STURTEVANTS

EDIBLE PLANTS OF THE WORLD

EDITED

BY

U. P. HEDRICK

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with updated botanical names by Michael Moore

To the Board of Control of the New York Agricultural Experiment 

Station:

GENTLEMEN.—It gives me peculiar pleasure to transmit to you for 

publication a manuscript prepared from notes by Dr. E. Lewis 

Sturtevant, the distinguished first Director of this Station, the 

publication to be known as " Sturtevant's Notes on Edible Plants."

Dr. Sturtevant was one of that group of men who early espoused the 

cause of agricultural science in the United States, a field in which he 

became distinguished, his studies in economic botany being one of his 

notable achievements.  When he retired in 1887 as Director of this 

Station, he left behind him a voluminous manuscript consisting of a 

compilation of existing knowledge on the edible food plants of the 

world, a piece of work involving a laborious and extended research in 

botanical literature. For twenty years this manuscript remained 

untouched, when Dr. U. P. Hedrick undertook its editing, a difficult and 

arduous task, well performed, in order that so valuable a collection of 

knowledge might become available to botanists and to students of food 

economics.

It is especially appropriate that such a volume should be issued at this 

time. Food problems are becoming more and more acute as the demand 

for food increasingly overshadows the supply. Primitive peoples 

depended upon food resources which are now neglected. Other sources 

of possible human nutrition have doubtless remained untouched, and 

the time may come when a comprehensive utilization of food plants will 

be essential to human sustenance. It is believed, therefore, that the 

information so ably brought together by Dr. Sturtevant cannot fail to 

become increasingly useful.

Very respectfully,

W. H. JORDAN 

Director

NEW YORK AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION GENEVA, N. Y.

June 1, 1919.

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PREFACE

All who have attempted to study the origin and history of cultivated 

plants must have been struck with the paucity and inaccuracy of 

information on the subject. For nearly nineteen hundred years, to be 

written in Pliny was proof sufficient; yet much of Pliny's history is 

inaccurate though still repeated in periodicals and popular works. 

Linnæus, the great system-atizer, gave the origin of most of the plants 

he described; but of these, De Candolle, by long odds the best plant 

historian, says, " three out of four of Linnaeus' indications of the 

original home of cultivated plants are incomplete or incorrect." De 

Candolle, in his turn, usually accurate, is exceedingly scant, giving the 

origin of but 249 cultivated plants, not all edible, while Sturtevant, in 

the text in hand, puts down 2897 which may be used for food, most of 

which are cultivated.

The query at once comes to mind as to the respects in which Sturtevant 

adds new knowledge on an old subject. New knowledge may be found 

on the following subjects: (i) The original home of many esculents is 

given for the first time. (2) New landmarks in the histories of edible 

plants are pointed out. (3) An effort is made to mention all cultivated 

esculents. (4) Though the book contains much new information as to 

the history of the food plants of the Old World, it is especially full and 

accurate in the discussion of the esculents of the New World. (5) 

Sturtevant presents much new information on the variations that have 

been produced in plants by cultivation. (6) His book adds much to 

geographical botany. (7) He contributes much data for the study of 

acclimatization.

It is pertinent to inquire as to the qualifications and opportunities 

Sturtevant may have had to illuminate so vast a subject as that of 

edible plants. To answer this query, and for the added reason that a 

book can be used with greatest profit only when its author is known, a 

brief biography of Sturtevant follows this Preface.

Sturtevant's Notes on Edible Plants is a compilation from four sources, 

namely: the first seven reports of the New York State Agricultural 

Experiment Station; a manuscript of 1600 closely written imperial 

octavo sheets entitled, 

Notes on Edible Plants

, left at this Station by the 

author; a series of articles in the 

American Naturalist

 on the history of 

garden vegetables, running for four years beginning with 1887; and 

between forty and fifty thousand card index notes which belong in part 

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to this Station and in part to the Missouri Botanical Garden. The 

material used was written previous to 1892, the author having spent at 

least a quarter-century in its preparation. The editor must now state 

what his task has been.

With so great a wealth of material much has had to be discarded. A 

great mass of cultural notes has not been used. Descriptions of many 

varieties of many species were discarded. Vernacular names in many 

languages and dialects were omitted. Botanical synonyms have had to 

be left out. Sturtevant's discussions of edible fungi, while full for the 

time in which they were written, are, in the light of recent research, so 

scant and fragmentary that the editor, unable to revise or add to them, 

has with many regrets excluded them. The unused material amounts to 

several times that used.

After sorting the material, the next task was to arrange it for 

publication. This work fell into four well-defined divisions of labor:

First, some standard of botanical nomenclature had to be adopted that 

the many botanical names from the several hundred authors quoted by 

Sturtevant could be made to conform as far as possible to one 

standard. Index Kewensis was taken as the authority best suited for the 

work in hand; this standard has seldom been departed from even 

though departure seemed most necessary in the light of later botanical 

studies; to have begun making departures would have entailed too 

great a task.

Second, Sturtevant's citations to literature

1

 , except in the series of 

articles in the 

American Naturalist

, usually consist only of the name of 

the book and the author. Since a book such as this is almost worthless 

without full citations, these, as far as possible, have been completed 

and verified, a task requiring borrowed books from a dozen or more 

libraries and the labor of several persons for months. Even after great 

effort to insure fullness and correctness, no doubt many mistakes have 

crept into the citations.

Third, bibliographical information is given in detail, since to cite 

unknown authors is a worthless procedure. It seems a simple task to 

catalog a collection of books. But the difficulties, especially in the case 

of early books, were found to be many. Anonymous writers, noms de 

plume, cross-references, borrowed material, numerous editions, works 

1

 I have deleted the many 100-150-year-old footnoted references - MM

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of commentators and editors bearing the names of original authors, all 

confuse and make the task of the bibliographer complex and difficult.

Fourth, the material had to be arranged. Sturtevant in his discussions 

of vegetables in the reports of this Station, in his card index of edible 

plants and in his 

History of Garden Vegetables

 in the American 

Naturalist, arranges the plants in accordance with the English 

vernacular names; but in his partly completed manuscript, 

undoubtedly written with the expectation of publishing, the plants are 

arranged alphabetically according to genera. The last plan seemed to 

suit the present work best and was adopted. The natural order of the 

genera is given; species are alphabetically arranged under each genera; 

while, to make them as prominent as possible, English vernacular 

names are printed in capitals after the species. The vernacular names 

are those used by the authorities quoted or are taken from standard 

botanical text-books.

While the changes and omissions made by the editor leave that which 

remains substantially as written by Dr. Sturtevant, yet there has been 

so much cutting and fitting that it would be unjust to hold Sturtevant 

responsible for infelicities that may appear. Despite the editor's efforts to 

retain the diction, style and individuality of Dr. Sturtevant, the quality 

of the work is no doubt marred by passing through hands other than 

those of the author.

The following acknowledgments must be recorded: The editor is 

grateful to Dr. Sturtevant's children for permission to publish their 

father's work; and to his associates in the Horticultural Department of 

this Station for assistance in reading the manuscript and proof of the 

book, especially to J. W. Wellington who has had charge of 

standardizing botanical names, verifying references and preparing the 

bibliography.

U. P. HEDRICK,

Horticulturist, New York Agricultural Experiment Station.

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EDWARD LEWIS STURTEVANT

Edward Lewis Sturtevant, farmer, botanist, physician and author, was 

one of the giants of his time in the science of agriculture. Through 

natural endowment, industry and rare mental attainments, he 

accomplished more than most men in scientific research by his own 

efforts. But, possibly, he achieved even more through his influence on 

his fellow-workmen than by his own endeavors. Rare, indeed, are the 

men in any field of attainment who have furnished so freely as he from 

an inexhaustible store of information unfailing aid and inspiration to 

those who worked with him. The happy combination of these two 

qualities, work and ability to help others work, led Sturtevant to 

success significant enough to make him one of the honor men of 

agriculture in the United States. From this brief and incommensurate 

tribute, we pass to a sketch of Sturtevant's active life.

As to genealogy, the line of descent runs from Samuel, the first 

Sturtevant in America, who landed in Plymouth in 1642, through 

generations living in Plympton and Wareham, Massachusetts, to 

Consider Sturtevant who purchased a farm at Winthrop, Maine, in 

1810. Here Dr. Sturtevant's father was born but later moved to Boston, 

the birthplace of Dr. Sturtevant. His mother was Mary Haight Leggett 

from a family of fighting Quakers who settled at West Farm, New York, 

about 1700.

Born in Boston, January 23, 1842, Sturtevant, as a child, was taken by 

his parents to Philadelphia and here, with little time intervening, his 

father and mother died. Young Sturtevant's aunt, a Mrs. Benson, 

became his guardian, and with her the lad moved to Winthrop, Maine, 

the birthplace of his father. His early school days were spent in New 

Jersey, though later he prepared for college at Blue Hill, Maine. His 

preliminary education finished, Sturtevant, in 1859, entered Bowdoin 

College, to remain until 1861, when, at the urgent call of the country for 

college men to serve in the civil strife then raging, he enlisted in the 

Union army.

To classical Bowdoin, Sturtevant owed much for his ability to write. Few 

scientists who have written so much and so rapidly, have written as 

well. His English is not ornate but is vivid, terse, logical, happy in 

phrasing and seldom at loss for the proper word. To classical Bowdoin, 

too, Sturtevant owes his remarkable ability to use languages. Greek, 

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Latin, French and German in the written form were familiar to him, and 

he was able to read, more or less well, scientific treatises in several other 

of the European languages. Though he was not graduated with his 

class at Bowdoin, the college later gave him her degree of Bachelor of 

Arts and still later further honored him with her Master of Arts.

Sturtevant entered the Union army in September, 1861, as First 

Lieutenant of Company G, 74th Regiment of Maine Volunteers. It 

speaks well for the youth of barely twenty-one that the following 

January he became Captain of his company. Company G was a part of 

the 19th Army Corps which, during Captain Sturtevant's service in it, 

was stationed on the lower Mississippi where, possibly, its most 

important work was the siege of Port Hudson. A part of Sturtevant's 

time in the army was spent on the staff of General Nickerson, 3d 

Brigade, 2d Division, serving with the rank of Captain. Possibilities of 

further service, higher promotion, or, on the other hand, death or 

wounds on the battle field, were cut short by an attack of typhoid 

malaria which so incapacitated him that he returned home in 1863, his 

career in the army ended.

The next landmark in Sturtevant's life is a course in the Harvard 

Medical School from which he received a degree in 1866. But, 

possessed of a degree from one of the leading medical colleges in the 

country, he did not begin the practice of medicine, and, in fact, never 

followed the profession. We may assume, however, that the training in a 

medical school turned his attention to science, for, possibly, the best 

science in American institutions at this time was to be found in a few 

leading schools of medicine. The year following the completion of the 

medical course was spent with his brother Thomas in Boston.

In 1867, E. Lewis, Joseph N. and Thomas L. Sturtevant purchased land 

at South Framingham, Massachusetts. The farm soon became famous, 

under the name "Waushakum Farm," for a series of brilliant 

experiments in agriculture which are still models in experimental 

acumen and conscientious execution. Here, almost at once, E. Lewis 

Sturtevant began the foundation of a great agricultural and botanical 

library, one possibly not surpassed in these fields of science by any 

other private collection, while, as it was eventually developed, for 

Prelinnean works it is still unsurpassed by any other American library. 

Here, too, almost at once, Sturtevant started the studies of cultivated 

plants recorded in this volume.

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The immediate concern of the Sturtevant brothers, however, was the 

development of a model dairy farm of Ayrshire cattle. Waushakum 

Farm soon became the home of this breed. Several scientific aspects of 

this work with Ayrshires are worth noting. Milk records of the herd and 

of individual animals, covering many milking periods, were kept and 

still constitute, according to dairymen of our day, a most valuable 

contribution to dairying. As an outcome of their researches with this 

breed, a monograph of 252 pages was published on Ayrshire cattle by 

the brothers in 1875. Out of their work with Ayrshires came the North 

American Ayrshire Register published by E. Lewis and Joseph N. 

Sturtevant in several annual volumes. These books are still in use by 

breeders of Ayrshires and are of permanent value as records of the 

breed. E. Lewis Sturtevant in particular gave attention to the physiology 

of milk and milk secretion.  His studies of fat globules in milk of 

different breeds of cows attracted much attention in the agricultural 

press, and he was soon in great demand as a speaker before 

agricultural and dairy associations.

But even in these first days on Waushakum Farm, the Ayrshires did not 

occupy all of his time. One is amazed in looking through the 

agricultural papers of the late sixties and early seventies at the number 

of articles signed by E. L. Sturtevant — still in his twenties. These early 

articles show originality, intense curiosity in regard to everything new, 

scientific imagination, a mind fertile in fruitful ideas and tremendous 

industry. These first articles in the press, too, show that he early 

possessed initiative, a trait which he retained throughout his scientific 

life. In all of his work it was seldom that he had to seek ideas or 

suggestions from others, though he was possessed of a mind which 

appreciated new trains of thought, and many there were of his day who 

could speak of his kindly interest in the work of others.

Indian corn attracted Sturtevant from the first. No sooner had he settled 

on Waushakum Farm than he began a botanical and cultural study of 

maize which he continued to the time of his death. The first fruits of his 

work with corn was the introduction of an improved variety of Yellow 

Flint, the new sort being called "Waushakum." This variety was 

wonderfully productive, yields of 125 bushels of shelled corn to the acre 

being common. Breeding this new variety was a piece of practical work 

that brought the head of Waushakum Farm more prominence in 

agriculture than any of his scientific work, "scientific farming" at that 

time not being in high repute with tillers of the soil.

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Sturtevant wrote much on Indian corn, contributing many short 

articles on its culture on the farm and several long treatises on its 

botany and the classification of its many varieties. Perhaps the most 

notable of the scientific articles are in the 

Bulletin of the Torrey 

Botanical Society

 for August, 1894, and Bulletin 57 on 

Varieties of 

Corn 

from the United States Department of Agriculture. The last-named 

work is a monograph on maize which is still the best authority on this 

valuable plant and a permanent tide mark, as it were, to show 

Sturtevant's ability in working up the history of cultivated plants. 

Besides setting forth the botany of corn, this bulletin describes 800 

varieties, gives their synonyms and establishes a scientific 

nomenclature for Indian corn. The varieties are placed in groups in 

accordance with their relationship, thus giving to scientist and farmer a 

classification of this immensely variable plant.

To Sturtevant is given the credit of having built the first lysimeter in 

America. This instrument, to measure the percolation of water through 

a certain depth of soil, was put in on the Waushakum Farm in 1875. It 

covered five-thousandths of an acre and measured water percolations 

to the depth of twenty-five inches. Records from the apparatus were 

kept from late in 1875 to the beginning of 1880—a little more than four 

full years. The results, presented in papers at several scientific 

meetings, and freely discussed in the agricultural press, gave him high 

standing among agricultural experimenters in America.

In spite of duties that must have claimed much of his time on 

Waushakum Farm, Sturtevant found time to undertake investigations 

in many diverse fields of agriculture. As the years advanced, he put 

more and more energy in the rapidly growing field of agricultural 

research until finally experimentation came to claim most of his 

attention. His eminence in research on Waushakum Farm brought him 

many opportunities to speak and write on agricultural affairs, in which 

work his facile pen and ready speech greatly enhanced his reputation 

as an experimenter. A natural outcome of his growth in the work he 

had chosen was that his services should be sought in scientific 

institutions having to do with agriculture. In 1882, the Board of Control 

of the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station, located at 

Geneva, New York, selected him Director of the Station, an institution 

just created by the State Legislature, and asked him to organize the 

work.

Perhaps Sturtevant was the more ready to give up Waushakum Farm 

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and devote his whole time to scientific research for the reason that in 

1879, the trio that had for twelve years made the farm famous was 

broken by the death of one of the three brothers, Joseph N. Sturtevant. 

The association of these two brothers had been so close that the 

obituary of Joseph, written by E. L. Sturtevant for the 

Scientific Farmer

, 

becomes of interest in this biography. We publish it in full:

"Joseph N. Sturtevant, born April i, 1844; died Jan. 19, 1879. Member 

of the Massachusetts State Board of Agriculture 1873-5. A brief record 

of a short but useful life. And yet this life, which struggled with the 

difficulties brought about by ill health from birth, made the most of the 

few well moments, and has made an impress upon agricultural thought 

which shall continue even if the originator be unrecognized and 

forgotten. Honest in thought as in action, caring nothing for applause, a 

true philanthropist in all that constitutes the word, a careful thinker, 

considerate towards the opinions of others, and yet possessing a 

positiveness of character which came through conviction, his advice was 

often sought and seldom unheeded. Without personal vanity, as 

delicate as a woman towards the rights of others, a mind trained to 

goodness for its own sake, one who believed in good because of the 

good, and hated evil because of the evil, the future life was lost sight of 

in the present, and there was nothing additional that religion could 

bring, because he was true religion itself in every fibre of body and 

movement of mind. His creed,—

What is excellent, 

As God lives in permanent.'

And his life and creed were as one; and he was one who held familiar 

converse with self, and was trustful of man's power to do the right as 

well as to think it, and looked upon wrong as the mar which came 

through the self rather than others, and in purity of thought sought 

that purity of life which distinguished him.

"He has appeared before the public as one of the authors of 

The Dairy 

Cow, Ayrshire

, as one of the editors of the 

North American Ayrshire 

Register

, and as contributor to our various agricultural papers. In the 

Scientific Farmer he has contributed many articles without signature, 

some signed J. N. S., others signed Zelco, and a few under his own 

name. He commenced writing for the 

Country Gentleman

 in 1868, 

using the 

nom de plume

 of Zelco, and although this was his favorite 

paper before the close connection with the 

Scientific Farmer

 arose, yet 

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he wrote occasionally for the 

Massachusetts Ploughman

, 

New England 

Farmer

, 

National Live Stock Journal

, and other papers, but usually 

upon request. The series of 'In and Out Papers,' written under the 

nom 

de plume

 of Alex. B., in the 

Scientific Farmer

, commencing with the 

May number for 1876, and continuing till the farewell in the April 

number for 1878, when his health broke down, has received marked 

attention, and showed the possibilities of a literary career, had only the 

health which admitted of close and continuous application been 

granted.

"The trio at Waushakum Farm is now broken. Three brothers 

purchased the farm and formed one life in 1866, and for twelve years 

there have been harmonious thought and action,— and now — and 

now — a wearying sense of desolation."

