10 
XV.—ARRACACHA. 
(Arracacia esculenta, De Candolle.) 
The — is a valuable esculent common in the high lands of 
of growth resembles the common parsnip. It is called in Spanish Apio 
from its resemblance to the celery, as a substitute for which the blanched 
shoots can be used. The root is a fleshy tuber of large size, bearing 
numerous knots or tubers on the outside, 
Of these the shoots on the upper surface inclining upwards give off 
leafy growths, marked about the base with horizontal rings bearing 
membranous sheaths, which afterwards wither away. ‘These shoots when 
ipe can be broken away from the parent tuber and form new sets for 
other 
at the extremity. Their surface is nearly smooth, covered with a thin 
skin, marked across with transverse scars, like the roots of carrots, ‘These 
underground shoots are called Azjos (sons), and are the edible portions 
of the root, being more tender and more delicate in flavour than the main 
root or madre mother). 
The stem is 2 to 4 feet high, often streaked with purple. The leaves, 
rising directly from the root with long peticles, are deeply and irregularly 
pinnatifid. They are dark green and shinin a age beneath. The 
wers borne in umbels are of two kinds; t n the entre are imper 
fect or bear stamens only, and have a flat disk i in ies cen sth re. 
e origin of this plant is uncertain. It is generally cultivated in 
Venezuela, New Granada, and Ecuador as a nutritious food plant. 
De Candolle states that “the species is probably indigenous in the 
“« region where it is cultivated, but I do not find in any author a 
“ positive assertion of the fact. The existing descriptions are drawn 
w mon cultivated specimens.” 
‘ The best information about the cultivation of this plant was given 
“ by Dr. Bancroft to Sir William Hooker, and may be found in the 
“ Botanical Magazine, tab. 3,092. A. Pde Candolle published in 
La 5° Notice sur les Plantes Rares des Jardin Bot. de Genève an 
“ illustration showing the principal bulb.’ 
From notes supplied to Kew in October 1882 by Mr. D. Morr 
who had cultivated the Arracacha at Jamaiva, we find that it is propağitéd 
either from seed or from P seta” fhe latter being offshoots from the 
main stem, which are freely produced, i grow with great facility. 
The valuable part of the plant is the roo Duri ng aad this gives 
ise to a number of small tubers or “ anera eight or ten in number. 
The largest are from 8 to 9 inches in length, and about 2 inches in 
diameter. They are yellow or white in colour, with a smooth surface, 
and marked, like the carrot, with transverse scars. At Bogota, the 
main root is styled the madre, while the young edible tubercles or 
fingers are called Aijos (or sons). The younger fingers are con- 
sidered the best, the older ones being fibrous and strongly flavoured. 
s in almost any “soil ; ; it prefers, grèt rich cool 
hollows, and in such Aeri > most prolific, It wi n grow in stiff 
clay so oils, as well as in those of a light sandy clita: bat under such 
circumstances the yield is a a so great, At the Government Cinchona 


