376 
THE  TROPICAI 
AGRICULTURIST. 
1 and  2 therefore  for  ordinary  purposes  may  b« 
put  under  S.  pubeseeus.  Variety  A (white  dower). 
Variety  B.  (Blue-purple  flower  and  stipulie). 
if.  /S',  hicopei'.'iicitiii,  WLllK  uriUnanlj/  knvioii  us 
Pomniii  .haoi'is,  BUickmood  and  llumpkius.  It  is  the 
same  as  Bycopersicuin  amoris,  Mouch  Sol.  csculen- 
leutulu,  M'il.,  the  touiiito  of  the  gardens.  This  hiis  j 
however,  been  made  the  basis  of  a sepera^  genus 
Lycopersicum  and  the  tomato  is  L.  Gleui  of 
Tournefort.  Some  authors,  however,  have  distiu- 
guished  it  into  a seperate  species.  But  from  the 
descriptio,n  it  cannot  be  doubted  that  Lycopersi- 
cum  cerasi forme  of  Duual  is  none  other  than  the 
r.1.  esculentum  of  Willd.,  the  Gadha  Begun  of  the 
Bengalee  ga>deners.  Some  however  distinguish  the 
L.  cerasiforme  as  Solauum  pseudo-lycopersicum, 
which  has  been  named  by  Genctiu  as  S ilanu  u 
spnrium.  It  is  questianable  whether  Lycopersicum 
H'lmboldtii  of  Willd.  is  not  identicallv  the  S.  ly- 
copersmun  of  Roxburgh  which  Willdenow  m 
another  place  has  described  as  S damim  Humbolta. 
Any  how  all  the  three  spec'es  of  Tournefort  s 
Lycopersieum,  t.e.,  esculentum,  2 cerasifor ne,  ant 
3 Humboldtii,  are  different  names  of  Lone  apple 
weich  has  been  thoroughly  acclimatised  in  India 
and  which  has  been  seen  to  reproduce  itself  from 
self-sown  seed.  . , . 
4.  Solauum  rubrum,  Willd.  This  is  undoubtedly 
the  same  as  solauu  u nudifln-um  of  the  same  author, 
for  Roxburgh  says  “ seeds  received  fro ui  Mauritius 
under  the  name  of  Solanum  nodiflorum  (Willd.  sp. 
I-  103.5)  produce  this  very  plant.  ” 
Roxburgh,  however,  has  himse  f sub-divided  this 
specie*  under — , . , . n r>  v, 
A.  Erythropyrenum,  Roxb.  which  is  S.  Ruinpnii 
of  Dun  and  S.  asperum  of  Hoarneni. 
B Melauopereuum,  which  S.  oleraceum  of  Ricli. 
Herb,  and  S.  Nigrum  of  Blume.  Solanum  nig.um 
of  Linnaeus,  however,  is  no  other  than  — 
S.  rubrum,  Mdl. 
B.  iiicertum,  Dunal. 
B.  Rixburghii,  Dunal. 
S.  triangularis,  Liink. 
S.  villosum  L imk. 
S.  nodiflorum.  Jacq. 
But  Solauum  iiicertum  of  Dunal  is 
S.  nigrum  of  Forsk  arid 
S.  niiniatum  of  Bornh 
The  whole  forest  of  names  being  thus  cleared, 
the  Solanum  nigrum,  Willd.  may  be  said  to  the 
scientific  name  of  the  native  plant  Goras/ci,  which 
hears  red  and  black  berries.  This  is  the  M >ko  of 
Yunani  physicians,  who  speak  soinuch  of  Arak-i- 
iiuko  infusion  decoction  or  extra  ;t  of  Jloko,  a cool 
in"  draii"ht,  not  unoften  prescribed  in  early  stages 
of^inaanRy.  I-  is  G,idku-mai  of  lower  Bengal,  a 
herbaceous  plant  growing  wild  throughout  India. 
It  bears  diminutive  tomato-like  berries  of  the  snse 
of  a sin  ill  pea,  much  eaten  by  children;  in  a ripe 
state  ic  has  some  sweetish  taste.  It  must  not, 
however  be  confounded  with  the  Mokoi/e  of  the 
Non h- Western  Provinces,  which  latter  is  FlacouRia 
montana  of  Graham,  or  Flacoiirtia  enermes  ot 
^r.^'^^Bola’nnm  dccomdentatum’  R cxb.,  idootical  with 
S decemfidiirn.  Wall.  This  said  to  be  a native  ot 
China  and  Singapore,  but  it  has  been  complete  y 
naturalised  here,  for  it  ripeii-s  its  fruits  and  self- 
sows itself.  It  is  properly  speaking  a variety  only 
of  S.  rubrum,  Willd.  mentioned  aoovc.  It  is  from 
its  habit  a robust  pubescent  variety  of  S.  nigrum. 
It  is  an  annual  herb,  but  hairy.  Its  berries  are  of 
the  size  of  a pea.  and  are  smooth  and  bright  rod 
when  rine  It  is  not  unoften  difficult  to  distinguish 
rom  S.  nigrum  or  S.  rubrum. 
4 and  5 therefore  for  ordinary  purposes  may  be 
nut  under  one  sneceies,  B danum  iiibrum. 
SoUniuu  spiralc:  /loxh.-L'hU  Ina^s  no  economic  value, 
except  as  a narcotic.  The  sivth  species  therefore 
in  an  economic  point  of  view  is— 
G Solanum  tuberosum  L.  Its  synonyms  are 
T,vcopersicum  t.iberosiim,  Mill,  Papas  amencanum, 
Baugh,  Papas  Pernanorum,  Besel,  Batatas  peruvia- 
QUiu,  Park. 