The invitation to take up work in New York was accepted and Dr. 

Sturtevant moved at once to Geneva to become, in his new work in 

agricultural research, an explorer in an almost virgin field. The splendid 

institutions we now have, created by the Hatch Act of Congress, did not 

come into existence until 1888. But six other States had planned to 

begin experimental work in agriculture, four of which had made modest 

starts, but as yet not much had been accomplished. There were but few 

models in the Old World, and these were established in very different 

environment. The financial support was meager, and encouragement 

from those the Station sought to serve was correspondingly small. The 

new Director had to deal with the fundamentals of agricultural research 

at a time when few men could see the need of such research, and almost 

no one could be found to help carry the work forward.

Under many difficulties and discouragements, Dr. Sturtevant began to 

develop the Station. His plan was more comprehensive than any other 

yet conceived in America. All phases of agriculture as carried on in New 

York were to be recognized. Horticulture, live-stock and crop 

departments were organized with chemical and botanical departments 

as handmaids. A notable group of men was brought to form the new 

staff and within a few years, gauged by the time and opportunity, the 

Station was doing epoch-making work. One needs only to name the 

staff, everyone destined to make a high name for himself in his field of 

endeavor, to measure the high standard Sturtevant set. Thus, in the 

Third Annual Report of the Station, the Director has as his staff: C. S. 

Plumb, Assistant to the Director; Emmett S. Goff, Horticulturist; J. C. 

Arthur, Botanist; S. Moulton Babcock, Chemist; and E. F. Ladd, 

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Assistant Chemist. These men helped to lay broad and deep the 

foundation of the Station.

Dr. Sturtevant was Director of the New York Station from July, 1882, to 

March, 1887 — not quite five years. Much of his time must have been 

taken up with executive work incidental to a new institution. Yet the six 

reports of the Station show much real research material, and much 

extension work, more needed then than now, that speak well for the 

initiative and industry of the Director and his small staff. Be it 

remembered that in these early days there were no laboratories and but 

scant equipment, with only the small sum of $20,000 annually 

available for maintenance, salaries and improvements. The- Board of 

Control confessedly did not have clear ideas of the function of the 

Station, and there were many opponents in the press, and even on the 

farms, who lost no opportunities to criticise.

One of the best measures of the man can be found in the initial policy of 

the Station as determined by Dr. Sturtevant. Widely divergent opinions 

prevailed as to the work of such institutions. Dr. Sturtevant asserted 

that the function of a Station was to " discover, verify and disseminate." 

He saw clearly from the very first the need of well-established 

fundamental principles in agriculture and set his staff at the work of 

discovering principles. His scientific work on Waushakum Farm had 

taught him that there were many possible errors in prevailing 

experimental work, and he at once set about determining their source 

and the best means of minimizing them. During his stay at the New 

York Station, in several reports he urged the importance of learning 

how to experiment, how to interpret results and pointed out errors in 

certain kinds of experimentation. He believed that the management and 

responsibility for a station should rest with the Director alone as the 

only way in which unity and continuity of direction could be secured. 

Those conversant with experiment stations must see how generally 

these views of Dr. Sturtevant now prevail and must give him credit for 

very materially helping to found the splendid system of present-day 

experiment stations.

These five years at Geneva added greatly to Dr. Sturtevant's store of 

knowledge of cultivated plants. During the time he was Director, all the 

varieties of cultivated esculents that could be obtained were grown on 

the grounds of the Station. The early volumes of the reports of this 

Station are filled with descriptions of varieties of cultivated plants grown 

on the grounds. Now, it is certain that if additions are to be made to the 

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knowledge of the origin of cultivated plants, such additions must come 

largely from experimental observations of the plants themselves to 

ascertain the stages through which they have come from the wild to the 

cultivated form. The remarkable collection of plants grown under Dr. 

Sturtevant's direction gave, as this text shows on many pages, an 

unsurpassed opportunity to study plants in the steps they have taken 

from first cultivation to their present forms.

Dr. Sturtevant's opportunities for research in books during this 

directorship was hardly less remarkable. The Sturtevant Prelinnean 

Library, now in the Missouri Botanical Garden, numbers over 500 titles 

in several languages. These, with most of the more modem texts on 

plants, gave him sources of information then possessed by few other 

students of plants, for many of the rarer books were inaccessible to 

Americans of Sturtevant's time. In this great library, the patience and 

erudition of Dr. Sturtevant became priceless. Here, he sought historical 

mention of edible plants; travelers' descriptions of them; the names of 

the many esculents used by various peoples; their geographical 

distributions; their various uses; cultural treatments; the connections of 

food plants with great migrations of mankind both in ancient and 

modem times. He studied selection as affected by the likes and dislikes 

of various peoples, and gave particular attention to the studies of 

archaeologists on the material remains of plants.

In 1887, Dr. Sturtevant gave up his charge of the Station at Geneva and 

returned to the old home at South Framingham. But the opportunity 

for experimental work on Waushakum Farm had passed. The city had 

encroached upon the country, and where had been pastures and farm 

fields were now town lots and dwellings. The inclination for research 

which throughout his life had animated Sturtevant, now took the turn, 

more than ever, of research in books. Near the old home, into which he 

moved with his family, he housed his library in a small building and set 

to work. Always diligent with the pen, and his favorite subject the 

history of plants, there is no question but that he now determined to 

put in permanent form the many articles he had printed here and there 

on the origin, history and variations in cultivated plants. His 

manuscripts, notes and the articles in 

American Naturalist

 indicate 

such a determination. Had not ill health and untimely death intervened, 

it is probable that Sturtevant would have put forth the volume which 

now, a quarter-century later, comes from the hands of an editor.

The idea of writing a history of food plants came to Dr. Sturtevant long 

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before his retirement from active professional work — in fact must have 

been in his mind from college days. His books were well under way and 

much had been accomplished as early as 1880, for in April of that year 

he wrote to the Country Gentleman asking its readers to give him 

information on the introduction of food plants, for seeds of new or 

curious esculents, for reports on the foods of agricultural Indians, 

stating the purpose of these questions as follows: "I am collecting the 

material for writing a Flora Dietica, or a history of food plants, with 

especial reference to the distribution and variation of cultivated plants. 

My inquiries thus far embrace 1,185 genera, and (including probably 

some synonyms) 3,087 species of food plants." Then follow numerous 

questions, after which he further states: "Geographical botany, 

acclimatization through variations, the increase of varieties with the 

increase of knowledge and the spread of civilization, what man has 

done and what man can hope to do in modifying vegetable growth to 

his use and support—is a subject of great interest as well as 

importance; and it seems desirable that information which can be 

obtained now, while our country is not yet wholly occupied, should be 

put upon record against the time when the ascertaining of these facts 

will be more difficult."

The manuscripts at the disposal of the editor show Dr. Sturtevant to 

have been an omnivorous reader. A glance at the foot-note citations to 

literature in this text shows the remarkable range of his readings in 

agriculture, botany, science, history, travel and general literature. 

Besides the mass of material from which this text has been taken, there 

is in the possession of the Geneva Station the manuscript of an 

Encyclopedia of Agriculture and Allied Subjects

, work at which, as the 

title page says, began March 3, 1879. This encyclopedia, unfortunately 

for all engaged in agriculture, was completed only to the letter M. Its 

1200, closely written, large-size pages form, as far as they go, a full 

dictionary on agriculture. In addition to the manuscripts left at this 

Station, are card notes on agricultural, botanical and historical matters, 

while another set, with but few duplicates of cards, are in the 

possession of the Missouri Botanical Garden. This set, much the better 

of the two, was put in shape and presented to the Missouri Botanical 

Garden only a few weeks before Dr. Sturtevant's death.

In addition to his experimental and executive work, his 

Notes on Edible 

Plants and the Encyclopedia of Agriculture

, Sturtevant found time to 

contribute hundreds of articles, long and short, to the agricultural and 

scientific press. Those of most note are recorded in the bibliography 

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which follows, but the total output of his thirty years of literary work is 

better gaged as to quantity by a series of scrapbooks in which he 

systematically preserved his pen contributions. There are twelve 

volumes of these scrapbooks filled with newspaper and magazine 

articles, the earliest written being dated November 2, 1867, and the last 

October 6, 1896. Besides these, there are two volumes containing sixty-

four pamphlets most of which are named in the accompanying 

bibliography. Thus roughly to state the quantity of a man's work may 

seem to indicate only the prodigality of his pen. So to judge Dr. 

Sturtevant does him a great injustice, for everything to which he set his 

pen is thoughtful, lucid and logical even if not always adorned by grace 

of expression. There is often in his writings a happy turn of phrase, and 

the inevitable word usually turns up at the right place

The newspapers of the two States in which he lived furnished the 

medium through which Dr. Sturtevant reached the general reader, and 

for the farmer he had at his command the agricultural press of the 

whole country. Contributions of scientific character were published in 

American Naturalist

, 

Botanical Gazette

, 

Garden and Forest

, 

Torrey 

Botanical Club Bulletin

 and 

Science

. The indexes of the magazines, 

during the time of Sturtevant's active work, furnish sufficient clues to 

his contributions.

For a little more than two years, Dr. Sturtevant was associated with E. 

H. Libby, as editor of the 

Scientific Farmer

, after which, for nearly a 

year and a half, he was sole editor. The joint editorship began in March, 

1876, and ended in May, 1878, the magazine being discontinued in 

October, 1879.   The 

Scientific Farmer

 was in all matters pertaining to 

agriculture abreast of the times — in most matters in advance of the 

times — notwithstanding which it was not a financial success, and, 

becoming too heavy a drain on its owner's pocket, was discontinued. 

The magazine was published before the days of experiment station 

bulletins and contains the gist of the agricultural investigations then 

being carried on, most of it being reported by the investigators 

themselves. As editor, Dr. Sturtevant assumed the role of analyst of the 

scientific work in the agriculture of the times, using, as all must agree, 

singularly good judgment and discrimination in his discussions of the 

work of others.

One of the great pleasures of Dr. Sturtevant's life seems to have been 

active participation in the several scientific societies to which he 

belonged. He was long a Fellow in the American Association for the 

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Advancement of Science; he was one of the founders of the Society for 

the Promotion of Agricultural Science, serving as its first secretary and 

fourth president; while in Massachusetts, he was active in the 

Massachusetts Horticultural Society; and during his directorship of the 

New York Station was one of the leaders in the Western New York 

Horticultural Society. He was, too, at various times, a member of several 

general agricultural and dairymen's organizations. He was never a 

passive member in any of the societies in which he was interested and 

to those named, in particular, presented many papers, while the 

minutes of the meetings record that his voice was heard in all important 

discussions.

Dr. Sturtevant's wedded life began in 1864 when he married Mary 

Elizabeth Mann. To this happy union were born four children, two sons 

and two daughters, the wife and mother dying in 1875. In 1883, he 

again married, taking as his wife Hattie Mann, sister to the first wife. By 

this marriage there was one son. Dr. Sturtevant's colleagues at Geneva, 

to several of whom the writer is indebted for much information, speak of 

the devotion of the husband and father to his family and say that he 

rarely sought companionship outside the home circle and that, on their 

part, mother and children were devoted to the head of the household 

and constantly gave him substantial help in his work. The eldest 

daughter, Grace Sturtevant, talented with pencil and brush, made the 

drawings and colored sketches to illustrate her father's writings on 

peppers and sweet potatoes, while those of maize, published in the 

Report of the New York Station for 1884, were done by Mrs. Sturtevant.

In 1893, Dr. Sturtevant was a victim of one of the epidemics of grippe 

which each returning winter ravaged the country. He never fully 

recovered from this attack and his health began to fail until shortly it 

was found that tuberculosis had secured firm hold. With the hope that 

the disease might be thrown off, three winters were passed in California 

with temporary but not permanent relief. July 30, 1898, he passed 

away. It was a fitting death; he passed quietly to sleep in the old home 

on Waushakum Farm to which his work had given distinguished name.

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NOTES ON EDIBLE PLANTS

Aberia (Doryalis)

2

  caffra Harv. & Sond. 

Bixineae (Flacourtiaceae)

. 

KAI APPLE. KAU APPLE. KEI APPLE.

South Africa. The fruits are of a golden-yellow color, about the size 

of a small apple. They are used by the natives for making a preserve 

and are so exceedingly acid when fresh that the Dutch settlers prepare 

them for their tables, as a pickle, without vinegar.

Abronia arenaria Menzies. 

Nyctagineae

.

Seashore of Oregon and California. The root is stout and fusiform, often 

several feet long. The Chinook Indians eat it. 

Abrus precatorius Linn. 

Leguminosae

.  CORAL-BEAD PLANT. 

LOVE PEA. RED-BEAD VINE. ROSARY-PEA TREE. WILD 

LICORICE.

A plant common within the tropics in the Old World, principally upon 

the shores. The beauty of the seeds, their use as beads and for 

necklaces, and their nourishing qualities, have combined to scatter the 

plant. The seeds are used in Egypt as a pulse, but Don says they are 

the hardest and most indigestible of all the pea tribe. Brandis says the 

root is a poor substitute for licorice.

Abutilon esculentum A. St. Hil. 

Malvaceae

.

Brazil. The Brazilians eat the corolla of this native plant cooked as a 

vegetable.

A. indicum Sweet

Old World tropics. The raw flowers are eaten in Arabia. The leaves 

contain a large quantity of mucilage.

Acacia 

Leguminosae

.

From various acacias comes gum arable which is stated by some to be 

a highly nutritrious article of food. During the whole time of the gum 

harvest in Barbary, the Moors of the desert live almost entirely upon it. 

2

 Currently recognized genus and family are in parenthesis - as defined by Willis, 8th edition - MM

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It is claimed that six ounces are sufficient for the support of a man 

during twenty-four hours. Gum arable is also used as food by the 

Hottentots of southern Africa, and Sparmann states that, in the absence 

of other provisions, the Bushmen live on it for days together  At Swan 

River, Australia, an acacia, called manna by the natives, produces a 

large quantity of gum resembling gum arable, and this, says 

Drummond, forms an important article of native food. The experiment 

of Magendie, however, showed that dogs could not support life on gum, 

and Dr. Hammond believes that, so far from having any value as an 

alimentary substance, it is positively injurious.

A. abyssinica Hochst.

Abyssinia. Hildebrant mentions that gum is collected from this species. 

A. arabica Willd. BABOOL-BARK. GUM ARABIC TREE. 

SUNTWOOD.

North and central Africa and Southwest Asia. It furnishes a gum arable 

of superior quality. The bark, in times of scarcity, is ground and mixed 

with flour in India,  and the gum, mixed with the seeds of sesame, is an 

article of food with the natives. The gum serves for nourishment, says 

Humboldt,9 to several African tribes in their passages through the 

dessert. In Barbary, the tree is called atteleh.

A. bidwilli Benth.

Australia. The roots of young trees are roasted for food after peeling.

A. catechu Willd. CATECHU. KHAIR. WADALEE-GUM TREE.

East Indies. Furnishes catechu, which is chiefly used for chewing in 

India as an ingredient of the packet of betel leaf.

A. concinna DC. SOAP-POD.

Tropical Asia. The leaves are acid and are used in cookery by the 

natives of India as a substitute for tamarinds. It is the fei-tsau-tau of 

the Chinese. The beans are about one-half to three-fourths inch in 

diameter and are edible after roasting.

A. decora Reichb.

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Australia. The gum is gathered and eaten by Queensland natives.

A. decurrens Willd. BLACK WATTLE. GREEN WATTLE. SILVER 

WATTLE. 

Australia. It yields a gum not dissimilar to gum arable.

A. ehrenbergiana Hayne

Desert regions of Libya, Nubia, Dongola. It yields a gum arabic.

A. farnesiana Willd. CASSIE-OIL PLANT.  HUISACHE. OPOPANAX. 

POPINAC. SPONGE TREE. WEST INDIAN BLACKTHORN.

Tropics. This species is cultivated all over India and is indigenous in 

America, from New Orleans, Texas and Mexico, to Buenos Aires and 

Chile, and is sometimes cultivated. It exudes a gum which is collected 

in Sind. The flowers distil a delicious perfume.

A. ferruginea DC.

India. The bark steeped in "jaggery water"—fresh, sweet sap from any of 

several palms — is distilled as an intoxicating liquor. It is very 

astringent. 

A. flexicaulis Benth.

Texas. The thick, woody pods contain round seeds the size of peas 

which, when boiled, are palatable and nutritious.4

A. glaucophylla Steud.

Tropical Africa. This species furnishes gum arabic. 

A. gummifera Willd. BARBARY-GUM. MOROCCO-GUM.

North Africa. It yields gum arabic in northern Africa. 

A. homalophylla A. Cunn. MYALL-WOOD. VIOLET-WOOD. 

This species yields gum in Australia.

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A. horrida Willd. CAPE-GUM TREE. DORNBOOM.

South Africa. This is the dornboom plant which exudes a good kind of 

gum. 

A. leucophloea Willd. KUTEERA-GUM.

Southern. India. The bark is largely used in the preparation of spirit 

from sugar and palm-juice, and it is also used in times of scarcity, 

ground and mixed with flour. The pods are used as a vegetable, and the 

seeds are ground and mixed with flour. 

A. longifolia Willd. SYDNEY GOLDEN WATTLE.

Australia. The Tasmanians roast the pods and eat the starchy seeds. 

A. pallida F. Muell.

Australia. The roots of the young trees are roasted and eaten. 

A. penninervis Sieber. BLACKWOOD. MOUNTAIN HICKORY.

Australia. This species yields gum gonate, or gonatic, in Senegal.

A. Senegal Willd. GUM ARABIC TREE.

Old World tropics. The tree forms vast forests in Senegambia. It is called 

nebul

 by the natives and furnishes gum arable.

A. seyal Delile GUM ARABIC TREE. THIRSTY THORN. 

WHISTLING-TREE

North Africa, Upper Egypt and Senegambia. It furnishes the best gum 

arabic. It is called 

glute

 by the Arabs of the upper Nile and whistling 

tree by the natives of Sudan. The holes left by the departure of a gall 

insect are rendered musical by the wind.

A. stenocarpa Hochst. GUM ARABIC TREE.

Southern Nubia and Abyssinia. The gum of this tree is extensively 

collected in the region between the Blue Nile and the upper Atbara. It is 

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called 

taleh

, 

talha

 or 

kakul

.

A. suaveolens Willd.

Australia. The aromatic leaves are used in infusions as teas.

A. tortilis Hayne

Arabia, Nubia and the desert of Libya and Dongola. It furnishes the 

best of gum arabic.

