Edible Products. 



496 



[June, 1910, 



must have originated in the Pacific 

 islands or the Malay region. The same 

 argument has been applied to the coco- 

 nut palm, which is certainly a native 

 of America, though it has usually been 

 ascribed to the shores of the Pacific and 

 Indian oceans because of its much 

 greater importance in the Bast Indies 

 than in the West. 



The domestication of root crops char- 

 acterised an early epoch in the develop- 

 ment of primitive agriculture in tro- 

 pical America. This is shown by the 

 large series of root crops that were 

 domesticated in America. In addition 

 to the cultivated avoids, there were 

 sweet-potatoes (tpomcea), arrowroot 

 (Maranta), cassava (Manihot), yams 

 (Dioscorea alata), apio (An acacia), 

 Ileren (Calathsea), potatoes (Solarium 

 tuberosum, S. cominersoni, and other spe- 

 cies), ullucus (Ulkicus tuberosus), achira 

 (Canna edulis), rnasua (Tropceolum 

 tuberosum), oca (Oxalis crenata), and the 

 Jerusalem artichoke (Helianthus tubero- 

 sus). The yam bean or jicama (Pachyri- 

 zus) and the chayote (Ohayota or Se- 

 chium) were also grown as root crops, 

 though propagated from seeds. 



In addition to this series of plants 

 that have become known as root crops 

 and are usually mentioned as such in 

 botanical works of reference, there are 

 records of several other species that 

 are planted as root crops in South 

 America. A list of these has been 

 collected recently by Prof. H. Pittier, 

 of the Bureau of Plant Industry, includ- 

 ing Polymnia edulis, Lepidium meyenii, 

 Portulaca grandiflora, and several other 

 plants whose botanical names and agri- 

 cultural possibilities are still unknown. 



The root crops that were domesticated 

 in America stand in distinct contrast with 

 Old World root crops, both in number and 

 in character. The species cultivated in 

 the Old World were relatively few, 

 mostly the seed-propagated garden 

 vegetables of temperate regions, such 

 as radishes, turnips, beets, parsnip?, 

 carrots, etc. The temperate root crops 

 domesticated in the Old World were 

 mostly capable of being eaten raw, as 

 though they had been used first by 

 people unaccustomed to use fire for 

 cooking vegetables. The root crops that 

 were domesticated in America are not 

 eaten raw by the natives. Many of 

 them are disagreeably acrid in the raw 

 state like the aroids, or even positively 

 poisonous like the cassava. Veiy few 

 new types of plants appear to have been 

 domesticated as root crops in the Old 

 World Tropics, and none of them liav.; 

 attained the prominence of several of 



the American species. The banana 

 appears to have been domesticated first 

 as a root crop, and some of the varieties 

 are still cultivated tor their root-stocks 

 in New California and in East Africa. 



The greater antiquity of the domes- 

 tication of plants in America is to 

 be inferred from the fact that many 

 of the cultivated species are not known 

 in the wild state, while in the Old World 

 there are very few species, if any, 

 that do not have wild representatives 

 that still appear closely similar to the 

 domesticated forms. In the case of the 

 yautias the American natiyity is clearly 

 indicated by the wild species of Xan- 

 thosoma. One of these grows abund- 

 antly in Guatemala, and is eaten by 

 the natives iu times of scarcity of other 

 food. Yautias are also cultivated in 

 Guatemala, but rather sparingly, Indian 

 corn being the chief staple in all parts 

 of the country. The varieties of Xan- 

 thosoma cultivated in Guatemala ap- 

 pear quite distinct from the common 

 wild species. The wild plant is larger 

 and has a lighter green foliage, and 

 the not-stoeks that provide for the 

 vegetative propagation of the plant are 

 very slender, only about the diameter 

 of an ordinary lead pencil, instead of 

 the large, fleshy, tuberous root-stocks 

 produced by the cultivated sorts. This 

 wild species has a considerable similarity 

 to the variety cultivated in Porto Rico 

 under the name " yautia palma," but 

 has a shorter and thicker spadix with 

 a less ample spathe. 



The abundance of the wild Xantho- 

 somas in the mountainous parts of 

 Guatemala, including the volcanic dis- 

 tricts, makes it easier tc understand 

 how a poisouous plant might come to 

 be used and finally protected, propa- 

 gated, and cultivated by primitive man. 

 The agricultural development would 

 come about very naturally and gradually 

 after the making of the simple discovery 

 that these acrid plants could be eaten 

 after they had been kept for a time 

 in boiling water. This discovery was 

 possible in mauy places in tropical 

 America in the very early stages of 

 human progress, before cooking utensils 

 were used and even before fire had been 

 definitely adopted by primitive man. 

 Springs of hot water are numerous, and 

 are shown by special abundance of 

 aucient remains to have beeu centres 

 of population in primitive times. For- 

 mer association with hot springs is also 

 suggested by the habit of many of the 

 Indians, such as Kekchis of eastern 

 Guatemala, to drink only hot water 1 . 



An alternative possibility has to be 

 admitted, that the taro plant, like the 



