544 sturtevant's notes on edible plants 



This sketch illustrates the point already made in studies of the dandelion, celery 

 and other vegetables that types of varieties have great fixity, are not produced through 

 human selection and cultivation, and, we wish we could add in this case, originated from 

 wild prototypes; but, unfortunately, there are no records of the variation observed in 

 feral or spontaneous plants. 



S. montanum Linn. 



Peru. The Peruvian Indians are stated to use the roots in soups.^ 



S. muricatum Ait. pepino. 



Chile and Peru. This is a shrubby species with egg-shaped, edible berries, which 

 are white, with purple spots, and attain a length of six inches.^ 

 S. nigrum Linn, black nightshade, common nightshade. 



Cosmopolitan. This plant, says Vilmorin, is not as yet used in France as a vege- 

 table, but, in warm' countries, the leaves are sometimes eaten as spinach.' It is men- 

 tioned by Galen * among aliments in the second century but was not cultivated in Ger- 

 many in Fuchsius' ' time, 1542, although it retained its name. Solatium hortense, perhaps 

 from its former cultivation. It is a plant of wide distribution, occurring in the northern 

 hemisphere from Sweden and the northeast of America from Hudson Bay, even to the 

 equatorial regions; as, for example, at Timor, the Galapagos, the Antilles, Abyssinia, the 

 Mascarene Isles, Mauritius, Van Diemen's Land and Chile.' It is found as a potherb 

 in the markets of Mauritius ^ and is used as a spinach in central Africa.* In China, the 

 young shoots are eaten, as also its black berries, ' and, in the Mississippi Valley, the little 

 black berries are made into pies and other pastry." 



S. quitoense Lam. 



Peru. The berries resemble in size, color and taste small oranges and are of a peculiar 

 fragrance." The Peruvians eat this fruit.''' 



S. repandum Forst. f. 



Pacific Isles. In Viti, the fruit is eaten by the natives, either in soups or with yams." 



S sessiliflorum Dun. 



Brazil. The berries are eaten in Para, where they are called cubios,^* and the leaves 

 are also eaten in Brazil.'' 



Masters, M. T. Treas. Bot. 2:1235. 1870. 

 2 Mueller, F. Sel. Pis. 462. 1891. 

 ' Vilmorin Veg. Card. 355. 1885. 

 Galen Aliment, lib. 2. Bmns. Ed. 153. 1547. 

 Fuchsius Hist. Slirp. 69. 1542. 

 De CandoUe, .'V. Geog. Bo<. 2:573. i855- 

 ' Seemann, B. Card. Chron. 622. 1861. 

 Speke, J. H. Jaurn. Disc. Source Nile 576. 1864. 

 Smith, F. P. Conlrib. Mat. Med. China 201. 1871. 

 Bessey Bot. 502. 1880. 

 " Mueller, F. Sel. Pis. 462. 1891. 

 " Masters, M. T. Treas. Bot. a: 1070. 1870. 

 "Seemann, B. Card. Chron. 697. 1861. 

 Don, G. Hist. Dichl. Pis. 4:436. 1838. 

 " Masters, M. T. Treas. Bot. 2:1070. 1870. 



