5l8 STURTEV ant's NOTES ON EDIBLE PLANTS 



S. oppositifolia Brongn. 



East Indies and Malay. The sweetish fruit is eaten in India.* 



S. theezans Brongn. 



Northwestern India, Burma and China. The poor in China use the leaves as a tea.* 

 The fruit is also eaten in China and the Himalayas. It is globular, the size of a small 

 pea, dark brown when ripe,' and is called iia by the Chinese.* 



Sagittaria chinensis Sims. Alismaceae. arrow-head. 



China. The Chinese arrow-head is sold in the markets of China and Japan as food, 

 the corns being full of starch.' It is extensively cultivated about San Francisco, Cali- 

 fornia, to supply the Chinese markets, and the tubers are commonly to be found on sale.* 



S. sagittifolia Linn, swamp potato, swan potato. 



Europe, Asia and North America. The biolbs, which dig themselves into the solid 

 earth below the mud, constitute an article of food with the Chinese, and, on that accotmt, 

 the plant is extensively cultivated. This species is enumerated by Thunberg ' as among 

 the edible plants of Japan. In eastern America, the Indians boil or roast this root which 

 they called katniss.^ It is called by the Oregon Indians wapstoo and constitutes an 

 important article of diet. ' 



Salacia dulcis Benth. Celastrineae. 



A shrub of Brazil. The fruit is the size of a crab apple, yellow, sweet, and juicy and 

 is much eaten by the Indians on the Rio Negro, who call it waiatuma}" 



S. pyriformis Steud. 



Tropical Africa. This plant produces a sweet-tasted fruit the size of a Bergamot 

 pear." Wight '^ says the fruit is eatable and is said to be of a rich and sweet flavor. 



S. roxburghii Wall. 



East Indies. The plant bears a dull red fruit the size of a crab apple, of which the 

 white pulp is eaten.'' 



S. scabra DC. 



Guiana. The berries are edible.'* 



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



Don, G. Hist. Dichl. Pis. 2:28. 1832. 



' Brandis, D. Forest Fl. 96. 1874. 



* Smith, A. Treoj. So/. 2:1005. 1870. 



' Lindley, J. Med. Econ. Bot. 62. 1849. 



Case Bot. Index 9. 1881. 



' Thunberg, C. P. Fl. Jap. 242. 1784. 

 ' Kalm, P. Trav. No. Amer. 1:386. 1772. 

 9 Torrey, J. Pacific R. R. Rpt. 6:91. 1857. 

 "Black, A. A. Treas. Bot. 2:1007. 1870. 

 Ibid. 



" Wight, R. Illustr. Ind. Bot. 1:132. 1840. 

 " Black, A. A. Treas. Bot. 2: 1007. 1870. 

 "Smith, A. Treas. Bot. 2:1007. 1870. 