Acaena sanguisorbae Vahl. 

Rosaceae

. NEW ZEALAND BUR.

Australia. The leaves are used as a tea by the natives of the Middle 

Island in New Zealand, according to Lyall. It is the 

piri-piri

 of the natives.

Acanthorhiza (Cryosophila) aculeata H. Wendl. 

Palmae

.

Mexico. The pulp of the fruit is of a peculiar, delicate, spongy 

consistence and is pure white and shining on the outside. The juice has 

a peculiar, penetrating, sweet flavor, is abundant, and is obviously well 

suited for making palm-wine. The fruit is'oblong about one inch in 

longest diameter. It is grown in Trinidad.

Acanthosicyos horrida Welw. 

Cucurbitaceae

. NARAS.

Tropics of Africa. The fruit grows on a bush from four to five feet high, 

without leaves and with opposite thorns. It has a coriaceous rind, 

rough with prickles, is about 15-18 inches around and inside 

resembles a melon as to seed and pulp. When ripe it has a luscious 

sub-acid taste. The bushes grow on little knolls of sand. It is described, 

however, by Andersonl as a creeper which produces a kind of prickly 

gourd about the size of a Swede turnip and of delicious flavor. It 

constitutes for several months of the year the chief food of the natives, 

and the seeds are dried and preserved for winter consumption.

Acer dasycarpum Ehrh. 

Sapindaceae (Aceraceae)

. SILVER 

MAPLE. SOFT MAPLE. WHITE MAPLE.

North America. The sap will make sugar of good quality but less in 

quantity than the sugar maple. Sugar is made from this species, says 

Loudon, in districts where the tree abounds, but the produce is not 

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above half that obtained from the sap of the sugar maple. 

A. platanoides Linn. NORWAY MAPLE.

Europe and the Orient. From the sap, sugar has been made in Norway, 

Sweden and in Lithuania.

A. pseudo-platanus Linn. MOCK PLANE. SYCAMORE MAPLE.

Europe and the Orient. In England, children suck the wings of the 

growing keys for the sake of obtaining the sweet exudation that is upon 

them. In the western Highlands and some parts of the Continent, the 

sap is fermented into wine, the trees being first tapped when just 

coming into leaf. From the sap, sugar may be made but not in 

remunerative quantities.

A. rubrum Linn. RED MAPLE. SWAMP MAPLE.

North America. The French Canadians make sugar from the sap which 

they call plaine, but the product is not more than half that obtained 

from the sugar maple. In Maine, sugar is often made from the sap.

A. saccharinum Wangenh. ROCK MAPLE. SUGAR MAPLE.

North America. This large, handsome tree must be included among 

cultivated food plants, as in some sections of New England groves are 

protected and transplanted for the use of the tree to furnish sugar. The 

tree is found from 48° north in Canada, to the mountains in Georgia 

and from Nova Scotia to Arkansas and the Rocky Mountains. The sap 

from the trees growing in maple orchards may give as an average one 

pound of sugar to four gallons of sap, and a single tree may furnish 

four or five pounds, although extreme yields have been put as high as 

thirty-three pounds from a single tree. The manufacture of sugar from 

the sap of the maple was known to the Indians, for Jefferys, 1760, says 

that in Canada "this tree affords great quantities of a cooling and 

wholesome liquor from which they make a sort of sugar," and Jonathan 

Carver, in 1784, says the Nandowessies Indians of the West  consume 

the sugar which they have extracted from the maple tree." In 1870, the 

Winnebagoes and Chippewas are said often to sell to the Northwest Fur 

Company fifteen thousand pounds of sugar a year. The sugar season 

among the Indians is a sort of carnival, and boiling candy and pouring 

it out on the snow to cool is the pastime of the children.

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A. tataricum Linn. TARTARIAN MAPLE.

Orient. The Calmucks, after depriving the seeds of their wings, boil 

them in water and afterwards use them for food, mixed with milk and 

butter.

Achillea millefolium Linn.  

Compositae

.  HUNDRED-LEAVED 

GRASS. MILFOIL. NOSEBLEED. SANGUINARY. THOUSAND-SEAL. 

YARROW.

Europe, Asia and America. In some parts of Sweden, yarrow is said to 

be employed as a substitute for hops in the preparation of beer, to 

which it is supposed to add an intoxicating effect.

Achras (Manilkara) sapota Linn. 

Sapotaceae

. NASEBERRY. 

SAPODILLA. SAPOTA.

South America. This is a tree found wild in the forests of Venezuela and 

the Antilles. It has for a long time been introduced into the gardens of 

the West Indies and South America but has been recently carried to 

Mauritius, to Java, to the Philippines, and to the continent of India. The 

sapodilla bears a round berry covered with a rough, brown coat, hard 

at first, but becoming soft when kept a few days to mellow. The berry is 

about the size of a small apple and has from 6 to 12 cells with several 

seeds in each, surrounded by a pulp which in color, consistence, and 

taste somewhat resembles the pear but is sweeter. The fruit, when tree-

ripe, is so full of milk that little rills or veins appear quite through the 

pulp, which is so acerb that the fruit cannot be eaten until it is as rotten 

as medlars. In India, Firminger says of its fruit: " a more luscious, cool 

and agreeable fruit is not to be met with in any country in the world; " 

and Brandis says: "one of the most pleasant fruits known when 

completely ripe." It is grown in gardens in Bengal.

Achyranthes bidentata Blume. 

Amaranthaceae

.

Tropical Asia. The seeds were used as food during a famine in 

Rajputana, India. Bread made from the seeds was very good. This was 

considered the best of all substitutes for the usual cereals.

Aciphylla glacialis F. Muell.   

Umbelliferae

.

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Australia. This species is utilized as an alimentary root.

Aconitum lycoctonum Linn. 

Ranunculaceae

. WOLFSBANE.

Middle and northern Europe. The root is collected in Lapland and 

boiled for food. This species, says Masters in the 

Treasury of Botany

, 

does not possess such virulent properties as others.

A. napellus Linn. ACONITE.  BEAR'S-FOOT. FRIAR'S-CAP. 

HELMET-FLOWER. LUCKIE'S MUTCH. MONKSHOOD. SOLDIER'S-

CAP. TURK'S-CAP.

Northern temperate regions.  Cultivated in gardens for its flowers. A 

narcotic poison, aconite, is the product of this species and the plant is 

given by the Shakers of America as a medicinal herb. In Kunawar, 

however, the tubers are eaten as a tonic.

Acorus calamus Linn. 

Aroideae (Araceae)

 . MYRTLE FLAG. 

SWEET FLAG.

Northern temperate regions. The rhizomes are used by confectioners as 

a candy, by perfumers in the preparation of aromatic vinegar, by 

rectifiers to improve the flavor of gin and to give a peculiar taste to 

certain varieties of beer. In Europe and America, the rhizomes are 

sometimes cut into slices and candied or otherwise made into a 

sweetmeat. These rhizomes are to be seen for sale on the street corners 

of Boston and are frequently chewed to sweeten the breath. In France it 

is in cultivation as an ornamental water plant.

A. gramineus Soland. GRASS-LEAVED SWEET FLAG.

Japan. The root of this species is said to possess a stronger and more 

pleasant taste and smell than that of

 A. calamus

. It is sometimes 

cultivated in gardens.

Acrocomia lasiospatha Mart. 

Palmae

. MACAW. MUCUJA PALM.

West Indies and Brazil. Its fruit is the size of an apricot, globular and of 

a greenish-olive color, with a thin layer of firm, edible pulp of an orange 

color covering the nut, and, though oily and bitter, is much esteemed 

and eagerly sought after by the natives. This is probably the macaw tree 

of Wafer.

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A. mexicana Karw. COQUITO HABRASO. COYOLI PALM.

Mexico. The fruit, in Mexico, is eaten by the inhabitants but is not 

much esteemed.

A. sclerocarpa Mart. MUCUJA PALM.

Tropics of America. The young leaves of this palm are eaten as a 

vegetable. It is cultivated in British hot-houses. The fruit is the size of a 

crab and contains a sweet, edible kernel. The husks are full of oil.

Acronychia laurifolia Blume. 

Rutaceae

. JAMBOL.

Tropics of Asia. The black, juicy, sweetish-acid fruit is an esculent. In 

Cochin China the young leaves are put in salads. They have the smell of 

cumin and are not unpleasant. In Ceylon the berries are called jambol.

Actinidia callosa Lindl. 

Ternstroemiaceae (Actinidiacea

). 

KOKUWA.

Japan and Manchuria. This vine is common in all the valleys of Yesso 

and extends to central Nippon. It is vigorous in growth and fruits 

abundantly. The fruit is an oblong, greenish berry about one inch in 

length; the pulp is of uniform texture, seeds minute and skin thin. 

When fully ripe it possesses a very delicate flavor.

A. polygama Franch. & Sav.

Northern Japan. This is somewhat less desirable than A. callosa, as it 

fruits less abundantly and the vine is not so rich in foliage.

Adansonia digitata Linn.  

Malvaceae (Bombacaceae)

. BAOBAB. 

CORK TREE. MONKEYBREAD. SOUR GOURD.

East Indies. This tree has been found in Senegal and Abyssinia, as well 

as on the west coast of Africa, extending to Angola and thence across 

the country to Lake Ngami. It is cultivated in many of the warm parts of 

the world. Mollien, in his Travels, states that to the negroes, the Baobab 

is perhaps the most valuable of vegetables. Its leaves are used for leaven 

and its bark for cordage and thread. In Senegal, the negroes use the 

pounded bark and the leaves as we do pepper and salt. Hooker says 

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the leaves are eaten with other food and are considered cooling and 

useful in restraining excessive perspiration. The fruit is much used by 

the natives of Sierra Leone. It contains a farinaceous pulp full of seeds, 

which tastes like gingerbread and has a pleasant acid flavor. Brandis 

says it is used for preparing an acid beverage. Monteiro says the leaves 

are good to eat boiled as a vegetable and the seeds are, in Angola, 

pounded and made into meal for food in times of scarcity; the 

substance in which they are imbedded is also edible but strongly and 

agreeably acid.

The earliest description of the Baobab is by Cadamosto, 1454, who 

found at the mouth of the Senegal, trunks whose circumference he 

estimated at 112 feet. Perrottet says he has seen these trees 32 feet in 

diameter and only 70 to 85 feet high.

A. gregorii F. Muell. CREAM OF TARTAR TREE. SOUR GOURD.

Northern Australia. The pulp of its fruit has an agreeable, acid taste like 

cream of tartar and is peculiarly refreshing in the sultry climates where 

the tree is found.

Adenanthera abrosperma F. Muell. 

Leguminosae

.

Australia. The seeds are roasted in the coals and the kernels are eaten.

A. pavonia Linn. BARBADOES PRIDE. CORAL PEA. RED 

SANDALWOOD.

One of the largest trees of tropical eastern Asia. The seeds are eaten by 

the common people. It has been introduced into the West Indies and 

various parts of South America.

Adenophora communis Fisch. 

Campanulaceae

.

Eastern Europe. The root is thick and esculent.

Adiantum capillus-veneris Linn. 

Polypodiaceae

. CAPILLAIRE. 

DUDDER GRASS. MAIDENHAIR FERN. VENUS' HAIR.

Northern temperate climates. In the Isles of Arran, off the Galway coast 

of Britain, the inhabitants collect the fronds of this fern, dry them and 

use them as a substitute for tea.

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Aeginetia indica Linn. 

Orobanchaceae

.

Tropics of Asia. An annual, leafless, parasitic herb, growing on the roots 

of various grasses in India and the Indian Archipelago. Prepared with 

sugar and nutmeg, it is there eaten as an antiscorbutic.

Aegle marmelos Correa. Rutaceae. BALL TREE. BELA TREE. 

BENGAL QUINCE. GOLDEN APPLE.

East Indies. The Bengal quince is held in great veneration by the 

Hindus. It is sacred to Siva whose worship cannot be accomplished 

without its leaves. It is incumbent on all Hindus to cultivate and cherish 

this tree and it is sacrilegious to up-root or cut it down. The Hindoo 

who expires under a bela tree expects to obtain immediate salvation. 6 

The tenacious pulp of the fruit is used in India for sherbet and to form a 

conserve. Roxburgh observes that the fruit when ripe is delicious to the 

taste and exquisitely fragrant. Horsfield says it is considered by the 

Javanese to be very astringent in quality. The Bengal quince is grown in 

some of the gardens of Cairo. The perfumed pulp within the ligneous 

husk makes excellent marmalade. The orange-like fruit is very 

palatable and possesses aperient qualities.

Aegopodium podagraria Linn. 

Umbelliferae

. ASHWEED. BISHOP'S-

WEED. GOUTWEED. GROUND ASH. HERB GERARD.

Europe and adjoining Asia. Lightfoot says the young leaves are eaten in 

the spring in Sweden and Switzerland as greens. It is mentioned by 

Gerarde. In France it is an inmate of the flower garden, especially a 

variety with variegated leaves.

Aerva lanata Juss. 

Amaranthaceae

.

Tropical Africa and Arabia. According to Grant, this plant is used on 

the Upper Nile as a pot-herb.

Aesculus californica Nutt. 

Sapindaceae

. CALIFORNIA HORSE-

CHESTNUT.

A low-spreading tree of the Pacific Coast of the United States. The 

chestnuts are made into a gruel or soup by the western Indians. The 

Indians of California pulverize the nut, extract the bitterness by 

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washing with water and form the residue into a cake to be used as food.

A. hippocastanum Linn. HORSE-CHESTNUT.

Turkey. The common horse-chestnut is cultivated for ornament but 

never for the purpose of a food supply. It is now known to be a native of 

Greece or the Balkan Mountains. Pickering says it was made known in 

1557; Brandis, that it was cultivated in Vienna in 1576; and Emerson, 

that it was introduced into the gardens of France in 1615 from 

Constantinople. John Robinson says that it was known in England 

about 1580. It was introduced to northeast America, says Pickering, by 

European colonists. The seeds are bitter and in their ordinary condition 

inedible but have been used, says Balfour, as a substitute for coffee.

A. indica Coleb.

Himalayas. A lofty tree of the Himalaya Mountains called 

kunour

 or 

pangla

. In times of scarcity, the seeds are used as food, ground and 

mixed with flour after steeping in water.

A. parviflora Walt. BUCKEYE.

Southern states of America. The fruit, according to Browne, may be 

eaten boiled or roasted as a chestnut.

Afzelia africana Sm. 

Leguminosae

.

African tropics. A portion of the seed is edible.

A. quanzensis Welw. MAKOLA.

Upper Nile. The young purple-tinted leaves are eaten as a spinach.

Agapetes saligna Benth. & Hook. 

Vacciniaceae

.

East Indies. The leaves are used as a substitute for tea by the natives of 

Sikkim.

Agave americana Linn. 

Amaryllideae (Agavaceae)

. AMERICAN 

ALOE. CENTURY PLANT. MAGUEY.

Tropical America. The first mention of the agave is by Peter Martyr, 

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contemporary with Columbus, who, speaking of what is probably now 

Yucatan, says: " They say the fyrst inhabitants lyved contented with the 

roots of Dates and magueans, which is an herbe much lyke unto that 

which is commonly called sengrem or orpin." The species of agave, 

called by the natives maguey, grows luxuriantly over the table-lands of 

Mexico and the neighboring borders and are so useful to the people 

that Prescott calls the plant the " miracle of nature." From the leaves, a 

paper resembling the ancient papyrus was manufactured by the 

Aztecs; the tough fibres of the leaf afforded thread of which coarse stuffs 

and strong cords were made; the leaf, when washed and dried, is 

employed by the Indians for smoking like tobacco but being sweet and 

gummy chokes the pipe; an extract of the leaves is made into balls 

which lather with water like soap; the thorns on the leaf serve for pins 

and needles; the dried flower-stems constitute a thatch impervious to 

water; about Quito, the flower-stem is sweet, subacid, readily ferments 

and forms a wine called 

pulque

 of which immense quantities are 

consumed now as in more ancient times; from this 

pulque

 is distilled an 

ardent, not disagreeable but singularly deleterious spirit known as 

vino 

mescal

. The crown of the flower-stem, charred to blackness and 

mingled with water, forms a black paint which is used by the Apaches 

to paint their faces; a fine spirit is prepared from the roasted heart by 

the Papajos and Apaches; the bulbs, or central portion, partly in and 

partly above the ground are rich in saccharine matter and are the size 

of a cabbage or sometimes a bushel basket and when roasted are sweet 

and are used by the Indians as food. Hodge, writing of Arizona, 

pronounces the bulbs delicious. Bartlett5 mentions their use by the 

Apaches, the Pimas, the Coco Maricopas and the Dieguenos Tubis.

The agave was in cultivation in the gardens of Italy in 1586 and Clusius 

saw it in Spain a little after this time. It is now to be found generally in 

tropical countries. The variety which furnishes sisal hemp was 

introduced into Florida in 1838 and in 1855 there was a plantation of 

50 acres at Key West.

A. palmeri Engelm.

Arizona. The central bud at certain seasons is roasted and eaten by the 

Indians and a spirit is also distilled from it.

A. parryi Engelm. MESCAL.

New Mexico and northern Arizona. This plant constitutes one of the 

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staple foods of the Apaches. When properly prepared, it is saccharine, 

palatable and wholesome, mildly acid, laxative and antiscorbutic.

A. utahensis Engelm. UTAH ALOE.

Utah and Arizona. The bulb of the root is considered a great delicacy by 

the Indians, who roast and prepare it for food which is said to be sweet 

and delicious.

A. wislizeni Engelm.

Mexico. The young stems when they shoot out in the spring are tender 

and sweet and are eaten with great relish by the Mexicans and Indians.

Aglaia edulis A. Gray. 

Meliaceae

.

Fiji Islands and the East Indies. The natives eat the aril which 

surrounds the seed and call it gumi. The fruit is edible, having a 

watery, cooling, pleasant pulp. The aril is large, succulent and edible.

A. odorata Lour.

China. Firminger says this plant never fruits in Bengal. The flowers are 

bright yellow, of the size and form of a pin head and are delightfully 

fragrant. Fortune says it is the 

lan-hwa u yu-chu-lan

 of China and that 

the flowers are used for scenting tea. Smith says it is the 

san-yeh-lan

 of 

China, that the flowers are used for scenting tea and that the tender 

leaves are eaten as a vegetable.

Agrimonia eupatoria Linn. 

Rosaceae

. AGRIMONY. COCKLEBUR. 

