3i8 ORIGIN OF CULTIVATED PLANTS. 



The earliest travellers in Madagascar remarked this 

 leguminous annual, cultivated by the natives for the pod 

 or seed, dressed like peas, French beans, etc It resembles 

 the earth, particularly in that the flower- stem curves 

 downwards, and plunges the young fruit or pod into the 

 earth. Its cultivation is common in the gardens of 

 tropical Africa, and it is found, but less frequently, in 

 those of Southern Asia.^ It seems that it is not much 

 grown in America,^ except in Brazil, where it is called 

 TTuindubi di Angola.^ 



Early writers on Asia do not mention it ; its origin 

 must, therefore, be sought in Africa. Loureiro* had 

 seen it on the eastern coast of this continent, and Petit 

 Thouars in Madagascar, but they do not say that it 

 was wild. The authors of the flora of Senegambia^ 

 described it as " cultivated and probably wild " in Galam. 

 Lastly, Schweinfurth and Ascherson^ found it wild on 

 the banks of the Nile from Khartoum to Gondokoro. In 

 spite of the possibility of naturalization from cultivation, 

 it is extremely probable that the plant is wild in tropical 

 Africa. 



Buckwheat — Polygonum fagopyrum, Linnaeus ; Fago- 

 pyruTn esculentum, Moench. 



The history of this species has been completely cleared 

 up in the last few years. It grows wild in Mantschuria, 

 on the banks of the river Amur,'' in Dahuria, and near 

 Lake Baikal.^ It is also indicated in China and in the 

 mountains of the north of India,^ but I do not find that 

 in these regions its wild character is certain. Roxburgh 



• Sir J. Hooker, Flora of Brit. Ind., ii. p. 205 ; Miquel, Fl, Indo- 

 Batava, i. p. 175. 



' Linnseua, innr., Becad., ii. pi. 19, seems to have confounded this 

 plant with Arachis, and he gives, perhaps because of this error, 

 Voandzeia as cultivated at his time in Surinam. Modem writers oa 

 America either have not seen it or have omitted to mention it. 



' Qardenei's Chromcle, Sept. 4, ISSO. 



• Loureiro, Fl. Cochin,, ii. p. 523. 



° Guillemin, Perottet, Richard, Fl, Benegambia Tentamen, p. 254, 



• Aufzahlung, p. 259. 



' Maximowicz, Primitiae Fl. Amur., p. 236. 



" Ledebour, Fl. Boss., iii. 517. 



' Meissner, in Do Candolle, Pro'dr., xiv. p. 143. 



