STURTEVANT S NOTES ON EDIBLE PLANTS 537 



McMahon.' The rcx)t is composed of fleshy tubers about the size of the little finger and, 

 formerly more than now, was esteemed when boiled as among the sweetest, whitest and 

 most pleasant of roots. Mcintosh ^ says skirret is much used in French cookery. Skirret 

 seed appears for sale in American catalogs. 



This plant seems to have been unknown to the ancients; certainly no mention can 

 be fotmd of an umbellifer with grouped and divergent roots, the peculiarity of skirret 

 alone among European cultivated plants of this order. In the sixteenth century, the 

 name siser ^as applied to the carrot as well as to skirret : as, by Camerarius,' who describes 

 siser, the sisaron of the Greeks, as a skirret ; and siser alterum, Italian carota bianca, German 

 gierlin, Spanish chirivia, French chervy or girolle or carotte blanche, as a carrot; other 

 illustrations of this period and earlier might be given. Fuchsius,^ 1542, figures skirret, 

 as does also Ruellius,* 1550. Tragus,* 1552, and many others after this time. Skirret 

 was well known in Europe as a plant of culture at this period. It perhaps came, says 

 De Candolle,' from Siberia to Russia and thence into Germany. Skirret is not named by 

 Turner,* 1538, but is in 1551.' In 1570, the Adversaria gives the English name as scyrret. 



Sloanea dentata Linn. Tiliaccac. 



Brazil and Guiana. The species yields an edible fruit." 



Smilacina racemosa Desf. Liliaceae. false spikenard, treacle-berry. 



Siberia and northeast North America. The berries are pale red, speckled with 

 purple and are aromatic." Wood *^ mentions this among edible wild fruits. Josselyn '' 

 says it is called " treacle-berries, having the perfect taste of treacle when they are ripe 

 and will keep good for a long while. Certainly a very wholesome berry and medicinal." 



Smilax china Linn. Liliaceae. china-root. 



China, Cochin China and Japan. The rootstocks are eaten by the Chinese on 

 account of the abundance of the starch.'* 



S. glyciphylla Sm. sarsaparilla. sweet tea plant. 

 Australia. The leaves are used as tea.'* 



' McMahon, B. Amer. Card. Cal. 583. 1806. 

 ' Mcintosh, C. Book Card. 2: 22<). 1855. 

 ' Camerarius />!/. 226, 227. 1586, 

 * Fuchsius Hist. Stirp. 752. 1542. 

 ' Dioscorides Ruellius Ed. 239. 1550. 

 ' Tragus .Stirp. 91 1. 1552. 

 ' De Candolle, A. Orig. Pis. Cult. 39. 1885. 

 ' Turner iifteMwi. 1538. 

 Baiihin, C. Pinax 155. 1623. 

 > Unger, F. U. S. Pat. Off. Rpt. 315. 1859. 

 " Gray, A. Man. Bat. 530. 1868. 

 " Wood, W. New Eng. Prosp. 15. 1865. 

 "Josselyn, J. New Eng. Rar. 87, note. 1865. Orig. 1672. 

 " Lindley, J. Med. Econ. Bot. 64. 1849. 

 "Masters, M. T. Treas. Bot. 2:1066. 1870. 



