246 DeCandolle’s Origin of Cultivated Plants. 
been obtained by the Canadian Indians from beyond the Mis- 
sissippi, and some degrees farther south. Judging from the 
breadth of the flower-heads soon after its introduction into 
Kurope, it must in aboriginal hands have assumed much 0 
the abnormal development which distinguishes the cultivated 
Sunflower from its wild original of the western plains. 
Solanum tuberosum L.—The question of the Potato was 
and that it was carried to Hurope first by the Spaniards between 
1580 and 1585, and afterwards by the Englisb. 
Batatas vulgaris Choisy, Oonvolvulus Batatas L., the Sweet 
Potato, is one of a few cultivated plants which have attained 
to a very wide distribution over the warmer parts of the world 
in early times; and it is one which no botanist pretends to 
have seen in a truly wild state. The evidence inclines to an 
American origin; but it had reached the Pacific islands in pre 
historic times, and was cultivated in China in the second or 
third century of our era. DeCandolle 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. 
DeCandolle cites from. the edition of 1601. He gives 4 
p 
American origin, not as a doubtful matter or with a “l’on pre- 
tendait,” but as a well established fact: “Sponté nascitur 12 
novo orbe, vicinisque insulis, unde primum in Hispaniam delata 
est.” “Now,” dds, i 
aE A ga Oe nal ye ee eee ee NE 