LIVERWORT. STICKLEWORT. 

North temperate regions. The dried leaves are used by country people 

as a sort of tea but probably only for medicinal qualities.

Agriophyllum gobicum Bunge. 

Chenopodiaceae

. 

Siberia. The seeds are used as food.

Agropyron repens Beauv. 

Gramineae

. QUACK GRASS.

Temperate regions. This is a troublesome weed in many situations yet 

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Withering states that bread has been made from its roots in times of 

want.

Ailanthus glandulosa Desf. 

Simarubeae

. TREE OF HEAVEN. 

VARNISH TREE.

China. Smith says that the leaves are used to feed silkworms and, in 

times of scarcity, are used as a vegetable.

Akebia lobata Decne. 

Berberideae (Lardizabalaceae)

.

Japan. The fruits of the wild vines are regularly gathered and marketed 

in season.

A. quinata Decne.

China. The fruit is of variable size but is usually three or four inches 

long and two inches in diameter. The pulp is a homogeneous, 

yellowish-green mass containing 40 to 50 black, oblong seeds. It has a 

pleasant sweetish, though somewhat insipid taste.

Alangium lamarckii Thw. 

Cornaceae (Alangiaceae)

.

A small tree of the tropics of the Old World. On the coast of Malabar, the 

fruit is an article of food. It affords an edible fruit. The fruit in India is 

mucilaginous, sweet, somewhat astringent but is eaten.

Albizzia julibbrissin Durazz. 

Leguminosae

.

Asia and tropical Africa. The aromatic leaves are used by the Chinese as 

food. The leaves are said to be edible. The tree is called nemu in Japan.

A. lucida Benth.

East Indies. The edible, oily seeds taste like a hazelnut.

A. monilifera F. Muell.

Australia. The pods are roasted when young and are eaten by the 

natives.

A. montana Benth.

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Java. Sometimes used as a condiment in Java.

A. myriophylla Benth.

East Indies. With bark of this tree, the mountaineers make an 

intoxicating liquor.

A. procera Benth.

Tropical Asia and Australia. In times of scarcity, the bark is mixed with 

flour.

Albuca major Linn. 

Liliaceae

.

South Africa. In Kaffraria, Thunberg says the succulent stalk, which is 

rather mucilaginous, is chewed by the Hottentots and other travellers 

by way of quenching thirst.

Aletris farinosa Linn.

 Haemodoraceae (Liliaceae)

. AGUE-ROOT. 

COLIC-ROOT. CROW-CORN. STAR GRASS. UNICORN-ROOT.

North America. This plant, says Masters, is one of the most intense 

bitters known, but, according to Rafinesque, the Indians eat its bulbs.

Aleurites triloba (mollucana) Forst. 

Euphorbiaceae

. CANDLENUT 

TREE. COUNTRY WALNUT. OTAHEITE WALNUT.

Tropical Asia and Pacific Islands. This is a large tree cultivated in 

tropical countries for the sake of its nuts. It is native to the eastern 

islands of the Malayan Archipelago and of the Samoan gr'oup. In the 

Hawaiian Islands, it occurs in extensive forests. The kernels of the nut 

when dried and stuck on a reed are used by the Polynesians as a 

substitute for candles and as an article of food in New Georgia. When 

pressed they yield a large proportion of pure, palatable oil, also used as 

a drying oil for paint and known as walnut-oil and artist's-oil.

Alhagi camelorum Fisch. 

Leguminosae

. CAMELSTHORN. MANNA-

PLANT.

The Orient and central Asia. This indigenous shrub furnishes a manna 

by exudation.

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A. maurorum Medic. PERSIAN MANNA-PLANT.

North Africa to Hindustan. Near Kandahar and Herat, manna is found 

and collected on the bushes of this desert plant at flowering time after 

the spring rains. This manna is supposed by some to have been the 

manna of Scripture but others refer the manna of Scripture to one of 

the lichens.

Alisma plantago Linn. 

Alismaceae

. MAD-DOG WEED. WATER-

PLANTAIN.

North temperate zone and Australia. The solid part of the root contains 

farinaceous matter and, when deprived of its acrid properties by drying, 

is eaten by the Calmucks.

Allium akaka Gmel. 

Liliaceae

.

Persia. This plant appears in the bazar in Teheren as a vegetable under 

the name of wolag. It also grows in the Alps. The whole of the young 

plant is considered a delicacy and is used as an addition to rice in a 

pilau.

A. ampeloprasum Linn. GREAT-HEADED GARLIC. LEVANT 

GARLIC. WILD LEEK.

Europe and the Orient. This is a hardy perennial, remarkable for the 

size of the bulbs. The leaves and stems somewhat resemble those of the 

leek. The peasants in certain parts of Southern Europe eat it raw and 

this is its only known use.

A. angulosum Linn. MOUSE GARLIC.

Siberia. Called on the upper Yenisei mischei-tschesnok, mouse garlic, 

and from early times collected and salted for winter use.

A. ascalonicum Linn. SHALLOT.

Cultivated everywhere. The 

Askolonion krommoon

 of Theophrastus and 

the 

Cepa ascolonia

 of Pliny, are supposed to be our shallot but this 

identity can scarcely be claimed as assured. It is not established that 

the shallot occurs in a wild state, and De Candolle is inclined to believe 

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it is a form of 

A. cepa

, the onion. It is mentioned and figured in nearly 

all the early botanies, and many repeat the statement of Pliny that it 

came from Ascalon, a town in Syria, whence the name. Michaud, in his 

History of the Crusades, says that our gardens owe to the holy wars 

shallots, which take their name from Ascalon. Amatus Lusitanus, 1554, 

gives Spanish, Italian, French and German names, which go to show its 

early culture in these countries. In England, shallots are said to have 

been cultivated in 1633, but McIntosh  says they were introduced in 

1548; they do not seem to have been known to Gerarde in 1597. In 

1633, Worlidge says "eschalots art now from France become an English 

condiment." Shallots are enumerated for American gardens in 1806. 

Vilmorin mentions one variety with seven sub-varieties.

The bulbs are compound, separating into what are called cloves, like 

those of garlic, and are of milder flavor than other cultivated alliums. 

They are used in cookery as a seasoner in stews and soups, as also in a 

raw state; the cloves, cut into small sections, form an ingredient in 

French salads and are also sprinkled over steaks and chops. They 

make an excellent pickle. In China, the shallot is grown but is not 

valued as highly as is 

A. uliginosum

.

A. canadense Linn. TREE ONION. WILD GARLIC.

North America. There is some hesitation in referring the tree onion of the 

garden to this wild onion. Loudon refers to it as "the tree, or bulb-

bearing, onion, syn. Egyptian onion, 

A. cepa

, var. 

viviparium

; the stem 

produces bulbs instead of flowers and when these bulbs are planted 

they produce underground onions of considerable size and, being 

much stronger flavored than those of any other variety, they go farther 

in cookery." Booth says, "the bulb-bearing tree onion was introduced 

into England from Canada in 1820 and is considered to be a 

vivaparous variety of the common onion, which it resembles in 

appearance. It differs in its flower-stems being surmounted by a cluster 

of small green bulbs instead of bearing flowers and seed." It is a 

peculiarity of 

A. canadense

 that it often bears a head of bulbs in the 

place of flowers; its flavor is very strong; it is found throughout northern 

United States and Canada. Mueller says its top bulbs are much sought 

for pickles of superior flavor. Brown says its roots are eaten by some 

Indians. In 1674, when Marquette and his party journeyed from Green 

Bay to the present site of Chicago, these onions formed almost the entire 

source of food. The lumbermen of Maine often used the plant in their 

broths for flavoring. On the East Branch of the Penobscot, these onions 

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occur in abundance and are bulb-producing on their stalks. They grow 

in the clefts of ledges and even with the scant soil attain a foot in height. 

In the lack of definite information, it may be allowable to suggest that 

the tree onion may be a hybrid variety from this wild species, or 

possibly the wild species improved by cultivation. The name, Egyptian 

onion, is against this surmise, while, on the other hand, its apparent 

origination in Canada is in its favor, as is also the appearance of the 

growing plants.

A. cepa Linn. ONION.

Persia and Beluchistan. The onion has been known and cultivated as 

an article of food from the earliest period of history. Its native country is 

unknown. At the present time it is no longer found growing wild, but all 

authors ascribe to it an eastern origin. Perhaps it is indigenous from 

Palestine to India, whence it has extended to China, Cochin China, 

Japan, Europe, North and South Africa and America. It is mentioned in 

the Bible as one of the things for which the Israelites longed in the 

wilderness and complained about to Moses. Herodotus says, in his time 

there was an inscription on the Great Pyramid stating the sum 

expended for onions, radishes and garlic, which had been consumed by 

the laborers during the progress of its erection, as 1600 talents. A 

variety was cultivated, so excellent that it received worship as a divinity, 

to the great amusement of the Romans, if Juvenal is to be trusted. 

Onions were prohibited to the Egyptian priests, who abstained from 

most kinds of pulse, but they were not excluded from the altars of the 

gods. Wilkinson says paintings frequently show a priest holding them 

in his hand, or covering an altar with a bundle of their leaves and roots. 

They were introduced at private as well as public festivals and brought 

to table. The onions of Egypt were mild and of an excellent flavor and 

were eaten raw as well as cooked by persons of all classes.

Hippocrates says that onions were commonly eaten 430 B. C. 

Theophrastus, 322 B. C., names a number of varieties, the Sardian, 

Cnidian, Samothracian and Setanison, all named from the places where 

grown. Dioscorides, 60 A. D., speaks of the onion as long or round, 

yellow or white. Columella, 42 A. D., speaks of the Marsicam, which the 

country people call 

unionem

, and this word seems to be the origin of 

our word, onion, the French 

ognon

. Pliny, 79 A. D., devotes 

considerable space to 

cepa

, and says the round onion is the best, and 

that red onions are more highly flavored than the white. Palladius, 210 

A. D., gives minute directions for culture. Apicius, 230 A. D., gives a 

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number of recipes for the use of the onion in cookery but its uses by 

this epicurean writer are rather as a seasoner than as an edible. In the 

thirteenth century, Albertus Magnus describes the onion but does not 

include it in his list of garden plants where he speaks of the leek and 

garlic, by which we would infer, what indeed seems to have been the 

case with the ancients, that it was in less esteem than these, now minor, 

vegetables. In the sixteenth century, Amatus Lusitanus says the onion 

is one of the commonest of vegetables and occurs in red and white 

varieties, and of various qualities, some sweet, others strong, and yet 

others intermediate in savor. In 1570, Matthiolus refers to varieties as 

large and small, long, round and flat, red, bluish, green and white. 

Laurembergius, 1632, says onions differ in form, some being round, 

others, oblong; in color, some white, others dark red; in size, some 

large, others small; in their origin, as German, Danish, Spanish. He says 

the Roman colonies during the time of Agrippa grew in the gardens of 

the monasteries a Russian sort which attained sometimes the weight of 

eight pounds. He calls the Spanish onion oblong, white and large, 

excelling all other sorts in sweetness and size and says it is grown in 

large abundance in Holland. At Rome, the sort which brings the highest 

price in the markets is the Caieta; at Amsterdam, the St. Omer.

There is a tradition in the East, as Glasspoole writes, that when Satan 

stepped out of the Garden of Eden after the fall of man, onions sprang 

up from the spot where he placed his right foot and garlic from that 

where his left foot touched.

Targioni-Tozzetti thinks the onion will probably prove identical with 

A. 

fistulosum

 Linn., a species having a rather extended range in the 

mountains of South Russia and whose southwestern limits are as yet 

unascertained.

The onion has been an inmate of British gardens, says McIntosh, as 

long as they deserve the appellation. Chaucer," about 1340, mentions 

them: "Wel loved he garleek, onyons and ek leekes."

Humboldt says that the primitive Americans were acquainted with the 

onion and that it was called in Mexican 

xonacatl

. Cortez, in speaking of 

the edibles which they found on the march to Tenochtitlan, cites onions, 

leeks and garlic. De Candollel does not think that these names apply to 

the species cultivated in Europe. Sloane, in the seventeenth century, 

had seen the onion only in Jamaica in gardens. The word 

xonacati

 is 

not in Hernandez, and Acosta says expressly that the onions and 

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garlics of Peru came originally from Europe. It is probable that onions 

were among the garden herbs sown by Columbus at Isabela Island in 

1494, although they are not specifically mentioned. Peter Martyr 

speaks of "onyons" in Mexico and this must refer to a period before 

1526, the year of his death, seven years after the discovery of Mexico. It 

is possible that onions, first introduced by the Spaniards to the West 

Indies, had already found admittance to Mexico, a rapidity of 

adaptation scarcely impossible to that civilized Aztec race, yet 

apparently improbable at first thought.

Onions are mentioned by Wm. Wood, 1629-33, as cultivated in 

Massachusetts; in 1648, they were cultivated in Virginia; and were 

grown at Mobile, Ala., in 1775. In 1779, onions were among the Indian 

crops destroyed by Gen. Sullivan near Geneva, N. Y. In 1806, McMahon 

mentions six varieties in his list of American esculents. In 1828, the 

potato onion, 

A. cepa

, var. 

aggregatum

 G. Don, is mentioned by 

Thorburn as a "vegetable of late introduction into our country." Burr  

describes fourteen varieties.

Vilmorin describes sixty varieties, and there are a number of varieties 

grown in France which are not noted by him. In form, these may be 

described as flat, flattened, disc-form, spherical, spherical-flattened, 

pear-shaped, long. This last form seems to attain an exaggerated length 

in Japan, where they often equal a foot in length. In 1886, Kizo Tamari, 

a Japanese commissioner to this country, says, "Our onions do not 

have large, globular bulbs. They are grown just like celery and have 

long, white, slender stalks." In addition to the forms mentioned above, 

are the top onion and the potato onion. The onion is described in many 

colors, such as white, dull white, silvery white, pearly white, yellowish-

green, coppery-yellow, salmon-yellow, greenish-yellow, bright yellow, 

pale salmon, salmon-pink, coppery-pink, chamois, red, bright red, 

blood-red, dark red, purplish.

But few of our modem forms are noticed in the early botanies. The 

following synonymy includes all that are noted, but in establishing it, it 

must be noted that many of the figures upon which it is founded are 

quite distinct:

I.

Bulb flat at bottom, tapering towards stem.

Cepa

. Fuchsius, 430. 1542. 

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Cepa rotunda

. Bodaeus, 787. 1644. 

Caepe sive Cepa rubra el alba

. Bauhin, J. 2: 549. 1651. 

Geant de Rocca

. Vilm. 387. 1883. 

Mammoth Pompeii

. American Seedsmen. 

Golden Queen

. American Seedsmen. 

Paris Silverskin

. American Seedsmen. 

Silver White Etna

. American Seedsmen.

The difference at first sight between the crude figure of Fuchsius and 

the modern varieties is great, but ordinary experience indicates that the 

changes are no greater than can be observed under selection.

II. 

Bulb round at bottom, tapering towards stem.

Zwiblen

. Roeszl. 121. 1550. 

Cepa

. Trag. 737. 1552. 

Caepa

. Cam. Epit. 324. 1586. 

Blanc hatif de Valence

. Vilm. 378. 1883. 

Neapolitan Marzajola

. American Seedsmen. 

Round White Silverskin

. American Seedsmen. 

White Portugal

. American Seedsmen.

III. 

Bulb roundish, flattened above and below.

Cepa

. Matth. 276, 1558; Pin. 215. 1561.

Caepa capitata

. Matth. 388. 1570.

Cepe

. Lob. Obs. 73. 1576; Icon. 1:150. 1591.

Cepa rubra

. Ger. 134. 1597.

Cepa rotunda

. Dod. 687. i6i6.

Rouge gros-plat d'ltalie

. Vilm. 387. 1883.

Bermuda

. American Seedsmen.

Large Flat Madeira

. American Seedsmen.

Wethersfield Large Red

. American Seedsmen.

IV. 

Bulb rounded below, flattened above.

Cepa

. Pictorius 82. 1581. 

Philadelphia Yellow Dutch, or Strasburg

. American Seedsmen.

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V. 

Bulb spherical, or nearly so.

Cepa

. Trag. 737. 1552. Lauremb. 26. 1632, 

Cepe

. Lob. Obs. 73. 1576; Icon. 1;150. 1591. 

Cepe alba

. Ger. 134. 1597. 

Caepa capitata

. Matth. 419. 1598. 

Juane de Danvers

. Vilm. 380. 1883. 

Danvers

. American Seedsmen.

VI

Bulb concave on the bottom.

Cepa rotunda

. Bodaeus 786. 1644. 

Extra Early Red

. American Seedsmen.

VII. 

Bulb oblong. 

Caepa

. Cam. Epit. 324. 1586. 

Cepae Hispanica oblonga

. Lob. Icon. 1:150. 1591. 

Cepa oblonga

. Dod. 687. 1616; Bodaeus 787. 1644. 

Piriform

. Vilm. 388. 1883.

VIII. 

The top onion. 

In 1587, Dalechamp records with great surprise an onion plant which 

bore small bulbs in the place of seed.

A. cernuum Roth. WILD ONION.

Western New York to Wisconsin and southward. This and 

A. 

canadense

 formed almost the entire source of food for Marquette and 

his party on their journey from Green Bay to the present site of Chicago 

in the fall of 1674.

A. fistulosum Linn. CIBOUL. TWO-BLADED ONION. WELSH 

ONION.

Siberia, introduced into England in 1629. The Welsh onion acquired its 

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name from the German walsch (foreign). It never forms a bulb like the 

common onion but has long, tapering roots and strong fibers. It is 

grown for its leaves which are used in salads. McIntosh says it has a 

small, flat, brownish-green bulb which ripens early and keeps well and 

is useful for pickling. It is very hardy and, as Targioni-Tozzetti thinks, 

is probably the parent species of the onion. It is mentioned by 

McMahon in 1806 as one of the American garden esculents; by 

Randolph in Virginia before 1818; and was cataloged for sale by 

Thorburn in 1828, as at the present time.

A. neapolitanum Cyr. DAFFODIL GARLIC.

Europe and the Orient. According to Heldreich, it yields roots which are 

edible.

A. obliquum Linn.

Siberia. From early times the plant has been cultivated on the Tobol as 

a substitute for garlic.

A. odorum Linn. FRAGRANT-FLOWERED GARLIC.

Siberia. This onion is eaten as a vegetable in Japan.

