6o8 STURTEVANT S NOTES ON EDIBLE PLANTS 



Z. tenuis Willd. 



Bahama Islands. The plant yields from its tmnk a ptire starch, used as a fine arrow- 

 root in the Bahamas. 



2^thoxylum alatum Roxb. Rutaceae. 



Himalayas and China. This is a small tree, the fruits of which are used in China 

 as well as in India as a condiment.* Its aromatic capsules are used as a condiment in 

 India.* 



Z. budnmga Wall. 



Himalayas and Burma. The capsules are used for their warm, spicy, pepper-like 

 pungency.' 



Z. piperitum DC. 



China and Japan. The bark, leaves and fruits are used as a spice.* 



Z. rhetsa DC. 



East Indies. The unripe capsvdes are like small berries and are gratefully aromatic, 

 tasting like the peel of a fresh orange.* The seeds are used as a condiment in Malabar.* 

 On the Coromandel Mountains, its aromatic bark is put in food as a condiment, and its 

 seeds are used as a pepper substitute.' 



Zea mays Linn. Gratnineae. corn, maize. 



Tropical America. The earliest record of maize is in the Popol Vuh, the sacred book 

 of the Quicke Indians of western Guatemala, whose records extend back to the eighth 

 century. In the Popol Vuh the legend runs: " In Paxil, or Cayala (land of divided 

 and stagnant waters) as it is called, were the ears of yellow maize and of white. These 

 are the names of the barbarians who went to seek food- the Fox, the Jackal, the Paroquet 

 and the Crow four barbarians who made known to them the ears of the white maize 

 and of the yellow, who came to Paxil and guided them thither. There it was they 

 obtained at last the food that was to enter into the flesh of man, of man created and 

 formed; this it was that was his blood, that became the blood of man this maize that 

 entered into him by the provision of him who creates, of him who gives being. And they 

 rejoiced that they had at last arrived in this most excellent land, so fidl of good things, 

 where the white and yellow maize did abotmd, also the cacao, where were sapotes and 

 many fruits and honey ; all was overflowing with the best of food in this country of Paxil, 

 or Cayala. There was food of every kind; there were large and small plants, to which 

 the barbarians had guided them. Then they began to grind the yellow and white maize 

 and of them did Xmucane make nine drinks, which nourishment was the begiiming of 



Hanbury, D. Set. Papers 230. 1876. 

 'Royle, J. F. Illustr. Boi. Himal. 1:157. 1839. 

 Ibid. 



*Don, G. Hist. Dichl. Pis. 1:802. 1831. 

 Wight, R. Illustr. Ind. Bot. 1:168. 1840. 



Pickering, C. Chron. Hist. Pis. 522. 187Q. 

 ' Ibid. 



