80 ORIGIN OF CULTIVATED PLANTS. 



confusion he made between the manioc and the yam. 

 D. Cliffortiana, Lam., grows wild in Peru^ and in 

 Brazil,^ but it is not proved to be cultivated. Presl says 

 verosimiliter colitur, and the Flora Brasiliensis does 

 not mention cultivation. 



The species chiefly cultivated in French Guiana, 

 according to Sagot,* is Dioscorea triloba, Lam., called 

 Indian yam, which is also common in Brazil and 

 the West India Islands. The common name argues a 

 native origin, whereas another, species, I), cayennensis, 

 Kunth, also cultivated in Guiana, but under the name of 

 negro-country yam, was most likely brought from Africa, 

 an opinion the more probable that Sir W. Hooker likens 

 a yam cultivated in Africa on the banks of the Nun and 

 the Quorra,* to D. cayennensis. Lastly, the free yam 

 of Guiana is, according to Dr. Sagot, D. alata introduced 

 from the Malay Archipelago, and Polynesia. 



In Africa there are fewer indigenous Dloscorcce than 

 in Asia and America, and the culture of yams is less 

 widely spread. On the west coast, according to Thon- 

 ning,^ only one or two species are cultivated ; Loekhardt* 

 only saw one in Congo, and that only in one locality. 

 Bojer'' mentions four cultivated species in Mauritius, 

 which are, he says, of Asiatic origin, and one, D. hvl- 

 hifera, Lam., from India, if the name be correct. He 

 asserts that it came from Madagascar^ and has spread 

 into the woods beyond the plantations; In Mauritius 

 it bears the name Cambare marrort. Now, camhare 

 is something like the Hindu name kam, and marron 

 (marroon) indicates a plant escaped from cultivation. 

 The ancient Egyptians cultivated no yams, which argues 

 a cultivation less ancient in India than that of the colo- 

 casia. Forskal and Delile mention no yams cultivated 

 in Egypt at the present day. 



To sum up : several Dioscorece wild in Asia (especially 



' Haente, in Presl, Rel, p. 133. * Martina, Fl. Bras., v. p. 43. 



• Sagot, Bull. Soc. Bot. France, 1871, p. 305. 

 ' Hooker, Fl. Nigrit, p. 53. 



* Sohumacjier and Thonning, Besk. Chiin, p. 447. 



° Brown, Congo, p. 49. ' Bojer, Hortus Mauritianua. 