A. oleraceum Linn. FIELD GARLIC.

Europe. The young leaves are used in Sweden to flavor stews and 

soups or fried with other herbs and are sometimes so employed in 

Britain but are inferior to those of the cultivated garlic.

A. porrum Linn. LEEK.

Found growing wild in Algiers but the 

Bon Jardinier

 says it is a native 

of Switzerland. It has been cultivated from the earliest times. This 

vegetable was the 

prason

 of the ancient Greeks, the 

porrum

 of the 

Romans, who distinguished two kinds, the 

capitatum

, or leek, and the 

sectile

, or chives, although Columella, Pliny, and Palladius, indicate 

these as forms of the same plant brought about through difference of 

culture, the chive-like form being produced by thick planting. In 

Europe, the leek was generally known throughout the Middle Ages, and 

in the earlier botanies some of the figures of the leek represent the two 

kinds of planting alluded to by the Roman writers. In England, 1726, 

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Townsend says that "leeks are mightily used in the kitchen for broths 

and sauces." The Israelites complained to Moses of the deprivation from 

the leeks of Egypt during their wanderings in the wilderness. Pliny 

states, that in his time the best leeks were brought from Egypt, and 

names Aricia in Italy as celebrated for them. Leeks were brought into 

great notice by the fondness for them of the Emperor Nero who used to 

eat them for several days in every month to clear his voice, which 

practice led the people to nickname him Porrophagus. The date of its 

introduction into England is given as 1562, but it certainly was 

cultivated there earlier, for it has been considered from time immemorial 

as the badge of Welshmen, who won a victory in the sixth century over 

the Saxons which they attributed to the leeks they wore by the order of 

St. David to distinguish them in the battle. It is referred to by Tusser 

and Gerarde as if in common use in their day.

The leek may vary considerably by culture and often attain a large size; 

one with the blanched portion a foot long and nine inches in 

circumference and the leaf fifteen inches in breadth and three feet in 

length has been recorded. Vilmorin described eight varieties in 1883 

but some of these are scarcely distinct. In 1806, McMahon named three 

varieties among American garden esculents. Leeks are mentioned by 

Romans as growing at Mobile, Ala., in 1775 and as cultivated by the 

Choctaw Indians. The reference to leeks by Cortez is noticed under A. 

cepa, the onion. The lower, or blanched, portion is the part generally 

eaten, and this is used in soups or boiled and served as asparagus. 

Buist names six varieties. The blanched stems are much used in French 

cookery.

A. reticulatum Fras.

North America. This is a wild onion whose root is eaten by the Indians.

A. roseum Linn. ROSY-FLOWERED GARLIC.

Mediterranean countries. According to Heldreich, this plant yields 

edible roots.

A. rotundum Linn.

Europe and Asia Minor. The leaves are eaten by the Greeks of Crimea.

A. rubellum Bieb.

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Europe, Siberia and the Orient. The bulbs are eaten by the hill people of 

India and the leaves are dried and preserved as a condiment.

A. sativum Linn. CLOWN'S TREACLE. GARLIC.

Europe. This plant, well known to the ancients, appears to be native to 

the plains of western Tartary and at a very early period was transported 

thence over the whole of Asia (excepting Japan), north Africa and 

Europe. It is believed to be the 

skorodon hemeron

 of Dioscorides and 

the 

allium

 of Pliny. It was ranked by the Egyptians among gods in 

taking an oath, according to Pliny. The want of garlics was lamented to 

Moses by the Israelites in the wilderness. Homer makes garlic a part of 

the entertainment which Nestor served to his guest, Machaon. The 

Romans are said to have disliked it on account of the strong scent but 

fed it to their laborers to strengthen them and to their soldiers to excite 

courage. It was in use in England prior to 1548 and both Turner and 

Tusser notice it. Garlic is said to have been introduced in China 140-86 

B. C. and to be found noticed in various Chinese treatises of the 

fifteenth, sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Loureiro 

found it under cultivation in Cochin China.

The first mention of garlic in America is by Peter Martyr, who states that 

Cortez fed on it in Mexico. In Peru, Acosta says "the Indians esteem 

garlike above all the roots of Europe." It was cultivated by the Choctaw 

Indians in gardens before 1775 and is mentioned among garden 

esculents by American writers on gardening in 1806 and since. The 

plant has the well-known alliaceous odor which is strongly penetrating, 

especially at midday. It is not as much used by northern people as by 

those of the south of Europe. In many parts of Europe, the peasantry 

eat their brown bread with slices of garlic which imparts a flavor 

agreeable to them. In seed catalogs, the sets are listed while seed is 

rarely offered. There are two varieties, the common and the pink.

A. schoenoprasum Linn. CHIVE. CIVE.

North temperate zone. This perennial plant seems to be grown in but 

few American gardens, although McMahon, 1806, included it in his list 

of American esculents. Chive plants are included at present among the 

supplies offered in our best seed catalogs. In European gardens, they 

are cultivated for the leaves which are used in salads, soups and for 

flavoring. Chives are much used in Scotch families and are considered 

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next to indispensable in omelettes and hence are much more used on 

the Continent of Europe, particularly in Catholic countries. In England, 

chives were described by Gerarde as "a pleasant Sawce and good Pot-

herb;" by Worlidge in 1683; the chive was among seedsmen's supplies 

in 1726; and it is recorded as formerly in great request but now of little 

regard, by Bryant in 1783.

The only indication of variety is found in Noisette, who enumerates the 

civette

, the 

cive d'Angleterre

 and the 

cive de Portugal

 but says these 

are the same, only modified by soil. The plant is an humble one and is 

propagated by the bulbs; for, although it produces flowers, these are 

invariably sterile according to Vilmorin.

A. scorodoprasum Linn. ROCAMBOLE. SAND LEEK. SPANISH 

GARLIC.

Europe, Caucasus region and Syria. This species grows wild in the 

Grecian Islands and probably elsewhere in the Mediterranean regions. 

Loudon says it is a native of Denmark, formerly cultivated in England 

for the same purposes as garlic but now comparatively neglected. It is 

not of ancient culture as it cannot be recognized in the plants of the 

ancient Greek and Roman authors and finds no mention of garden 

cultivation by the early botanists. It is the 

Scorodoprasum

 of Clusius, 

1601, and the 

Allii genus, ophioscorodon dictum quibusdam

, of J. 

Bauhin, 1651, but there is no indication of culture in either case. Ray, 

1688, does not refer to its cultivation in England. In 1726, however, 

Townsend says it is "mightly in request;" in 1783, Bryant classes it with 

edibles. In France it was grown by Quintyne, 1690. It is mentioned by 

Gerarde as a cultivated plant in 1596. Its bulbs are smaller than those 

of garlic, milder in taste and are produced at the points of the stem as 

well as at its base. Rocambole is mentioned among American garden 

esculents by McMahon, 1806, by Gardiner and Hepburn, 1818, and by 

Bridgeman, 1832.

A. senescens Linn.

Europe and Siberia. This species is eaten as a vegetable in Japan.

A. sphaerocephalum Linn. ROUND-HEADED GARLIC.

Europe and Siberia. From early times this species has been eaten by 

the people about Lake Baikal.

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A. stellatum Fras.

North America. "Bulb oblong-ovate and eatable."

A. ursinum Linn. BEAR'S GARLIC.  BUCKRAMS.  GIPSY ONION.  

HOG'S GARLIC. RAMSONS.

Europe and northern Asia. Gerarde, 1597, says the leaves were eaten in 

Holland. They were also valued formerly as a pot-herb in England, 

though very strong. The bulbs were also used boiled and in salads. In 

Kamchatka this plant is much prized. The Russians as well as the 

natives gather it for winter food.

A. vineale Linn. CROW GARLIC. FIELD GARLIC. STAG'S GARLIC.

Europe and now naturalized in northern America near the coast. In 

England, the leaves are used as are those of garlic.

Allophylus cobbe Blume. 

Sapindaceae

.

Eastern Asia. The berries, which are red in color and about the size of 

peas, are eaten by the natives.

A. zeylanicus Linn.

Himalayas. The fruit is eaten.

Alocasia indica Schott. 

Araideae (Araceae)

. PAI.

East Indies and south Asia, South Sea Islands and east Australia. The 

underground stems constitute a valuable and important vegetable of 

the native dietary in India. The stems sometimes grow to an immense 

size and can be preserved for a considerable time, hence they are of 

great importance in jail dietary when fresh vegetables become scarce in 

the bazar or jail-garden. For its esculent stems and small, pendulous 

tubers of its root, it is cultivated in Bengal and is eaten by people of all 

ranks in their curries. In the Polynesian islands its large tuberous roots 

are eaten. Wilkes says the natives of the Kingsmill group of islands 

cultivate this species with great care. The root is said to grow to a very 

large size.

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A. macrorhiza Schott. APE. TARO.

Tropics of Asia, Australia and the islands of the Pacific. The root is 

eaten in India, after being cooked, but it is inferior to that of 

A. 

esculentum

 The roots are also eaten in tropical America as well as by 

the people of New Caledonia, who cultivate it. It furnishes the 

roasting 

eddas

 of Jamaica and the 

tayoea

 of Brazil. It is the taro of New Holland, 

the roots of which, when roasted, afford a staple aliment to the natives. 

Wilkes states that this plant is the ape of the Tahitians and is cultivated 

as a vegetable.

Aloe sp. Liliaceae. ALOE.

The Banians of the African coast, according to Grant, cut the leaves of 

an aloe into small pieces, soak them in lime-juice, put them in the sun, 

and a pickle is thus formed.

Alpinia galanga Willd. 

Scitamineae (Zingiberaceae)

. GALANGAL. 

GALINGALE.

Tropical eastern Asia. The root is used in place of ginger in Russia and 

in some other countries for flavoring a liquor called 

nastoika

. By the 

Tartars, it is taken with tea." In Cochin China the fresh root is used to 

season fish and for other economic purposes.

A. globosa Horan.

China. The large, round China cardamons are supposed to be 

produced by this species. The Mongol conquerors of China set great 

store on this fruit as a spice.

A. striata Hort. AMOMUM. CARDAMOM.

East Indies. This is probably the 

amomon

 of Dioscorides. It is found in 

Sumatra, Java and other East Indian islands as far as Burma and 

produces the round cardamoms of commerce.

A. uviformis Horan.

Tropical Asia. The fruit is said to be edible.

Alsodeia (Rinorea) physiphora Mart. 

Violaceae

.

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Brazil. Used as a spinach in Brazil. The green leaves are very 

mucilaginous, and the negroes about Rio Janeiro eat them with their 

food.

Alsophila (Cyathea) lunulata R. Br. 

Cyatheaceae

. TREE FERN.

Viti. The young leaves are eaten in times of scarcity.

A. spinulosa Hook.

This is the 

pugjik

 of the Lepchas who eat the soft, watery pith. It is 

abundant in East Bengal and the peninsula of India.

Alstroemeria haemantha Ruiz & Pav. 

Amaryllideae 

(Alstroemeriaceae)

. HERB LILY. 

Chile. The plant furnishes a farina from its roots.

A. ligtu Linn.

Chile and the mountains of Peru. A farina is obtained from its roots. It 

is called in Peru Untu, in Chile 

utat

. Its roots furnish a palatable starch.

A. revoluta Ruiz & Pav.

Chile. Its roots furnish a farina.

A. versicolor Ruiz & Pav.

Chile. A farina is obtained from its roots. In France it is an inmate of the 

flower garden.

Althaea officinalis Linn. 

Malvaceae

. MARSHMALLOW. WHITE 

MALLOW.

The plant is found wild in Europe and Asia and is naturalized in places 

in America. It is cultivated extensively in Europe for medicinal 

purposes, acting as a demulcent. In 812, Charlemagne enjoined its 

culture in France. Johnson says its leaves may be eaten when boiled.

A. rosea Cav. HOLLYHOCK.

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The Orient. This species grows wild in China and in the south of 

Europe. Forskal says it is cultivated at Cairo for the sake of its leaves, 

which are esculent and are used in Egyptian cookery. It possesses 

similar properties to the marshmallow and is used for similar purposes 

in Greece.

Amaranthus blitum Linn. 

Amaranthaceae

. AMARANTHUS. WILD 

BLITE. 

Temperate and tropical zones. The plant finds use as a pot-herb.

A. campestris Willd.

East Indies. This species is one of the pot-herbs of the Hindus.

A. diacanthus Rafin.

North America. Rafinesque says the leaves are good to eat as spinach.

A. gangeticus Linn. AMARANTHUS.

Tropical zone. This amaranthus is cultivated by the natives in endless 

varieties and is in general use in Bengal. The plant is pulled up by the 

root and carried to market in that state. The leaves are used as a 

spinach. Roxburgh says there are four leading varieties cultivated as 

pot-herbs: Viridis, the common green sort, is most cultivated; Ruber, a 

beautiful, bright colored variety; Albus, much cultivated in Bengal; 

Giganteus, is five to eight feet high with a stem as thick as a man's 

wrist. The soft, succulent stem is sliced and eaten as a salad, or the tops 

are served as an asparagus. In China, the plant is eaten as a cheap, 

cooling, spring vegetable by all classes. It is much esteemed as a pot-

herb by all ranks of natives. This species is cultivated about Macao and 

the neighboring part of China and is the most esteemed of all their 

summer vegetables.

A. paniculatus Linn. PRINCE'S FEATHER. RED AMARANTH.

North America and naturalized in the Orient. This plant is extensively 

cultivated in India for its seed which is ground into flour. It is very 

productive. Roxburgh says it will bear half a pound of floury, nutritious 

seed on a square yard of ground. Titford says it forms an excellent pot-

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herb in Jamaica when boiled, exactly resembling spinach.

A. polygamus Linn. GOOSE-FOOT.

Tropical Africa and East Indies. This plant is cultivated in India and is 

used as a pot-herb. It has mucilaginous leaves without taste. This 

amaranthus is a common weed everywhere in India and is much used 

by the natives as a pot-herb. Drury says it is considered very 

wholesome. This species is the goose-foot of Jamaica, where it is 

sometimes gathered and used as a green.

A. polystachyus Willd.

East Indies. The species is cultivated in India as a pot-herb for its 

mucilaginous leaves but is tasteless.

A. retroflexus Linn. GREEN AMARANTH. PIGWEED.

North America. This weed occurs around dwellings in manured soil in 

the United States whence it was introduced from tropical America. It is 

an interesting fact that it is cultivated by the Arizona Indians for its 

seeds.

A. spinosus Linn. PRICKLY CALALUE. THORNY AMARANTH.

Tropical regions. This is a weed in cultivated land in Asia, Africa and 

America. It is cultivated sometimes as a spinach. In Jamaica, it is 

frequently used as a vegetable and is wholesome and agreeable. It 

seems to be the prickly calalue of Long.

A. viridis Linn.

Tropics. This plant is stated by Titford to be an excellent pot-herb in 

Jamaica and is said to resemble spinach when boiled

Ambelania acida Aubl. 

Apocynaceae

. 

Guiana. The fruit is edible.

Amelanchier ainifolia Nutt. 

Rosaceae

. WESTERN SERVICE 

BERRY.

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North America. In Oregon and Washington, the berries are largely 

employed as a food by the Indians. The fruit is much larger than that of 

the eastern service berry; growing in favorable localities, each berry is 

full half an inch in diameter and very good to eat.

A. canadensis Medic. GRAPE-PEAR. JUNEBERRY. SERVICE 

BERRY. SHAD. SWEET PEAR. 

North America and eastern Asia. This bush or small tree, according to 

the variety, is a native of the northern portion of America and eastern 

Asia. Gray describes five forms. For many years a Mr. Smith, 

Cambridge, Massachusetts, has cultivated var. 

oblongifolia

 in his 

garden and in 1881 exhibited a plate of very palatable fruit at the 

Massachusetts Horticultural Society's show. The berries are eaten in 

large quantities, fresh or dried, by the Indians of the Northwest. The 

fruit is called by the French in Canada 

poires

, in Maine sweet pear and 

from early times has been dried and eaten by the natives. It is called 

grape-pear in places, and its fruit is of a purplish color and an 

agreeable, sweet taste. The pea-sized fruit is said to be the finest fruit of 

the Saskatchewan country and to be used by the Cree Indians both 

fresh and dried.

A. vulgaris Moench. AMELANCHIER.

Mountains of Europe and adjoining portions of Asia. This species has 

long been cultivated in England, where its fruit, though not highly 

palatable, is eatable. It is valued more for its flowers than its fruit.

Ammobroma sonorae Torr. 

Lennoaceae

.

A leafless plant, native of New Mexico 

(Nope - MM)

. Col. Grey, the 

original discoverer of this plant, found it in the country of the Papago 

Indians, a barren, sandy waste, where rain scarcely ever falls, but 

"where nature has provided for the sustenance of man one of the most 

nutritious and palatable of vegetables." The plant is roasted upon hot 

coals and ground with mesquit beans and resembles in taste the sweet 

potato "but is far more delicate." It is very abundant in the hills; the 

whole plant, except the top, is buried in the sand.

Amomum. 

Scitamineae (Zingiberaceae)

, CARDAMOM.

The aromatic and stimulant seeds of many of the plants of the genus 

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Amomum

 are known as cardamoms, as are those of 

Elettaria

. The 

botanical history of the species producing the various kinds is in much 

confusion. One species at least is named as under cultivation.

A. angustifolium Sonner. GREAT CARDAMOM.

Madagascar. This plant grows on marshy grounds in Madagascar and 

affords in its seeds the Madagascar, or great cardamoms of commerce. 

It is called there longouze.

A. aromaticum Roxb.

East Indies. The fruit is used as a spice and medicine by the natives 

and is sold as cardamoms.

A. granum-paradisi Linn. GRAINS OF- PARADISE.

African tropics. The seeds are made use of illegally in England to give a 

fictitious strength to spirits and beer, but they are not particularly 

injurious. The seeds resemble and equal camphor in warmth and 

pungency.

A. maximum Roxb. JAVA CARDAMOM

Java and other Malay islands. This species is said to be cultivated in the 

mountains of Nepal.

A. melegueta Rose. MELEGUETA PEPPER.

African tropics. The seeds are exported from Guiana where the plant, 

supposed to have been brought from Africa, is cultivated by the 

negroes. The hot and peppery seeds form a valued spice in many parts 

of India and Africa.

A. villosum Lour.

East Indies and China. This plant is supposed to yield the hairy, round, 

China cardamoms.

A. xanthioides Wall. BASTARD CARDAMOM.

Burma. In China, says Smith, the seeds are used as a preserve or 

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condiment and are used in flavoring spirit.

