ORIGIN OF CULTIVATED PLANTS. 31T 



have been obtained by the Canadian Indians from beyond the 

 Mississippi, and some degrees farther south. Judging from 

 the breadth of the flower-heads soon after its introduction into 

 Europe, it must in aboriginal hands have assumed much of 

 the abnormal development which distinguishes the cultivated 

 Sunflower from its wild original of the western plains. 



Solanum ttiberosum, L. — The question of the Potato was 

 fully discussed by De Candolle in 1855 ; and the present 

 review of it only confirms the now generally admitted conclu- 

 sions. These are summed up in the statements, that the plant 

 is spontaneous in Chili under a form quite identical with the 

 cultivated species, that its aboriginal cultivation had extended 

 as far north as New Granada, but apparently no farther ; that 

 allied tuberiferous species, which our author regards as dis- 

 tinct (though others partly doubt it) are found along the 

 Andes and through Mexico, and within the borders of the 

 United States ; that when known in Virginia and North Caro- 

 lina in the second half of the sixteenth century, it was not 

 derived from our Indians ; and that it was carried to Europe 

 first by the Spaniards between 1580 and 1585, and afterwards 

 by the English. 



Batatas vulgaris^ Choisy, Convolvulus Batatas, L., the 

 Sweet Potato, is one of a few cultivated plants which have at- 

 tained to a very wide distribution over the warmer parts of the 

 world in early times ; and it is one which no botanist pre- 

 tends to have seen in a truly wild state. The evidence inclines 

 to an American origin ; but it had reached the Pacific islands 

 in prehistoric times, and was cultivated in China in the second 

 or third century of our era. De Candolle states that — 



" Clusius, one of the first to speak of the Batatas, says that 

 he had eaten it in the south of Spain, where it was said to 

 have come from the New World. He indicates the names of 

 ' Batatas,' ' Amotes,' ' Ajes.' " 



The testimony of Clusius (L'Ecluse) to the American origin 

 of the Sweet Potato, though not of the highest value, might 

 be more strongly stated. He visited Spain and Portugal in 

 1566. The first edition of his " Historia Rariorum Stirpium " 

 was printed in 1576, and contains the description of Batatas, 



