558 sturtevant's notes on edible plants 



S. carthaginensis Cav. 



Tropical America. The seeds are called chica by the Brazilians and panama by the 

 Panamanians and are commonly eaten by the inhabitants as nuts.' 



S. chicha A. St. Hil. chica. 



Brazil. The inhabitants of Goyaz eat the almonds, which are of an agreeable taste. 



S. diversifolia G. Don. bottle tree. 



A tree of tropical Australia. The seeds are eaten and the taproots are used, when 

 young, as an article of food by the natives.' 



S. foetida Linn. 



Old World tropics. Rheede * says its fruit is edible. Graham * says, at Bombay, 

 the seeds are roasted and eaten like chestnuts. Mason ' says, in Burma, its seeds are 

 eaten like filberts. Blanco says its seeds are eaten in the Philippines. 



S. guttata Roxb. 



Tropical India. The seeds are eaten by the natives of Bombay. 



S. rupestris Benth. bottle tree. 



Northeastern Australia. The trunk of this tree bulges out in the form of a barrel. 

 The stem abounds in a mucilaginous or resinous substance resembling gum tragacanth, 

 which is wholesome and nutritious and is said to be used as an article of food by the 

 aborigines in cases of extreme need.^ 



S. scaphigera Wall. 



Burma and Malay. The seeds when macerated in water swell into a large, gelatinous 

 mass. This jelly is valued by the Siamese and Chinese, who sweeten it and use it as 

 a delicacy. 



S. tomentosa Guill. & Perr. 



Equatorial Africa. The seeds are eaten in famines,* 



S. urens Roxb. 



East Indies. The seeds are roasted and eaten by Gonds and Kurkiirs in Central 

 India, according to Brandis.' The plant yields a gimi like gxmi tragacanth, and the seeds, 

 according to Drury," are roasted and eaten and also made into a kind of coffee. 



Stereospermum zylocarpum Benth. & Hook. f. Bignoniaceae. 

 East Indies. Its tender pods are eaten." 



'Smith, A. Treas. Bot. 2: logT. 1870. 



Black, A. A. Treas. Bot. 1:162. 1870. (BrachychiUm populneum) 



'Rtieede Hort. Malabar. 4:75 t. 36. 1750. 



* Pickering, C. Chron. Hist. Pis. 332. 1879. 

 ' Ibid. 



Ibid. 



' Black, A. A. Treas. Bot. 1:389. 1870. {Delabeckea rupestris) 

 ' Pickering, C. Chron. Hist. Pis, 269. 1879. 

 'Brandis, D. Forest Fl. 34. 1874. 

 ' Pickering, C. Chron. Hist. Pis. 333. 1879. 

 " Pickering, C. Chron. Hist. Pis. 739. 1879. {Bignonia xylocarpa) 



