STURTEVANT S NOTES ON EDIBLE PLANTS 527 



Sclerocarya birroea Hochst. Anacardiaceae. 



Eastern equatorial Africa. This plant is a forest tree called m'choowee on the upper 

 Nile. The kernels of the fruit, whose unripe sarcocarp is apple-scented, are milky and 

 are eaten like ground nuts.' This species affords to the natives of Abyssinia an edible 

 kernel, while its fruits are employed in Senegal in the preparation of an alcoholic drink.^ 



S. caffra Sond. 



South. Africa. This species is known on the Zambezi as mooroola, and the seeds are 

 eaten by the natives.' 



Scolymus grandiflorus Desf. Compositae. 



Egypt. The Arabs eat the stalks, both raw and boiled.* 



S. hispanicus Linn, golden thistle. Spanish oyster plant. 



Mediterranean region. The root of the wild plant is collected and is used as a salsify. 

 According to Pickering,^ this plant is mentioned by Theophrastus, who says, " its edible 

 root, becoming milky;" by Dioscorides, who says " the young plant, eaten as greens;" 

 by Sibthorp, as eaten in Greece; and by Clusius who says " the root and young plant, 

 eaten in Spain." This plant is supposed to be the skolumus and leimonia of Theophrastus, 

 322 B. C; it is the scolymus of Pliny, A. D. 79, recorded as a food plant. The wild plant 

 was seen in Portugal and Spain by Clusius 'in 1576. The plant was described by Gerarde ' 

 in England, 1597, but he does not appear to have grown it. It was in the botanic gardens 

 at Oxford ' in 1658 but receives only a quoted mention from Clusius by Ray ^ in 1686. 

 The vegetable appears not to have been in English culture in 1778, 'nor in 1807," and, 

 in 1869, it is recorded as a new vegetable.'^ In 1597, Gerarde " mentions its culture in 

 Holland, and, in 1616, Dodonaeus " says it was planted in Belgian gardens. In France, 

 in 1882, it is said not to be under culture, but that its long, fleshy root is used as a kitchen 

 vegetable in Provence and Languedoc.*^ In 1883, it is included among kitchen esculents 

 by Vilmorin."' It is recorded by Burr''' for American gardens in 1863, and its seed was 

 offered in American seed catalogs of 1882, perhaps a few years earlier. 



' Speke, J. H. Journ. Disc. Source Nile 565. 1864. 



' Masters, M. T. Treas. Bot. 2:1087. 1870. {Spondias birrea) 



Jackson, J. R. Treas. Bot. 2: 1341. 1876. 



* Martyn Miller's Card. Diet. 1807. 



5 Pickering, C. Chron. Hist. Ph. 187. 1879. 



' Clusius Hisp. 448. 1576; Hist. 2: 153. 1601. 



'Gerarde, J. Herb. ^3. 1597. 



' Martyn Miller's Card. Diet. 1807. 



Ray Hist. PI. 257. 1686. 



Mawe and Abercrombie Univ. Card. Bot. 1778. 



" Martyn Miller's Card. Diet. 1807. 



^i Card. Chron. ^H^. 1869. 



" Gerarde, J. Herb. <)g:i. 1597. 



" Dodonaeus Pempt. 726. 161 6. 



^ Bon Jard. 566. 1882. 



VilmorinLes Pis. Potag. 548. 1883 



" Burr, F. Field. Card. Veg. 94. r863. 



