ovato-elliptical, scarcely compressed, each akenium having 5 longitudi- 
nal, but scarcely acute ribs, and terminated by the persistent styles. 
The first account which reached our country of this inte- 
resting and valuable plant, was published in the first volume 
of the Annals of Botany about the year 1805, from a com- 
munication made to the Editors of that excellent work by Mr 
Vargas, a native of Santa Fe de Bogota, a gentleman of great 
attainments, who at that period was residing in London. 
" This plant," says M. Vargas, " known in Santa Fe de 
Bogota by the name of Arracacha, is one of the most useful 
of the vegetables in that part of America. It belongs to the 
Order Umhellifene, and in its habit resembles an Apium; 
whence, in some parts of the country, it is called Apio. Its 
stalk generally divides from the upper part of the root into se- 
veral stems, thickly beset with large orbicular leaves gashed in- 
to several sinuses, and supported by large tubular petiols, ex- 
ceeding a goose-quill in thickness. The roots immediately di- 
vide into four or five branches ; and each of these, if the soil 
be light and the weather favourable, will grow to the size, and 
have nearly the shape, of a large cow's horn. This root 
yields a food which is prepared in the same manner as potatoes, 
is grateful to the palate, and so easy of digestion, that it fre- 
quently constitutes the chief aliment of the sick. Starch and 
pastry are made from its fecula, and the root, reduced to pulp, 
enters into the composition of certain fermented liquors, sup- 
posed to be efficacious as tonics. In the city of Santa F^, and 
indeed wherever it can be procured, the Arracacha is as uni- 
versally used as the potato is in England. The cultivation of 
this plant requires a deep black mould, that will easily yield to 
the descent of the large vertical roots. It is propagated by 
planting pieces of the root, in each of which is an eye or shoot ; 
these acquire in three or four months a size sufficient for culi- 
nary purposes, though, if permitted to continue six months in 
the ground, they attain to immense dimensions, without any 
injury to their flavour. The colour of the root is white, yel- 
low, or purple, but all the varieties have the same quality. 
