318 The American Naturalist. [April, 
dondury, N. H., and at Salem, about 1762." In 1779, however, 
potatoes were among the Indian foods destroyed by Gen. Sulli- 
van” during his invasion into Western New York. 
This plant has secured a wide distribution, and has been suc- 
cessfully cultivated throughout nearly the whole world. Its 
northern limits are in Norway, 71° 7’; in Russia, the Pinega 
River, 65°; Turukansk, 65°; Yakutsk, shores of the Okotsk 
Sea, Kamchatka, Kadjah Island, Sitka Island; Mackenzie River, 
65°; Canada, Labrador, 58° 45’; Greenland.” 
The modern names for the potato are: In France, pomme de 
terre, parmentiere, tartauffe, tartufie, etc.; in Germany, kartoffe ; 
in Flanders and Holland, aard appel ; in Denmark, jordepeeren ; 
in Italy, patata ; in Spain and Portugal, patatas ; in es 
America, papa ;* in Norway, potet ;” in India, wvlaetee aloo ;* 
in Telinga, a/u-guddalu ; in Ceylon, rata-tnnala ;* by the Malays, 
ubi bungala;” in Sra at Pekin, skan-yas-tou ; in southern 
China, ho-lan-shu.* 
PUMPKIN. Cucurbita Sp. 
See under squash. 
PURSLANE. Portulaca oleracea L. 
Common purslane is a weed of the garden, and has spread 
over nearly the whole world. Whether originally an American 
plant is in doubt, but certain it is that plants called purslane were 
seen by the early visitors to the American coast. The cultivated 
purslane differs from the wild in being erect, and Hooker found 
28 Felt's Annals of Salem, II., 146. 
29 Conover’s Early Hist. of Geneva, 1880, 45. 
30 Bergman. Nature Aug. 21, 1884, 392. 
*t Vilmorin. Les PL Pot, Dr For Germany, see Die Deutschen Volksnamen du 
33 Speede. Ind. Handb. of Gard., 136. 
% Birdwood. Veg. Prod. of Bomb., 174. 
35 Treas. of Bot., 1186, 
3 Bretschneider. On the Study, etc., 17. 