Amorphophallus campanulatus Blume. 

Aroideae (Araceae)

. 

AMORPHOPHALLUS. TELINGA POTATO.

Tropical Asia. This plant is much cultivated, especially in the northern 

Circars, where it is highly esteemed for the wholesomeness and 

nourishing quality of its roots. The telinga potato is cooked in the 

manner of the yam and is also used for pickling. When in flower, the 

odor exhaled is most overpowering, resembling that of carrion, and flies 

cover the club of the spadix with their eggs. The root is very acrid in a 

raw state; it is eaten either roasted or boiled. At the Society Islands the 

fruit is eaten as bread, when breadfruit is scarce and in the Fiji Islands 

is highly esteemed for its nutritive properties.

A. lyratus Kunth.

East Indies. The roots are eaten by the natives and are thought to be 

very nutritious. They require, however, to be carefully boiled several 

times and to be dressed in a particular manner in order to divest them 

of a somewhat disagreeable taste.

Amphicarpaea edgeworthii Benth. 

Leguminosae

. WILD BEAN.

Himalayas. A wild, bean-like plant, the pods of which are gathered 

while green and used for food.

A. monoica Ell. HOG PEANUT.

North America. A delicate vine growing in rich woodlands which bears 

two kinds of flowers, the lower ones subterranean and producing fruit. 

It is a native of eastern United States. Porcher says that in the South the 

subterranean pod is cultivated as a vegetable and is called hog peanut.

Anacardium humile St. Hil. 

Anacardiaceae

. MONKEY-NUT.

Brazil. The nuts are eaten and conserves are made of the fruit.

A. nanum St. Hil.

Brazil. The nuts are eaten and conserves are made of the fruit.

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A. occidentale Linn. CASHEW.

This tree is indigenous to the West Indies, Central America, Guiana, 

Peru and Brazil in all of which countries it is cultivated. The Portuguese 

transplanted it as early as the sixteenth century to the East Indies and 

Indian archipelago. Its existence on the eastern coast of Africa is of still 

more recent date, while neither China, Japan, or the islands of the 

Pacific Ocean possess it. The shell of the fruit has thin layers, the 

intermediate one possessing an acrid, caustic oil, called cardol, which is 

destroyed by heat, hence the kernels are roasted before being eaten; the 

younger state of the kernel, however, is pronounced wholesome and 

delicious when fresh. Drury says the kernels are edible and wholesome, 

abounding in sweet, milky juice and are used for imparting a flavor to 

Madeira wine. Ground and mixed with cocoa, they make a good 

chocolate. The juice of the fruit is expressed, and, when fermented, 

yields a pleasant wine; distilled, a spirit is drawn from the wine making 

a good punch. A variety of the tree is grown in Travancore, probably 

elsewhere, the pericarp of the nuts of which has no oil but may be 

chewed raw with impunity. An edible oil equal to olive oil or almond oil 

is procured from the nuts but it is seldom prepared, the kernels being 

used as a table fruit. A gum, similar to gum arable, called 

cadju gum

, is 

secreted from this tree. The thickened receptacle of the nut has an 

agreeable, acid flavor and is edible.

A. rhinocarpus DC. WILD CASHEW.

South America. This is a noble tree of Columbia and British Guiana, 

where it is called wild cashew. It has pleasant, edible fruits like the 

cashew. In Panama, according to Seemann, the tree is called espave, in 

New Granada caracoli.

Anagallis arvensis Linn.   

Primulaceae

. PIMPERNEL.  POOR 

MAN'S WEATHERGLASS. SHEPHERD'S CLOCK.

Europe and temperate Asia. Pimpernel, according to Fraas, is eaten as 

greens in the Levant. Johnson says it forms a part of salads in France 

and Germany. The flowers close at the approach of bad weather, hence 

the name, poor man's weatherglass.

Anamirta paniculate Colebr. 

Menispermaceae

.

East Indies. A strong, climbing shrub found in the eastern part of the 

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Indian Peninsula and Malay Islands. From this plant is produced a 

deleterious drug illegally used in England to impart bitterness to beer.

Ananas sativus Schult. 

Bromeliaceae

. PINEAPPLE.

Tropical America. In 1493, the companions of Columbus, at 

Guadeloupe island, first saw the pineapple, the flavor and fragrance of 

which astonished and delighted them, as Peter Martyr records. The first 

accurate illustration and description appear to have been given by 

Oviedo in 1535. Las Casas, who reached the New World in 1502, 

mentions the finding by Columbus at Porto Bello of the delicious 

pineapple.  Oviedo, who went to America in 1513, mentions in his book 

three kinds as being then known. Benzoni, whose 

History of the New 

World 

was published in 1568 and who resided in Mexico from 1541 to 

1555, says that no fruit on God's earth could be more agreeable, and 

Andre Thevet, a monk, says that in his time, 1555-6, the 

nanas

 was 

often preserved in sugar. De Soto, 1557, speaks of "great pineapples of 

a very good smell and exceeding good taste" in the Antilles. Jean de 

Lery, 1578, describes it in his Voyage to Brazil as being of such 

excellence that the gods might luxuriate upon it and that it should only 

be gathered by the hand of a Venus. Acosta, 1578, also describes this 

fruit as of " an excellent smell, and is very pleasant and delightful in 

taste, it is full of juice, and of a sweet and sharp taste." He calls the 

plant 

ananas

. Raleigh, 1595, speaks of the " great abundance of pinas, 

the princesse of fruits, that grow under the Sun, especially those of 

Guiana."

Acosta states that the 

ananas

 was carried from Santa Cruz in Brazil to 

the West Indies, and thence to the East Indies and China, but he does 

not pretend by this that pineapples were not to be found out of Brazil, 

for he describes an idol in Mexico, Vitzili-putzli, as having "in his left 

hand a white target with the figures of five pineapples, made of white 

feathers, set in a crosse." Stephens, at Tuloom, on the coast of Yucatan, 

found what seemed intended to represent a pineapple among the 

stucco ornaments of a ruin. We do not know what to make of 

Wilkinson's n statement of one instance of the pineapple in glazed 

pottery being among the remains from ancient Egypt. It has probably 

been cultivated in tropical America from time immemorial, as it now 

rarely bears seeds. Humboldt mentions pineapples often containing 

seeds as growing wild in the forests of the Orinoco, at Esmeralda; and 

Schomburgk found the wild fruit, bearing seeds, in considerable 

quantity throughout Guiana. Piso also mentions a pineapple having 

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many seeds growing wild in Brazil. Titford says this delicious fruit is 

well known and very common in Jamaica, where there are several sorts. 

Unger says, in 1592 it was carried to Bengal and probably from Peru 

by way of the Pacific Ocean to China. Ainslie says that it was introduced 

in the reign of the Emperor Akbar by the Portuguese who brought the 

seed from Malacca; that it was naturalized in Java as early as 1599 and 

was taken thence to Europe. In 1594, it was cultivated in China, 

brought thither perhaps from America by way of the Philippines. An 

anonymous writer states that it was quite common in India in 1549 

and this is in accord with Acosta's statement.

The pineapple is now grown in abundance about Calcutta, and 

Firminger describes ten varieties. It is now a common plant in Celebes 

and the Philippine Islands. The Jesuit, Boymins, mentions it in his 

Flora Sinensis of 1636. A white kind in the East Indies, says Unger, 

which has run wild, still contains seed in its fruit. In 1777, Captain 

Cook planted pineapples in various of the Pacific Isles, as at Tongatabu, 

Friendly Islands, and Society Islands. Afzelius  says pineapples grow 

wild in Sierra Leone and are cultivated by the natives. Don states that 

they are so abundant in the woods as to obstruct passage and that they 

bear fruit abundantly. In Angola, wild pines are mentioned by 

Montiero, and the pineapple is noticed in East Africa by Krapf. R. 

Brown speaks of the pineapples as existing upon the west coast of 

Africa but he admits its American origin. In Italy, the first attempts at 

growing pineapples were made in 1616 but failed. At Leyden, a Dutch 

gardener was successful in growing them in 1686. The fruit, as 

imported, was known in England in the time of Cromwell and is again 

noticed in 1661 and in 1688 from Barbados. The first plants 

introduced into England came from Holland in 1690, but the first 

success at culture dates from 1712.

Anaphalis margaritacea Benth. & Hook. 

Compositae

. PEARLY 

EVERLASTING.

North America. Josselyn, prior to 1670, remarks of this plant that "the 

fishermen when they want tobacco, take this herb: being cut and 

dryed." In France, it is an inmate of the flower garden.

Anchomanes hookeri Schott. 

Aroideae (Araceae)

.

Eastern equatorial Africa. The large bulb is boiled and eaten.

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Anchusa officinalis Linn. 

Boragineae

. ANCHU. BUGLOSS.

Europe. Johnson says, in the south of France and in some parts of 

Germany, where it is common, the young leaves are eaten as a green 

vegetable.

Ancistrophyllum (Laccosperma) secundiflorum G. Mann & H. 

Wendl. 

Palmae

.

African tropics. The stems are cut into short lengths and are carried by 

the natives upon long journeys, the soft central parts being eaten after 

they have been properly roasted.

Andropogon schoenanthus Linn. 

Gramineae

. CAMEL'S HAY. 

GERANIUM GRASS. LEMON GRASS. OIL-PLANT.

Asia, African tropics and subtropics. This species is commonly 

cultivated for the fine fragrance of the leaves which are often used for 

flavoring custard. When fresh and young, the leaves are used in many 

parts of the country as a substitute for tea and the white center of the 

succulent leaf-culms is used to impart a flavor to curries. The tea made 

of this grass is considered a wholesome and refreshing beverage, says 

Wallich, and her Royal Majesty was supplied with the plant from the 

Royal Gardens, Kew, England.

Aneilema loureirii Hance. 

Commelinaceae

.

China. The plant is cultivated and its tubers are eaten by the Chinese. 

They are also eaten in India.

Angelica sylvestris Linn. 

Umbelliferae

. GROUND ASH. HOLY 

GHOST. WILD ANGELICA.

Europe and the adjoining portions of Asia. On the lower Volga, the 

young stems are eaten raw by the natives. Don says it is used as 

archangelica, but the flavor is more bitter and less grateful.

Angiopteris erecta Hoffm. 

Filices (Angiopteridaceae)

.

A fern of India, the Asiastic and Polynesian Islands. The caudex, as also 

the thick part of the stipes, is of a mealy and mucilaginous nature and 

is eaten by the natives in times of scarcity.

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Angraecum fragrans Thou. 

Orchideae

. BOURBON TEA. FAHAM 

TEA.

The leaves of this orchid are very fragrant and are used in Bourbon as 

tea. It has been introduced into France.

Anisophyllea laurina R. Br. 

Rhizophoreae/Anisophylleaceae

. 

MONKEY APPLE.

African tropics. The fruit is sold in the markets of Sierra Leone in the 

months of April and May; it is described by Don as being superior to 

any other which is tasted in Africa. It is of the size and shape of a 

pigeon's egg, red on the sunned side, yellow on the other, its flavor 

being something between that of the nectarine and a plum.

Annesorhiza capensis Cham. et Schlecht. 

Umbelliferae

. 

ANYSWORTEL. 

Cape of Good Hope. The root is eaten.

A. montana Eckl. & Zeyh.

South Africa. The plant has an edible root.

Anona asiatica Linn. 

Anonaceae

.

Ceylon and cultivated in Cochin China. The oblong-conical fruit, red on 

the outside, is filled with a whitish, .eatable pulp but is inferior in flavor 

to that of 

A. squamosa

.

A. cherimolia Mill. CHERIMALLA. CHERIMOYA. CHERIMOYER. 

CUSTARD APPLE.

American tropics. Originally from Peru, this species seems to be 

naturalized only in the mountains of Port Royal in Jamaica. Venezuela, 

New Granada and Brazil know it only as a plant of cultivation. It has 

been carried to the Cape Verde Islands and to Guinea. The cherimoya is 

not mentioned among the fruits of Florida by Atwood in 1867 but is 

included in the American Pomological Society's list for 1879. In 1870, 

specimens were growing at the United States Conservatory in 

Washington. The fruit is esteemed by the Peruvians as not inferior to 

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any fruit of the world. Humboldt speaks of it in terms of praise. 

Herndon says Huanuco is par excellence the country of the celebrated 

cherimoya, and that he has seen it there quite twice as large as it is 

generally seen in Lima and of the most delicious flavor. Masters says, 

however, that Europeans do not confirm the claims of the cherimoya to 

superiority among fruits, and the verdict is probably justified by the 

scant mention by travellers and the limited diffusion.

A. cinerea Dunal. ANON. SUGAR APPLE. SWEETSOP.

West Indies. This species is placed by Unger among edible fruit-bearing 

plants.

A. muricata Linn. COROSSOL. PRICKLY CUSTARD APPLE. 

SOURSOP.

Tropical America. This tree grows wild in Barbados and Jamaica but in 

Surinam has only escaped from gardens. It is cultivated in the whole of 

Brazil, Peru and Mexico. In Jamaica, the fruit is sought after only by 

negroes. The plant has quite recently been carried to Sierra Leone. It is 

not mentioned among the fruits of Florida by Atwood in 1867 but is 

included in the American Pomological Society's list for 1879. The smell 

and taste of the fruit, flowers and whole plant resemble much those of 

the black currant. The pulp of the fruit, says Lunan, is soft, white and 

of a sweetish taste, intermixed with oblong, dark colored seeds, and, 

according to Sloane, the unripe fruit dressed like turnips tastes like 

them. Morelet says the rind of the fruit is thin, covering a white, 

unctuous pulp of a peculiar, but delicious, taste, which leaves on the 

palate a flavor of perfumed cream. It has a peculiarly agreeable flavor 

although coupled with a biting wild taste. Church says its leaves form 

corossol tea.

A. paludosa Aubl.

Guiana, growing upon marshy meadows. The species bears elongated, 

yellow berries, the size of a hen's egg, which have a juicy flesh.

A. palustris Linn. ALLIGATOR APPLE. CORK-WOOD. MONKEY 

APPLE. POND APPLE.

American and African tropics. The plant bears fruit the size of the fist. 

The seeds, as large as a bean, lie in an orange-colored pulp of an 

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unsavory taste but which has something of the smell and relish of an 

orange. The fruit is considered narcotic and even poisonous in Jamaica 

but of the latter we have, says Lunan, no certain proof. The wood of the 

tree is so soft and compressible that the people of Jamaica call it 

corkwood and employ it for stoppers.

A. punctata Aubl.

Guiana. The plant bears a brown, oval, smooth fruit about three inches 

in diameter with little reticulations on its surface. The flesh is reddish, 

gritty and filled with little seeds. It has a good flavor and is eaten with 

pleasure. It is the pinaou of Guiana.

A. reticulata Linn. ANON. BULLOCK'S HEART. CORAZON. 

COROSSOL. CUSTARD APPLE.

Tropical America. Cultivated in Peru, Brazil, in Malabar and the East 

Indies. This delicious fruit is produced in Florida in excellent perfection 

as far north as St. Augustine ; it is easily propagated from seed. Masters  

says its yellowish pulp is not so much relished as that of the soursop or 

cherimoyer. Lunan says, in Jamaica, the fruit is much esteemed by 

some people. Unger says it is highly prized but he calls the fruit brown, 

the size of the fist, while Lunan says brown, shining, of a yellow or 

orange color, with a reddishness on one side when ripe.

A. senegalensis Pers.

African tropics and Guiana. The fruit is not much larger than a pigeon's 

egg but its flavor is said, by Savine, to be superior to most of the other 

fruits of this genus.

A. squamosa Linn. ANON. SUGAR APPLE. SWEETSOP.

It is uncertain whether the native land of this tree is to be looked for in 

Mexico, or on the plains along the mouth of the Amazon. Von Martius 

found it forming forest groves in Para. It is cultivated in tropical 

America and the West Indies and was early transported to China, 

Cochin China, the Philippines and India. The fruit is conical or pear-

shaped with a greenish, imbricated, scaly shell. The flesh is white, full of 

long, brown granules, very aromatic and of an agreeable strawberry-

like, piquant taste. Rhind says the pulp is delicious, having the odor of 

rose water and tasting like clotted cream mixed with sugar. Masters 

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says the fruit is highly relished by the Creoles but is little esteemed by 

Europeans. Lunan says it is much esteemed by those who are fond of 

fruit in which sweet prevails. Drury says the fruit is delicious to the 

taste and on occasions of famine in India has literally proved the staff of 

life to the natives.

Anthemis nobilis Linn. 

Compositae

. CAMOMILE.

Europe. Naturalized in Delaware. This plant is largely cultivated for 

medicinal purposes in France, Germany and Italy. It has long been 

cultivated in kitchen gardens, an infusion of its flowers serving as a 

domestic remedy. The flowers are occasionally used in the manufacture 

of bitter beer and, with wormwood, make to a certain extent a 

substitute for hops. It has been an inmate of American gardens from an 

early period. In France it is grown in flower-gardens.

Anthericum hispidum Linn. 

Liliaceae

. ST. BERNARD'S LILY.

South Africa. The sprouts are eaten as a substitute for asparagus. They 

are by no means unpalatable, says Carmichael,9 though a certain 

clamminess which they possess, that induces the sensation as of 

pulling hairs from between one's lips, renders them at first unpleasant.

Anthistiria (Themeda) imberbis Retz. 

Gramineae

.

Africa. This grass grows in great luxuriance in the Upper Nile region, 5° 

5' south, and in famines furnishes the natives with a grain.

Anthocephalus morindaefolius Korth. 

Rubiaceae/Naucleaceae

.

East Indies and Sumatra. This large tree is cultivated in Bengal, North 

India and elsewhere. The flowers are offered on Hindu shrines. The 

yellow fruit, the size of a small orange, is eaten. The plant is a native of 

the Siamese countries.

Anthriscus cerefolium Hoffm. 

Umbelliferae

. CHERVIL.

Europe, Orient and north Asia. This is an old fashioned pot-herb, an 

annual, which appears in garden catalogs. Chervil is said to be a native 

of Europe and was cultivated in England by Gerarde in 1597. 

Parkinson says "it is sown in gardens to serve as salad herb." Pliny 

mentions its use by the Syrians, who cultivated it as a food, and ate it 

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both boiled and raw. Booth says the French and Dutch have scarcely a 

soup or a salad in which chervil does not form a part and as a seasoner 

is by many preferred to parsley. It seems still to find occasional use in 

England, Chervil was cultivated in Brazil in 1647 but there are no 

references to its early use in America. The earlier writers on American 

gardening mention it, however, from McMahon in 1806. The leaves, 

when young, are the parts used to impart a warm, aromatic flavor to 

soups, stews and salads. Gerarde speaks of the roots as being edible. 

