598 STURTEV ant's notes on edible plants 



\^ola odorata Linn. Violarieae. violet. 



Europe, Africa and northern Asia. This violet is esteemed by the Egyptians and 

 Turks for use in sorbet, which they make of violet sugar dissolved in water. 



V. palmata Linn, violet, wild okra. 



Eastern North America. The plant is mucilaginous and is employed by negroes in 

 the southern United States for making soup and is called wild okra.' 



Vitex cienkowskii Kotschy & Peyr. Verbenaceae. 



Tropical Africa. The sweet, olive-shaped fruit, says Schweinfurth,* is relished exceed- 

 ingly by the natives of central Africa. 



V. doniana Sweet. 



Tropical Africa. The fruit is eatable, says Sabine,' but is inferior to both the sugar 

 and yellow plums of .that country. 



\^tis acetosa F. Muell. Ampelideae. Australian grape. 



Australia. The stems are herbaceous rather than shrubby, erect. The whole plant 

 is pervaded with acidity and proves valimble in cases of scurvy. The berries are 

 edible.* 



V. acida Chapm. 



South America and West Indies. The whole plant has an acid taste.* 



V. adnata Wall. 



Asia and Australian tropics. The acid leaves are eaten.' 



V. aestivalis Michx. bunch grape, pigeon grape, summer grape. 



^Eastern America. The berries are pleasant and the flowers fragrant. This grape is 

 referred to by Wood ^ in his New England's Prospects as the " smaller kinde of grape 

 which groweth in the Islands, which is sooner ripe and more delectable." As it occurs 

 wild, it presents many varieties in its fruit and has produced, according to William Savm- 

 ders,* the ctiltivated forms known as Lenoir, Herbemont, Devereaux, Alvey, Cynthiana 

 and Norton's Virginia; according to Ravenel, Clinton and Delaware. This species was 

 introduced into England in 1656.9 



V. africana Spreng. 



Tropical Africa. The berries are black and eatable.'" 



' Porcher, F. P. Res. So. Fields, Forests 80. 1869. 



' Schweinfurth, G. Heart Afr. 1:221. 1874. 



Sabine, J. Tratis. Hort. Soc. Lond. S'-455- 1824. {V.umbrosa) 



< Mueller, P. Sel. Pis. 508. 1891. 



'Don, G. Hist. Dichl. Pis. 1 :6gi. 1831. (Cissus acida) 



Unger, P. U. S. Pat. Off. Rpt. 359. 1859. (Cissus latifolia) 



'Wood, W. New Eng. Prosp. 20. 1865. 



Saunders, W. Amer. Pom. Soc. 70. 1879. 



Loudon, J. C. Arb. Frut. Brit, i:\y9. 1854. 



"Don, G. Hist. Dichl. Ph. i:6g4. 1831. (Ampelopsis botria) 