[Drc.  I,  1896. 
The  potato. — Its  ordinary  vernacular  name  is  At  a, 
but  the  term  Ain  is  not  restricted  to  this  tuber 
only.  It  is  not  unoften,  therefore,  that  it  is  dis- 
tinguished jrom  other  edible  tubers  and  roots  by 
the  name  Gol  nlu.  i.e.,  the  ball-shaped  ulu,  I ilati 
alu  i.e.,  foreign  alu.  The  name  of  alu,  there- 
fore. 
The  Potato. — Its  ordinary  vernacular  name  is  Ala, 
but  the  terra  .1  fit  is  not  restricted  to  this  tuber  only. 
It  is  not  unoften,  therefore,  that  it  is  distinguished 
from  other  edible  tubers  and  roots  by  tlie  name 
Gol  alu,  i e.,  the  ball-shaped  alu,  Viluti  alu,  i.e., 
foreign  alu.  The  name  of  alu,  therefore,  seems  to 
indicate  the  class  to  which  this  article  of  food  be- 
longs. Thus  we  have  Gaukh  alu,  identified  by  some 
to  be  Pach'  rrhizus  angulatus  Rich,  Dolichos  bulbosus, 
L.  Dr.  G.  Watt  in  his  Dictionary  of  Economic 
Products  says  lhat  the  tuberous  root  resembles  a 
turnip  in  taste  and  consistence,  and  that  it  is  eaten 
both  raw  and  boiled.  The  Cankh  alu,  however,  is 
never  known  to  be  used  after  being  boiled.  There 
is  another  similar  looking  tuber  which  sells  in  the 
bazaars,  of  the  N.-W.P.  as  Sakarkand,  which  is 
always  taken  boiled.  This  Sakarkand,  when  boiled, 
has  the  consistence  of  boiled  t'lrnips,  but  has  a much 
sweeter  taste  than  that  of  turnips,  but  wants  the 
flavour  of  turnips.  The  Sakarkand  is,  however,  dis- 
tinguished from  another  edible  tuber  sold  in  the 
Bengal  bazaar  under  the  name  of  Lai  a'u  or  Mau 
alu,  which  when  boiled  is  as  sweet  as  the  former. 
This  later  I/al  alu  or  Mau  alu  is  sometimes  called 
Lai  Sakarkand  nlu,  which  is  no  other  than  Batatas 
edulis,  Ghoisy,  Iponuea  Batatas,  Lank,  Convolvulus 
esoulentus.,  Spre.,  Godvelvulus  edulis,  'Thumb.,  Ipo- 
nioea  Gatesbari,  Meyer.  The  vernacular  name  ‘'Sakar- 
kand alu  literally  means  the  sweet  tuber  alu,  for 
kaiul  is  the  Sanskrit  name  for  a tuber,  and  is  the 
Sinskiit  equivalent  of  the  vernacular  term  Alu.  which 
again  may  be  traced  to  the  Sanskrit  niame  01  (Amor- 
phophallus  campamulatus,  Blume,)  which  is  jainikand 
ill  the  N.-W.  P , i.e.,  the  ea>'th  tuber.  'The  Lai  alu 
or  the  Jjal  ‘Sakarkand  alu  is  Batatas  edulis  variety 
a erythrorrhiz  i,  and  the  white  variety,  that  is,  the 
Anda  , Sakarkand  alu  ii  B.  edulis,  variety  b leurcorrhiz  i. 
This  last  is  not  unfrequeucly  confounded  with  the 
Cankh  alu.  A great  many  of  the  arena  class  are 
also  called  Alu.s,  thus  we  have — 
Cupdi  alu. 
Dolichos  globosa,  Roxb. 
Kham  alu, 
D.  alatv,  L. 
Garane  alu. 
D.  purpurea  and  roballa,  Roxb. 
Mau  m’u. 
D.  acule.ita,  L. 
‘Susani  alu. 
D.  fasciculata,  Roxb. 
Kukur  alu. 
D.  anguina,  Roxb. 
Sar  alu. 
D.  nuininularia,  Lam. 
Kanta  alu, 
D.  peutaphylla,  L. 
Parkinson,  however,  puts  the  potato  under  Batatas 
peruvianum,  although  it  his  beencleirlv  established 
that  the  potato  originally  belonged  to  Chilli,  whence 
it  was  introduced  to  Peru. 
(To  he  continued.) 
Artifici.u-  Goffee-bkans. — Artificial  whole  Coffee 
has  long  been  knowm  as  a commercial  commodity, 
but  we  were  scarcely  prepared  for  the  statement 
recently  made  by  the  I Test  Indian  and  Commercial 
Adrertiser,  that  it  is  now  manufactured  to  an  alarm- 
ing extent,  consisting  of  the  roasted  meal  of  different 
cereals  worked  up  with  dextrin.  Two  different 
factories,  it  is  stated,  have  been  established  at 
Cologne,  which  undertake  to  furnish  the  requisite 
machinery  and  plant,  with  directions  for  making  the 
false  Coffee-beans.  'The  apparatus  supplied  by  these 
wholesale  swind'ers  is  capable  of  turning  out  more 
than  half-a-ton  daily,  at  a cost  of  about  .£1  per  cwt., 
good  Coffee  having  neaily  five  times  this  value  in 
the  market.  The  fictitious  Coffee  is  difficult  of  detec- 
tion by  ordinary  examination,  especially  when  a 
proportion  of  genuine  Coffee  is  mixed  with  it. — Th^ 
Gardeners’  Chronicle, 
