540 STURTEVANT S NOTES ON EDIBLE PLANTS 



Solanum aethiopicum Linn. Solanaceae. golden apple, love apple. 



Asia and tropical Africa; cultivated there and elsewhere for its edible berries, 

 which are large, red, globular and uneven. The fruits are eaten in China, Japan and in 

 Egypt. 



S. angtiivi Lam. Madagascar potato. 



Madagascar. The small, red, glabrous berries are eaten.' 



S. aviculare Forst. f. kangaroo apple. 



New Zealand, Australia and Tasmania. The fruit is eaten by the islanders of the 

 Pacific.^ The greenish-yellow berry, the size of a plum, is edible but acerb unless fully 

 ripe.' The berries lose their unpleasant acidity only after they have dropped in full 

 maturity from the branches, and then their taste resembles, in some degree, Physalis 

 peruviana, to which they are also similar in size.* The native tribes eagerly collect the 

 fruit as an article of food. 



S. can Molina. 



Chile. This is a distinct species of potato which has been long cultivated in Chile 

 but is still unknown not only in Europe but also in Quito and Mexico 



S. commersonii Dun. 



Valparaiso to Buenos Aires. The species resembles the common potato.* 



S. elaeagnifolium Cav. 



Tropical America. The Mexicans use the fruit for curdling milk and, according to 

 Dr. Gregg, call it trompillo.*. 



S. fendleri A. Gray. 



This species is fovind growing in great abundance in northern New Mexico. The 

 tuber is one of the chief articles of winter diet with the Navajo Indians. These tubers 

 are quite small, one-half to three-quarters of an inch in diameter, of a good taste and are 

 somewhat like a boiled chestnut. This species has been suggested as the original of the 

 cultivated potato, but the history of the cultivated potato is against this theory.' 



S. gilo Raddi. 



Brazil. The plant is much cultivated for its large, spherical, orange-colored berries, 

 which are eatable. * 



S. maccai Dun. 



Guiana. The red, globose berry is edible.' 



> Don, G. Hist. Dichl. Pis. 4:437. 1838. 



Unger, F. U. S. Pat. Off. Rpt. 337. 1859- 



' Masters, M. T. Treas. Bot. 2:1071. 1870. (5. lacinialum) 



* Hooker, W. J. Journ. Bot. 8:338. 1856. 

 DeCandoUe, A. Geog. Bot. 814. 1855. 



Torrey, J. Bot. U. S. Mex. Bound. Sunt. 2:152. 1859. 

 ''U.S. D. A. Rpt. ^(y). 1870. 

 Mueller, F. Sd. Pis. ^(>o. 1891. 



Don, G. Hist. Dichl. Pis. 4:431. 1838. 



