the gardens of Calcutta in 1796. 



S. sara Roxb. penreed grass. 



East Indies, Afghanistan and India. In the southern part of the Ptmjab, the deli- 

 cate part of the pith in the upper part of the stem is eaten by the poor.'^ 



Sageretia brandrethiana Aitch. Rhamneae. 



Orient and northwestern India. The fruit is sweet and is a great favorite with the 

 Afghans." 



' Brown, J. N. U. S. Pat. Off. Rpt. 168. 1849. 

 ' Humboldt, A. Views Nat. 25. 1850. 

 Hallam Lit. Europe 1:241. 1856. 

 Darwin, C. Ans. Ph. Domest. 2:153. 1893. 

 ' Boussingault Rur. Econ. 194. No year. 

 Humboldt, A. Views Nat. 2^. 1850. 

 ' Williams, S. W. U. S. Pat. Off. Rpt. 474. i860. 

 Morris Rpt. Pub. Card. Jam. 21. 1880. 

 Speke, J. H. Journ. Disc. Source Nile $^6. 1864. 

 Long, C. C. Cent. Afr. 127. 1877. 



" Robertson, J. P. and W. P. Letters Paraguay 1:294. 1838. 

 2 Unger, F. U. S. Pat. Off. Rpt. 326. 1859. 

 " Ainslie, W. Mat. Ind. 1:40^. 1826. 

 " De Candolle, A. Geog. Bot. 2:836. 1855. 

 Drury, H. Useful Pis. Ind. 376. 1873. 

 " Brandis, D. Forest Fl. 95. 1874. 



