INVENTORY.^ 



53896 to 53908. 



From Sibpur, near Calcutta, India. Seeds presented by G. G. Lane, curator. 

 Royal Botanic Garden, through Lieut. Col. A. T. Gage, director, Botanical 

 Survey of India. Received July 7, 1921. 



The following vegetables, requested for experimental work on food for dia- 

 betics, are used for food in India according to Watt, Dictionary of the Economic 

 Products of India, from which the notes that follow are adapted. 



53896. Amaranthus gangeticus L. Amaranthacere. Amaranth. 



A small annual, common in Bengal and Assam and now extensively 

 cultivated in many parts of the world as a green vegetable. The leaves 

 and tender stalks are made into a curry by all classes of natives. The 

 young stems are sometimes used as a substitute for asparagus on the 

 English table. (Vol. 1, p. 212.) 



For previous introduction, see S. P. I. No. 34457. 



53897. Amaeanthus paniculatus L. Amaranthacese. Amaranth. 



A heavily fruiting, short-season crop, one of the most important 

 sources of food to the hill tribes of India. Although, no doubt, the young 

 tops are to a certain extent eaten as a vegetable, the small seed is the 

 product for which it is cultivated. (Vol. 1, p. 211.) 



For previous introduction, see S. P. I. No. 44178. 



53898. Chenopodium album L. Chenopodiacese. 



A plant common throughout the tropic and temperate Himalayas, 

 ascending to 12 000 feet from Kashmir to Sikkim and to 14,000 feet in 

 Tibet; it is general in the plains of India. This plant is cultivated by 

 the hill tribes on the higher western Himalayas, and the wild plant is 

 also regularly collected and eaten as a potherb and green vegetable. 

 The seed of the cultivated plant is the principal product, but the leaves 

 and twigs are also eaten as a spinach. It is entirely a rain crop, and 

 attains a height of 6 feet. The leaves are rich in mineral matter, par- 

 ticularly potash salts. They likewise contain a considerable quantity of 

 albuminoids and other compounds of nitrogen. The seeds are said to 

 be superior to buckwheat. (Vol. 2, p. 265.) 



For previous introduction, see S. P. I. No. 51214. 



53899 to 53901. Cucumis melo L. Cucurbitaceae. Muskm.elon. 



53899. Stceet melon. An herbaceous climber, said to be native to 

 northwestern India, Baluchistan, and west tropical Africa ; exten- 

 sively cultivated for its fruit in the sandy basins of rivers. The 

 fruit is round, green or yellowish, the skin covered with a network 

 of raised brown lines. The fruit is eaten uncooked in a variety of 



1 It should be understood that the varietal names of fruits, vegetables, cereals, and 

 other plants used in these Inventories are those which the material bore when received 

 by tlie Office of Foreign Seed and Plant Introduction and, further, that the printing of 

 such names here does not constitute their official publication and adoption in this coun- 

 try. As the different varieties are studied, their identity fully established, their en- 

 trance into the American trade forecast, and the use of varietal names for them in 

 American literature becomes necessary, the foreign varietal designations appearing in 

 these inventories will in many cases undoubtedly be changed by the specialists interested 

 in the various groups of plants and the forms of the names brought into harmony with 

 recognized American codes of nomenclature. 



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