There are curled-leaved varieties

Antidesma bunius Spreng. 

Euphorbiaceae (Stilaginaceae)

.

A tree of Nepal, Amboina and Malabar. Its shining, deep red, fruits are 

subacid and palatable. In Java, the fruits are used, principally by 

Europeans, for preserving.

A. diandrum Spreng.

East Indies. The berries are eaten by the natives. The leaves are acid 

and are made into preserve.

A. ghesaembilla Gaertn.

East Indies, Malay, Australia and African tropics. The small drupes, 

dark purple when ripe, with pulp agreeably acid, are eaten.

Apios tuberosa (americana) Moench. 

Leguminosae

. GROUNDNUT. 

WILD BEAN.

Northeast America. The tubers are used as food. Kalm says this is the 

kopniss of the Indians on the Delaware, who ate the roots; that the 

Swedes ate them for want of bread, and that in 1749 some of the 

English ate them instead of potatoes. Winslow says that the Pilgrims, 

during their first winter, "were enforced to live on ground nuts." At Port 

Royal, in 1613, Biencourt and his followers used to scatter about the 

woods and shores digging ground nuts. In France, the plant is grown in 

the flower garden.

Apium graveolens Linn. 

Umbelliferae

. ACHE. CELERY. 

SMALLAGE.

A plant of marshy places whose habitat extends from Sweden 

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southward to Algeria, Egypt, Abyssinia and in Asia even to the 

Caucasus, Baluchistan and the mountains of British India and has 

been found in Tierra del Fuego, in California and in New Zealand. 

Celery is supposed to be the 

selinon

 of the Odyssey, the 

selinon heleion

 

of Hippocrates, the 

eleioselinon

 of Theophrastus and Dioscorides and 

the 

helioselinon

 of Pliny and Palladius. It does not seem to have been 

cultivated, although by some commentators the plant known as 

smallage has a wild and a cultivated sort. Nor is there one clear 

statement that this smallage was used as food, for 

sativus

 means 

simply planted as distinguished from growing wild, and we may 

suppose that this Apium, if smallage was meant, was planted for 

medicinal use. Targioni-Tozzetti says this Apium was considered by the 

ancients rather as a funereal or ill-omened plant than as an article of 

food, and that by early modern writers it is mentioned only as a 

medicinal plant. This seems true, for Fuchsius, 1542, does not speak of 

its being cultivated and implies a medicinal use alone, as did 

Walafridus Strabo in the ninth century; Tragus, 1552; Pinaeus, 1561; 

Pena and Lobel, 1570, and 

Ruellius' Dioscorides

, 1529. Camerarius' 

Epitome of Matthiolus

, 1586, says planted also in gardens; and 

Dodonaeus, in his 

Pemptades

, 1616, speaks of the wild plant being 

transferred to gardens but distinctly says not for food use. According to 

Targioni-Tozzetti, Alamanni, in the sixteenth century, speaks of it, but 

at the same time praises Alexanders for its sweet roots as an article of 

food. Bauhin's names, 1623, 

Apium palustre

 and 

Apium officinarum

, 

indicate medicinal rather than food use, and J. Bauhin's name, 

Apium 

vulgare ingratus

, does not promise much satisfaction in the eating. 

According to Bretschneider, celery, probably smallage, can be identified 

in the Chinese work of Kia Sz'mu, the fifth century A. D., and is 

described as a cultivated plant in the Nung Cheng Ts'nan Shu, 1640. 

We have mention of a cultivated variety in France by Olivier de Serres, 

1623, and in England the seed was sold in 1726 for planting for the 

use of the plant in soups and broths; and Miller says, 1722, that 

smallage is one of the herbs eaten to purify the blood. Cultivated 

smallage is now grown in France under the name 

Celeri a couper

, 

differing but little from the wild form. The number of names that are 

given to smallage indicate antiquity.

The prevalence of a name derived from one root indicates a recent 

dispersion of the cultivated variety. Vilmorinl gives the following 

synonyms: French 

Celeri

, English 

celery

, German 

Selleree

, Flanders 

Selderij

, Denmark 

Selleri

, Italy 

Sedano

, Spain 

apio

, Portugal 

Aipo

. The 

first mention of the word celery seems to be in Walafridus Strabo's 

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poem entitled 

Hortulus

, where he gives the medicinal uses of Apium 

and in line 335 uses the word as follows: “

Passio turn celeri cedit 

devicia medelae

." "The disease then to celery yields, conquered by the 

remedy," as it may be literally construed, yet the word celeri here may 

be translated quick-acting and this suggests that our word celery was 

derived from the medicinal uses. Strabo wrote in the ninth century; he 

was born A. D. 806 or 807, and died in France in 849.

Targioni-Tozzetti says, it is certain that in the sixteenth century celery 

was grown for the table in Tuscany. There is no mention of celery in 

Fuchsius, 1542; Tragus, 1552; Matthiolus' 

Commentaries

, 1558; 

Camerarius' 

Epitome

, 1558; Pinaeus, 1561; Pena and Lobel, 1570; 

Gerarde, 1597; Clusius, 1601; Dodonaeus, 1616; or in Bauhin's 

Pinax

, 

1623; Parkinson's 

Paradisus

, 1629, mentions Sellery as a rarity and 

names it 

Apium dulce

. Ray, in his 

Historia Plantarum

, 1686, says, 

"smallage transferred to culture becomes milder and less ungrateful, 

whence in Italy and France the leaves and stalks are esteemed as 

delicacies, eaten with oil and pepper." The Italians call this variety 

Sceleri

 or 

Celeri

. The French also use the vegetable and the name. Ray 

adds that in English gardens the cultivated form often degenerates into 

smallage. Quintyne, who wrote prior to 1697, the year in which the 

third edition, of his 

Complete Gardener

 was published, says, in France 

"we know but one sort of it." Celeri is mentioned, however, as 

Apium 

dulce

, 

Celeri Italorum

 by Toumefort, 1665. In 1778, Mawe and 

Abercrombie note two sorts of celery in England, one with the stalks 

hollow and the other with the stalks solid. In 1726, Townsend 

distinguished the celeries as smallage and "selery" and the latter he 

says should be planted "for Winter Sallads, because it is very hot." 

Tinburg says celery is common among the richer classes in Sweden and 

is preserved in cellars for winter use. In 1806, McMahon mentions four 

sorts in his list of garden esculents for American use. It is curious that 

no mention of a plant that can suggest celery occurs in Bodaeus and 

Scaliger's edition of Theophrastus, published at Amsterdam in 1644.

There is no clear evidence, then, that smallage was grown by the 

ancients as a food plant but that if planted at all it was for medicinal 

use. The first mention of its cultivation as a food plant is by Olivier de 

Serres, 1623, who called it 

ache

, while Parkinson speaks of celery in 

1629, and Ray indicates the cultivation as commencing in Italy and 

extending to France and England. Targioni-Tozzetti states, however, as 

a certainty that celery was grown in Tuscany in the sixteenth century. 

The hollow celery is stated by Mawe to have been the original kind and 

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is claimed by Cobbett, even as late as 1821, as being the best.

The first celeries grown seem to have differed but little from the wild 

plant, and the words celery and (cultivated) smallage were apparently 

nearly synonymous at one time, as we find cultivated 

ache

 spoken of in 

1623 in France and at later dates 

petit celeri

 or 

celeri a couper

, a 

variety with hollow stalks, cultivated even at the present time for use of 

the foliage in soups and broths. Among the earlier varieties we find 

mention of hollow-stalked, stalks sometimes hollow, and solid-stalked 

forms; at the present time the hollow-stalked forms have been 

discarded. Vilmorin describes twelve sorts as distinct and worthy of 

culture in addition to the 

celeri a couper

 but in all there is this to be 

noted, there is but one type.

In Italy and the Levant, where celery is much grown, but not blanched, 

the green leaves and stalks are used as an ingredient in soups. In 

England and America, the stalks are always blanched and used raw as 

a salad or dressed as a dinner vegetable. The seeds are also used for 

flavoring. In France, celery is said by Robinson never to be as well 

grown as in England or America. By cultivation, celery, from a 

suspicious if not poisonous plant, has become transformed into the 

sweet, crisp, wholesome and most agreeable cultivated vegetable.

A. graveolens rapaceum DC. CELERIAC. TURNIP-ROOTED 

CELERY.

Europe, Orient, India and California. This variety of celery forms a stout 

tuber, irregularly rounded, frequently exceeding the size of one's fist, 

hence it is often termed turnip-rooted celery. In France, it is commonly 

grown in two varieties. The tuber, generally eaten cooked, is sometimes 

sliced and used in salads. In Germany, it is commonly used as a 

vegetable, cooked in soups or cooked and sliced for salads. In England, 

celeriac is seldom grown. In this country, it is grown only to a limited 

extent and is used only by our French and German population. When 

well grown, these bulbs should be solid, tender and delicate.

In 1536, Ruellius, in treating of the 

ache

, or uncultivated smallage as 

would appear from the context, says the root is eaten, both raw and 

cooked. Rauwolf, who travelled in the East, 1573-75, speaks of 

Eppich

, 

whose roots are eaten as delicacies, with salt and pepper, at Tripoli and 

Aleppo; and J. Bauhin, who died in 1613, mentions a 

Selinum 

tuberosum, sive Buselini speciem

, as named in Honorius Bellus, which 

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seems to be the first mention of celeriac, as the earlier references quoted 

may possibly refer to the root of the ordinary sort, although probably 

not, for at this date the true celery had scarcely been sufficiently 

developed. In 1729, Switzer describes the plant in a book devoted to 

this and other novelties but adds that he had never seen it; this 

indicates that celeriac was little known in England at this date, for he 

adds that the gentleman, who had long been an importer of curious 

seeds, furnished him with a supply from Alexandria. Celeriac is again 

named in England in 1752, 1765, and by succeeding writers but is 

little known even at the present time. In 1806, McMahon includes this 

in his list of American garden esculents, as does Randolph for Virginia 

before 1818. Burr describes two varieties, and two varieties are offered 

in our seed catalogs. The history of celeriac is particularly interesting, 

as we seem to have a record of its first introduction and of a size at that 

time which is not approached in modern culture.

Jo. Baptista Porta, a Neapolitan, writes thus in his 

Villae

, published at 

Frankfurt in 1592 (lib. 10, chap. 21), the translation being liberal: 

"There is another kind of celery called Capitatum, which is grown in the 

gardens of St. Agatha, Theano and other places in Apulia, granted from 

nature and unseen and unnamed by the ancients. Its bulb is spherical, 

nearly of the size of a man's head. It is very sweet, odorous and grateful. 

Except in rich land, it degenerates, until it differs from the common 

apium in no respects, except in its root, round like a head."

A. prostratum Labill. AUSTRALIAN CELERY.

Australian and Antarctic regions. Mueller says this plant can be utilized 

as a culinary vegetable.

Apocynum reticulatum Linn. 

Apocynaceae

. DOGBANE.

East Indies. According to Unger, this plant furnishes a food.

Aponogeton distachyum Thunb. 

Naiadaceae (Aponogetonaceae)

. 

CAPE ASPARAGUS. CAPE POND-WEED.

South Africa. This plant has become naturalized in a stream near 

Montpelier, France. Its flowering spikes, known as water 

untjie

, are in 

South Africa in high repute as a pickle and also afford a spinach. In 

Kaffraria, the roasted roots are reckoned a great delicacy.

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A. fenestralis Hook. LATTICE-LEAP. WATER-YAM.

Madagascar. Ellis says this plant is not only extremely curious but also 

very valuable to the natives who, at certain seasons of the year, gather it 

as an article of food, the fleshy root, when cooked, yielding a 

farinaceous substance resembling the yam.

A. monostachyon Linn. f.

Tropical eastern Asia. The natives relish the small tubers as an article of 

diet; they are said to be as good as potatoes, and are esteemed a great 

delicacy.

Aporusa lindleyana Baill. 

Euphorbiaceae

.

East Indies. The small, berry-like fruit is edible.

Aquilegia canadensis Linn. 

Ranunculaceae

. WILD COLUMBINE.

North America. The roots are eaten by some Indians, according to R. 

Brown.

Arachis hypogaea Linn. 

Leguminosae

. EARTH NUT. EARTH 

ALMOND. GOOBER. GRASS NUT. GROUND NUT. PEANUT. 

PINDAR.

Tropical America. This plant is now under cultivation in warm climates 

for the seeds which are largely eaten as nuts, and from which an oil is 

extracted to be used as a substitute for olive oil to which it is equal in 

quality. Although now only under field cultivation in America, yet, in 

1806, McMahon included this plant among kitchen-garden esculents. 

For a long time, writers on botany were uncertain whether the peanut 

was a native of Africa or of America, but, since Squier has found this 

seed in jars taken from the mummy graves of Peru, the question of its 

American origin seems settled. The first writer who notes it, is Oviedo in 

his 

Cronica de las Indias

, who says "the Indians cultivate very much 

the fruit mani." Before this, the French colonists, sent in 1555 to the 

Brazilian coast, became acquainted with it under the name of mandobi.

The peanut was figured by Laet, 1625, and by Marcgravius, 1648, as 

the 

anchic

 of the Peruvians, the 

mani

 of the Spaniards. It seems to be 

mentioned by Garcilasso de la Vega, 1609, as being raised by the 

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Indians under the name, 

ynchic

. The Spaniards call it 

mani

 but all the 

names, he observes, which the Spaniards give to the fruits and 

vegetables of Peru belong to the language of the Antilles. The fruit is 

raised underground, he says, and "is very like marrow and has the 

taste of almonds." Marcgravius, 1648, and Piso, 1658, describe and 

figure the plant, under the name of 

mandubi

, as common and 

indigenous in Brazil. They cite Monardes, an author late in the 

sixteenth century, as having found it in Peru with a different name, 

anchic

. Father Merolla, 1682, under the name of 

mandois

, describes a 

vegetable of Congo which grows "three or four together like vetches but 

underground and are about the bigness of an ordinary olive. From 

these milk is extracted like to that drawn from almonds." This may be 

the peanut. In China, especially in Kwangtung, peanuts are grown in 

large quantities and their consumption by the people is very great. The 

peanut was included among garden plants by McMahon, 1806; Burr, 

1863, describes three varieties; and Jefferson speaks of its culture in 

Virginia in 1781. Its culture was introduced into France in 1802, and 

the peanut was described among pot-herbs by Noisette, 1829.

Aralia cordata Thunb. 

Araliaceae

. UDO.

Japan. The young shoots of this species provide an excellent culinary 

vegetable. They are used in soups in Japan. According to Siebold, this 

plant is universally cultivated in Japan, in fields and gardens. It is 

valued for its root which is eaten like scorzonera, but the young stalks 

are likewise a delicious vegetable.

A. (Panax) quinquefolia Decne & Planch. GINSENG.

North America. The root is collected in large quantities in the hilly 

regions of Ohio, western Virginia, Minnesota and other parts of eastern 

America for export to China where it is valued as a medicine. Some 

persons in this country are in the habit of chewing the root, having 

acquired a relish for its taste, and it is chiefly to supply the wants of 

these that it is kept in the shops.

Araucaria bidwillii Hook. 

Coniferae (Araucariaceae)

. BUNYA-

BUNYA.

Australia; the 

bunya-bunya

 of the natives. The cones furnish an edible 

seed which is roasted. Each tribe of the natives has its own set of trees 

and each family its own allotment among them. These are handed down 

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from generation to generation with the greatest exactness and are 

believed to be the only hereditary personal property possessed by the 

aborigines.

A. brasiliana A. Rich. BRAZILIAN PINE.

Brazil. The seeds are very large and are eatable. They are sold as an 

article of food in the streets of Rio de Janeiro.

A. imbricate Pav. CHILIAN PINE. MONKEY PUZZLE.

Southern Chili. The seeds are eaten by the Indians, either fresh, boiled 

or roasted, and from them is distilled a spirituous liquor. Eighteen 

good-sized trees will yield enough for a man's sustenance all the year 

round.

Arbutus andrachne Linn. 

Ericaceae

. STRAWBERRY TREE.

East Mediterranean countries. Its fruit was eaten during the Golden 

Age. Don says the fruit seems to be used in Greece.

A. canariensis Duham.

Canary Islands. The berries are made into a sweetmeat.

A. menziesii Pursh. MADRONA.

Pacific Coast of North America. The berries resemble Morello cherries. 

When ripe they are quite ornamental and are said sometimes to be 

eaten.

A. unedo Linn. ARBUTE. CANE APPLES. STRAWBERRY TREE.

Mediterranean countries. Theophrastus says the tree produces an 

edible fruit; Pliny, that it is not worth eating. Sir J. E. Smith describes 

the fruit as uneatable in Ireland, but W. Wilson says he can testify from 

repeated experience that the ripe fruit is really very palatable; In Spain, 

a sugar and a sherbet are obtained from it.

Archangelica (Angelica) atropurpurea Hoffm. 

Umbelliferae

. GREAT 

ANGELICA. MASTERWORT.

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North America. This plant is found from New England to Pennsylvania, 

Wisconsin, and northward. Stillel says the stems are sometimes 

candied. The root is used in domestic medicines as an aromatic and 

stimulant.

A. gmelini DC. ANGELICA.

Northwest Asia. This species is used for culinary purposes by the 

Russians in Kamchatka. The root, dug in the autumn of the first year, 

is used in medicine as an aromatic tonic and possesses the taste and 

smell of the seeds.

A. officinalis (archangelica)  Hoffm. ANGELICA. ARCHANGEL. 

WILD PARSNIP.

Europe, Siberia and Himalayan regions. This plant is a native of the 

north of Europe and is found in the high, mountainous regions in 

south Europe, as in Switzerland and among the Pyrenees. It is also 

found in Alaska. Angelica is cultivated in various parts of Europe and is 

occasionally grown in American gardens. The whole plant has a 

fragrant odor and aromatic properties. Angelica is held in great 

estimation in Lapland, where the natives strip the stem of leaves, and 

the soft, internal part, after the outer skin has been pulled off, is eaten 

raw like an apple or turnip. In Kamchatka, the roots are distilled and a 

kind of spirit is made from them, and on the islands of Alaska, where it 

is abundant and called wild parsnip, it is stated by Dall to be edible. 

