STURTEVANT S NOTES ON EDIBLE PLANTS 577 



piilp. The berry, like an orange in miniature, says Mason, is often found in Chinese 

 preserves. Firminger ' says, in India, the fruit is of the size of a large currant. It has 

 a stone surrounded by a small quantity of pvdp, juicy and of an agreeable, aniseed-like 

 flavor. The plant is cultivated in the East and West Indies. The fruits, says A. Smith,^ 

 are about as large as hazelnuts and have a red skin. When ripe they have an agreeable 

 taste but, if gathered green, they have a strong flavor of turpentine and the pulp is very 

 sticky. They are sometimes preserved whole in syrup and are occasionally sent to 

 England. 



Tripsacum dactyloides Linn. Gramineae. buffalo grass. 



Central and North America. Mueller ' says the seeds are available for food. 



Triticum bicome Forsk. Gramineae. spelt. 



Egypt and SjTia. The name spelt s g ven generally to all wheats in which the grain 

 adheres to the chaff. Spelt is little cultivated except in the warmer districts of south- 

 eastern Europe and the African and Asiatic shores of the Mediterranean. This appears 

 to be botanically the same species as the T. hicorne of Forskahl's Egyptian Flora. 



T. dicoccum Schrank. emmer. German wheat, two-grained wheat. 



Europe; of ancient cultivation and, according to Unger,* the zeia dipokpos of 

 Dioscorides. Emmer is grown in southern Europe more than in central Europe. 



T. monococctun Linn, kussemeth. lesser spelt, one-grained wheat. 



Greece and Asia Minor. This is the kussemeth of the Scriptures From it the 

 Syrians and Arabians make their bread. Its cultivation has not extended to India, Egypt 

 or Greece.* In its wild state, says Bentham ' this species has been described under the 

 name of Crithodium aegilopoides. The produce of lesser spelt is too small to be of any 

 importance except in very poor soils. 



T. polonicum Linn, polish wheat. 



Polish wheat is cultivated in the warmer regions of Europe.' 



T. spelta Linn, spelt. 



Some think this to be the grain called olura or zeia or zea by the ancient Greeks. * Spelt 

 is at present cultivated to a small extent in Europe. It was seen by Alexander the Great ' 

 as a cultivated plant in his campaign in Pontus. Its origin in Mesopotamia and Hamadam, 

 in Persia, is doubtful; especially as its cultivation in these covmtries cannot be carried 

 back to any very remote antiquity. 



Firminger, T. A. C. Card. Ind. 217. 1874. 



' Smith, A. Treas. Bot. 2: 1173. 1870. (T. trifoUata) 



Mueller, P. Sd. Pis. 489. 1891. 



Unger, F. U. S. Pat. Off. Rpt. 304. 1859. (T. amyleum) 

 Ibid. 



Morton Cyc. Agr. 3:1005. 1869. 



' Unger, F. U. S. Pat. Off. Rpt. 304. 1859. 



DeCandoUe, A. Geog. Bot. 2:933. 1855. 



De Candolle, A. Geog. Bot. 3:934. '855. 



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