532 STURTEVANT S NOTES ON EDIBLE PLANTS 



yated as an article of food, also for its oil. This oil, which is largely exported from British 

 India and Formosa, is an excellent salad oil ; it is used in Japan for cooking fish. In China, 

 the species is extensively ctxltivated for the seeds to be used in confectionery.' During 

 a famine in Rajputana, the press-refuse was sold at a high price for food. This seems 

 to be the species, which is usqd by the negroes of South Carolina, who parch the seeds 

 over the fire, boil them in broths, and use them in puddings. 



Sesame was cultivated for its oil in Babylonia in the days of Herodotus and Strabo, 

 also in Egj'pt in the time of Theophrastus, Dioscorides and Pliny. Its culture in Italy 

 is mentioned by Columella, Pliny and Palladius. The seeds are used as a food by the 

 Hindus, after being parched and ground into a meal which is called, in Arabic, rehshee. 

 The expressed oil has a pleasant taste and is also used in cookery. In Japan, sesame 

 is highly esteemed,' but Miss Bird ' says the use of this oil in frying is answerable for one 

 of the most horrific smells in Japan. In China also, the oil is used.'* In Greece, the seeds 

 are made into cakes.* 



Sesbania cavanillesii S. Wats. Leguminosae. 



Mexico. The seeds are used as a substitute for coffee.* 



S. grandifiora Poir. vegetable humming-bird. 



East Indies, Malay and Australia. Its flower, says La Billardiere,' is the largest of 

 that of any of the leguminous plants, of a beautiful white, or sometimes red color, and the 

 natives of Amboina often eat it dressed, and occasionally even raw, as a salad. About 

 Bombay, the plant is cultivated for its large flowers and pods, both of which are eaten 

 by the natives.' The pods are upwards of a foot long, compressed, four sided, and the 

 tender leaves, pods and flowers are eaten as a vegetable in India.' In Burma, this is 

 a favorite vegetable with the natives," and, in the Philippines, its flowers are cooked and 

 eaten." In the West Indies the flower is not used as a food but is called, at Martinique, 

 vegetable humming-bird.*' 



Sesuvium portulacastrum Linn. Ficoideae. samphire, seaside purslane. 



Common on the sandy shores of the tropical and warm regions of the Western Hemi- 

 sphere. Sloane " says this plant is pickled in Jamaica and eaten as English samphire. 

 Royle ** says the succvdent leaves are used as a potherb. 



' Smith, F. P. Coiitrib. Mat. Med. China 195. 1871. 



2.\inslie, W. Mat. Med. 2:23^. 1826. 



'Bird Unheal. Tracks Jap. 1:176. 1881. 



* Lunan, J. Ilort. Jam. 2:251. 1814. 



' Ainslie, W. Mat. Med. 2:^55. 1826. 



"Havard, V. Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus. 500. 18S5. 



'La Billardiere Voy. Recherche Perouse 1:357. 1759. 



' Pickering, C. Chron. Hist. Pis. 699. 1879. 



9 Brandis, D. Forest Ft. 138. 1876" 

 "> Pickering, C. Chron. Hist. Pis. 699. 1879. 

 Ibid. 



" Berlanger Tmnj. N. Y. Agr. Soc. 568. 1858. {.igati grandifiora) 

 " Lunan, J. Hort. Jam. 2:157. 1814. 

 " Royle, J. P. Jllustr. Bot. Himal. 1:223. '839. 



