sturtevant's notes on edible plants 597 



V. villosa Roth, large Russian vetch. 



Russia. This species has been cultivated of late years with much success in several 

 parts of northern and central Europe. 



Victoria regia Lindl. Nymphaeceae. water lily, water maize. 

 Guiana. The Spaniards collect the seeds and eat them roasted.* 



Vigna catjang Walp. Leguminosae. cowpea. Jerusalem pea. marble pea. 



East Indies. This plant is cultivated in Portugal and Italy.^ In India, varieties 

 with white, brown and black seeds are cultivated.' In Martinique, the seeds are highly 

 esteemed as an article of food. In the southern states, this species has many permanent 

 varieties, as Red Cowpea, Black-eyed pea and so on. So conspicuous is this species that 

 in some localities it is made to carry the name of all others, all being referred to as the 

 cowpea.* This plant is extensively cultivated in India for its pods, which are often two 

 feet in length, contain a number of pea-like seeds, called by the Hindus chowlee, and 

 form a considerable article of food. In China, the green pods are used as a vegetable.^ 



V. glabra Savi. Chinese dolichos. clay pea. 



A native of tropical Africa; cultivated at Karagwe on the upper Nile, where it is 

 called koondii. The seeds are eaten.' This plant is commonly cultivated about Bombay 

 for its pods and pulse.' There are several varieties of this bean in India, white, red, dim, 

 green, black; they vary also greatly in size but are distingioished by their form, which 

 differs from all the other kinds in the beans being truncated at either end. ' Firminger ' 

 speaks of it, however, as a bean of indifferent quality. In China, the pods are eaten as 

 a string bean. In Egypt, it furnishes a vegetable food.'" In the Barbados, this species 

 furnishes the calavances, or red beans, of Long " and is also called Chinese dolichos and 

 clay pea.'^ The pulse is called by the Hindus chowlu, by the Chinese tow-cok. 



V. lanceolata Benth. vigna. 



Tropical and subtropical Australia. According to Mueller," the plant is available 

 for culinary purposes. 



Villaresia congonha Miers. Olacineae. 



Brazil. The leaves, dried and pulverized, are used as tea in Brazil. 



Masters, M. T. Treas. Bot. 2:1215. 1870. 

 ' Unger, F. U. S. Pat. Off. Rpt. 318. 1859. {Dolichos catjang) 

 ' Roxburgh, W. Hort. Beng. 55. 1814. 

 <Stille, J. P. West. Farm. Almanac. 1881. 

 ' Smith, J. Dom. Bot. 418. 1871. 

 ' Pickering, C. Chron. Hist. Pis. 730. 

 ' Pickering, C. Chron. Hist. Pis. 286. 

 Elliott, W. Bot. Sec. Edinb. 7:293. 

 Firminger, T. A. C. Card. Ind. 149. 

 ' Unger, F. U. S. Pat. Off. Rpt. 318. 

 " Long, E. Hist. Jam. 786. 1774. 

 " Schomburgkh, R. H. Hist. Barb. 606. 

 Mueller, F. Sel. Pis. 507. 1891. 