Angelica has been in cultivation in England since 1568. The leaf-stalks 

were formerly blanched and eaten like celery. The plant is in request for 

the use of confectioners, who make an excellent sweetmeat with the 

tender stems, stalks, and ribs of the leaves candied with sugar. The 

seeds enter into the composition of many liquors. In the north of 

Europe, the leaves and stalks are still used as a vegetable.

The medicinal properties of the root were highly prized in the Middle 

Ages. In Pomet, we read that the seed is much used to make angelica 

comfits as well as the root for medicine. Bryant deems it the best 

aromatic that Europe produces. This plant must be a native of northern 

Europe, for there are no references to it in the ancient authors of Greece 

and Rome, nor is it mentioned by Albertus Magnus in the thirteenth 

century. By Fuchsius, 1542, and succeeding authors it receives proper 

attention. The German name, 

Heilige Geist Wurz

, implies the estimation 

in which it was held and offers a clue to the origin of the word Angelica, 

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or angel plant, which occurs in so many languages, as in English, 

Spanish, Portugese, and Italian, becoming 

Angelique

 and 

Archangelique

 in French, and 

Angelickwurz

 in German. Other names of 

like import are the modern 

Engelwurz

 in Germany, 

Engelkruid

 in 

Flanders and 

Engelwortel

 in Holland.

The various figures given by herbalists show the same type of plant, the 

principal differences to be noted being in the size of the root. Pena and 

Lobel, 1570, note a smaller variety as cultivated in England, Belgium, 

and France, and Gesner is quoted by Camerarius as having seen roots 

of three pounds weight. Bauhin, 1623, says the roots vary, the Swiss-

grown being thick, those of Bohemia smaller and blacker.

Garden angelica is noticed amongst American garden medicinal herbs 

by McMahon, 1806, and the seed is still sold by our seedsmen.

Arctium majus (lappa) Bernh. 

Compositae

. BEGGAR'S BUTTONS. 

BURDOCK. CLOTBUR. CUCKOLD. GOBO. HARLOCK.

Europe and Asia and occurring as a weed in the United States. In 

Japan, burdock is said to be cultivated as a vegetable. Gerarde says 

"the staike of the 

clotburre

 before the burres come forth, the rinde peelld 

off, being eaten raw with salt and pepper, or boyled in the broth of fat 

meate, is pleasant to be eaten." Kalm, in his 

Travels in North America

, 

writing of Ticonderoga, N. Y., says: "and the governor told me that its 

tender shoots are eaten in spring as radishes, after the exterior part is 

taken off." In Japan, says Johns, the tender stalks are eaten as an 

asparagus, and its roots are said to be edible. Penhallow says the 

Japanese cultivate the root, but as an article of food it is tasteless, hard 

and fibrous.

Arctostaphylos alpina Spreng. 

Ericaceae

. ALPINE BEARBERRY.

Arctic regions and mountain summits farther south. The berries are 

eaten in Lapland but are a mawkish food, according to Linnaeus. 

Richardson says there are two varieties, that both are eaten in the 

autumn and, though not equal to some of the other native fruits, are 

not unpleasant. They are called 

amprick

 by the Russians at the mouth 

of the Obi.

A. glauca Lindl. MANZANITA.

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California. The fruit grows in clusters, is first white, then red and finally 

black. This berry is regarded as eatable but is dry and of little flavor.

A. tomentosa Lindl. MANZANITA

Southern California. The red berries are used by the Spanish 

inhabitants of Texas to make a cooling, subacid drink. The fruit is used 

when not quite ripe as a tart apple. Dried and made into bread and 

baked in the sun, the fruit is relished by the Indians.

A. uva-ursi Spreng. BEARBERRY. BEAR'S GRAPE. BRAWLINS. 

CREASHAK. MOUNTAIN BOX.

North America and Arctic regions. The Chinook Indians mix its dried 

leaves with tobacco. It is used for the same purpose by the Crees who 

call it 

tchakoshe-pukk

; by the Chippewaians, who name it 

kleh

; and by 

the Eskimos north of Churchill, by whom it is termed 

at-tung-a-wi-at

. It 

is the 

iss-salth

 of the Chinooks. Its dry, farinaceous berry is utterly 

inedible.

Ardisia coriacea Sw. 

Myrsineae

. BEEF-WOOD.

West Indies. According to Sloane, the drupes are eaten in Jamaica and 

are accounted a pleasant dessert.

A. esculenta Pav.

South America. The berries are esculent.

Areca catechu Linn. 

Palmae

. ARECA NUT. BETEL NUT. CATECHU. 

PINANG.

East Indies. This handsome palm is cultivated throughout the Indian 

Archipelago, in Ceylon and the west side of India for the sake of its seed 

which is known under the names areca nut, pinang and betel nut; the 

nut is about the size of a nutmeg. These nuts are consumed, when dry, 

in great quantity, a small portion being separated, put into a leaf of 

piper-betle over which a little quick-lime is laid, then rolled up and 

chewed altogether. It tinges the saliva red and stains the teeth. Whole 

shiploads of this nut, so universally in use among the Eastern natives, 

are exported annually from Sumatra, Malacca, Siam and Cochin China. 

The heart of the leaves, according to Seemann, is eaten as a salad and 

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has not a bad flavor as Blanco writes.

A. glandiformis Lam.

Moluccas. In Cochin China the leaves are chewed with the betel nut.

A. laxa Buch.-Ham.

Andaman Islands. The nuts of this plant are used instead of the betel 

nut by the convicts confined on, Andaman Islands.

Arenaria peploides Linn. 

Caryophylleae

. SEA CHICKWEED.

North temperate and Arctic regions. In Iceland, the plant is fermented 

and in that state used as food, like sauerkraut; the plant also forms a 

wholesome vegetable when boiled5 and is used for a pickle.

Arenga saccharifera Labill. 

Palmae

. ARENG PALM.

Tropical eastern Asia. This palm has been called the most useful of all 

palms. Griffith says, the young albumen preserved in sugar forms one 

of the well-known preserves of the Straits. Brandis says, the heart of the 

stem contains large quantities of sago, and the cut flower-stalks yield a 

sugary sap of which sugar and palm-wine are made. Graham says, at 

Bombay this palm affords tolerably good sago and the sap, palm-wine 

and sugar. Seemann says, the bud, or cabbage, is eaten. The sap, of 

which some three quarts a day are collected, furnishes toddy and from 

this toddy, jaggery sugar is prepared. The seed, freed from its noxious 

covering, is made into a sweetmeat by the Chinese. From the pith, a 

species of sago is prepared which, however, has a peculiar flavor.

Argania sideroxylon Roem. et Schult. 

Sapotaceae

. ARGAN TREE. 

MOROCCO IRON-WOOD.

Morocco. From the seeds, the natives extract an oil that is used for 

cooking and lighting. When ripe, the fruit, which is an egg-shaped 

drupe, falls from the trees and the goats then enter into competition 

with their masters for a share in the harvest. The goats, however, 

swallow the fruit only for the sake of the subacid rind and, being 

unable to digest the hard seeds, eject them during the process of 

rumination, when they are gathered and added to the general store for 

oil making.

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Arisaema atrorubens Blume.  

Aroideae (Araceae)

. DRAGON ROOT. 

JACK-IN-THE-PULPIT. INDIAN TURNIP.

North America. Cutler says, the shredded roots and berries are said to 

have been boiled by the Indians with their venison. Bigelow says, the 

starch of the root is delicate and nutritious. It must, however, be 

obtained from the root by boiling in order that the heat may destroy the 

acrimonious principle.

A. costatum Mart.

Himalayas. This is said by Ellis to be a large aroid, called 

ape

 in Tahiti, 

which is frequently planted in dry ground. It is considered inferior to 

taro.

A. curvatum Kunth.

Himalayas. The Lepchas of India prepare a food called 

tong

 from the 

tuberous root. The roots are buried in masses until acetous 

fermentation sets in and are then dug, washed and cooked, by which 

means their poisonous properties are in part dispersed, but not 

entirely, as violent illness sometimes follows a hearty meal of 

tong

.

A. tortuosum Schott.

Himalayas. The root is considered esculent by the mountaineers of 

Nepal.

Arisarum vulgare Targ. Aroideae (Araceae

)

.

Mediterranean regions. In north Africa, the roots are much used in, 

seasons of scarcity. The root, which is not as large as our ordinary 

walnut, contains an acid juice, which makes it quite uneatable in the 

natural state. This is, however, removed by repeated washings and the 

residue is innoxious and nutritive.

Aristotelia macqui L'Herit. 

Tiliaceae (Elaeocarpaceae)

. 

MOUNTAIN CURRANT.

A large shrub called in Chile, maqui. The berries, though small, have 

the pleasant taste of bilberries and are largely consumed in Chile.

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A. racemosa Hook.

New Zealand. The natives eat the berries.

Arracacia xanthorrhiza Bancr. 

Umbelliferae

. ARRACACHA. 

PERUVIAN CARROT.

Northern South America. This plant has been cultivated and used as a 

food from early times in the cooler mountainous districts of northern 

South America, where the roots form a staple diet of the inhabitants. 

The root is not unlike a parsnip in shape but more blunt; it is tender 

when boiled and nutritious, with a flavor between the parsnip and a 

roasted chestnut. A fecula, analogous to arrowroot, is obtained from it 

by rasping in, water. Arracacha yields, according to Boussingault, 

about 16 tons per acre. The plant is also found in the mountain regions 

of Central America. The roots are nutritious and palatable and there are 

yellow, purple and pale varieties. Attempts to naturalize this plant in 

field culture in Europe have been unsuccessful. It was introduced into 

Europe in 1829 and again, in 1846, but trials in England, France and 

Switzerland were unsuccessful5 in obtaining eatable roots. It was 

grown near New York in 1825 4 and at Baltimore in 1828 or 1829 but 

was found to be worthless. Lately introduced into India, it is now fairly 

established there and Morris considers it a most valuable plant-food, 

becoming more palatable and desirable the longer it is used. It is 

generally cultivated in Venezuela, New Granada and Ecuador, and in 

the temperate regions of these countries, Arracacha is preferred to the 

potato. The first account which reached Europe concerning this plant 

was published in the Annals of Botany in 1805. It was, however, 

mentioned in a few words by Alcedo, 1789.

Artemisia abrotanum Linn. 

Compositae

. OLD MAN. 

SOUTHERNWOOD.

Europe and temperate Asia. This artemisia forms an ingredient, says 

Lindley, in some continental beers. 

A. absinthium Linn. ABSINTHE. WORMWOOD.

Cultivated in Europe and in England in cottage gardens on a large 

scale. Bridge-man, 1832, is the first writer on American gardening who 

mentions absinthe but now its seeds are cataloged for sale by all our 

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larger dealers. It is classed among medicinal herbs but is largely used 

in France to flavor the cordial, absinthe, and in America in 

compounding bitters. The seed is used by the rectifiers of spirits and 

the plant is largely cultivated in some districts of England for this 

purpose. It is said occasionally to form an ingredient of sauces in 

cookery. 

A. dracunculus Linn. TARRAGON.

East Europe, the Orient and Himalayan regions. Tarragon was brought 

to Italy, probably from the shores of the Black Sea, in recent times. The 

first mention on record is by Simon Seth, in the middle of the twelfth 

century, but it appears to have been scarcely known as a condiment 

until the sixteenth century. It was brought to England in or about 

1548. The flowers, as Vilmorin says, are always barren, so that the 

plant can be propagated only by division. Tarragon culture is 

mentioned by the botanists of the sixteenth century and in England by 

Gerarde, 1597, and by succeeding authors on gardening. Rauwolf, 

1573-75, found it in the gardens of Tripoli. In America, it is mentioned 

by McMahon, 1806. Its roots are now included in our leading seed 

catalogs. Tarragon has a fragrant smell and an aromatic taste for which 

it is greatly esteemed by the French. In Persia, it has long been 

customary to use the leaves to create an appetite. Together with the 

young tips, the leaves are put in salads, in pickles and in vinegar for a 

fish sauce. They are also eaten with beefsteaks, served with 

horseradish. Tarragon vinegar, says Mclntosh, is much esteemed.

A. maritima Linn. WORM-SEED.

Caucasian region, Siberia and Europe. It is a bitter tonic and aromatic. 

It was formerly used to make a conserve with sugar.

A. mutellina Vill. ALPINE WORMWOOD.

Europe. The plant is used on the continent in the preparation of Eau 

d'absinthe, which is in request amongst epicures.

A. spicata Wulf. SPIKED WORMWOOD.

Europe. The plant is used on the continent in the preparation of Eau 

d'absinthe.

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A. vulgaris Linn. FELLON-HERB. MUGWORT.

Northern temperate regions. Mugwort was employed, says Johnson, to 

a great extent for flavoring beer before the introduction of the hop. It is 

still used in England to flavor the home-made beer of the cottagers. On 

the continent, it is occasionally employed as an aromatic, culinary herb.

Artocarpus brasiliensis Gomez.  

Urticaceae (Moraceae)

. JACK.

Brazil. Professor Hartt says the jack is cultivated in the province of 

Bahia and to the north, at Sao Matheus and occasionally as far south 

as Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The fruit is of immense size, being sometimes 

a foot and a half in the longer diameter. The seeds are largely used as 

food and the pulp is nutritious. In some parts, a kind of farina is 

prepared from the seeds, but this use is by no means general.

A. hirsuta Lam.

East Indies. The fruit is the size of a large orange. The pulpy substance 

is much relished by the natives, being almost as good as the fruit of the 

jack.

A. incisa Linn. f. BREADFRUIT.

This most useful tree is nowhere found growing wild but is now 

extensively cultivated in warm regions. It is first described by the writer 

of Mendana's Voyage to the Marquesas Islands, 1595. It has been 

distributed from the Moluccas, by way of Celebes and New Guinea, 

throughout all the islands of the Pacific Ocean to Tahiti. Breadfruit is 

also naturalized in, the Isle of France, in tropical Americal and bears 

fruit in Ceylon and Burma. It is more especially an object of care and 

cultivation in the Marquesas and the Friendly and Society Islands. The 

tree was conveyed to the Isle of France from Luzon in the Philippines by 

Sonnerat. In 1792, from Tahiti and Timor, Capt. Bligh, who was 

commissioned by the British Government for this purpose, took a store 

of plants and in 1793 landed 333 breadfruit trees at St. Vincent and 

347 at Port Royal, Jamaica. In the cultivated breadfruit, the seeds are 

almost always abortive, leaving their places empty which shows that its 

cultivation goes back to a remote antiquity. This seedlessness does not 

hold true, however, of all varieties, of which there are many. Chamisso 

describes a variety in the Mariana Islands with small fruit containing 

seeds which are frequently perfect. Sonnerat found in the Philippines a 

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breadfruit, which he considered as wild, which bears ripe seeds of a 

considerable size. In Tahiti, there are eight varieties without seeds and 

one variety with seeds which is inferior to the others. Nine varieties are 

credited by Wilkes to the Fiji Islands and twenty to the Samoan. 

Captain Cook, at Tahiti, in 1769, describes the fruit as about the size 

and shape of a child's head, with the surface reticulated not much 

unlike a truffle, covered with a thin skin and having a core about as big 

as the handle of a small knife.

The eatable part of breadfruit lies between the skin and the core and is 

as white as snow and somewhat of the consistence of new bread. It 

must be roasted before it is eaten. Its taste is insipid, with a slight 

sweetness, somewhat resembling that of the crumb of wheaten bread 

mixed with a Jerusalem artichoke. Wilkes says the best varieties when 

baked or roasted are not unlike a good custard pudding. If the 

breadfruit is to be preserved, it is scraped from the rind and buried in a 

pit where it is allowed to ferment, when it subsides into a mass 

somewhat of the consistency of new cheese. These pits when opened 

emit a nauseous, fetid, sour odor, and the color of the contents is a 

greenish-yellow. In this state it is called 

mandraiuta

, or native bread, of 

which several kinds are distinguished. It is said that it will keep several 

years and is cooked with cocoanut milk, in which state it forms an 

agreeable and nutritious food. This tree affords one of the most 

generous sources of nutriment that the world possesses. According to 

Poster, twenty-seven breadfruit trees, which would cover an English 

acre with their shade, are sufficient for the support of from ten to twelve 

people during the eight months of fruit-bearing. Breadfruit is called in 

Tahiti 

maiore

, in Hawaii 

aeiore

.

A. integrifolia Linn. f. JACK.

East Indies. On account of its excellent fruit, this tree is a special object 

of cultivation on the two Indian peninsulas, in Cochin China and 

southern China. It has only recently been introduced into the islands of 

the Pacific Ocean, as well as upon the island of Mauritius, the Antilles 

and the west coast of Africa. It is scarcely to be doubted that it occurs 

here and there growing wild and that perhaps Ceylon and the 

peninsula of Further India may be looked upon as its original native 

land. The jack seems to be the Indian fruit described by Pliny, who 

gives the name of the tree as 

pala

, of the fruit, 

ariena

; and to be the 

chagui

 of Friar Jordanus, about 1330, whose "fruit is of such size that 

one is enough for five persons." Firminger says the fruit of this tree is 

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perhaps about one of the largest in existence and is an ill-shapen, 

unattractive-looking object. The interior is of a soft, fibrous consistency 

with the edible portions scattered here and there, of about the size and 

color of a small orange. It is considered delicious by those who can 

manage to eat it, but it possesses the rich, spicy scent and flavor of the 

melon to such a powerful degree as to be quite unbearable to persons 

of a weak stomach, or to those not accustomed to it. There are two 

varieties in India. Lunan says the thick, gelatinous covering which 

envelopes the seeds, eaten either raw or fried, is delicious. The round 

seeds, about half an inch in diameter, eaten roasted, have a very mealy 

and agreeable taste. The fruit, says Brandis, is an important article of 

food in Burma, southern India and Ceylon. The tree has a very strong 

and disagreeable smell.

A. lakoocha Roxb.

Malay and East Indies. The ill-shapen fruit, the size of an orange and of 

an austere taste, is sometimes eaten. Firminger says also that he has 

met with those who said they liked it, a fact which he could otherwise 

have hardly credited. Brandis says the male flower-heads are pickled.

Arum 

Aroideae (Araceae).

The several species of arum possess a combination of extremely acrid 

properties, with the presence of a large quantity of farina, which can be 

separated from the poisonous ingredient by heat or water and in some 

instances by merely drying. The arums form the most important plants 

of the tropics. In a single Polynesian Island, Tahiti, the natives have 

names for 33 arums. Taro, the general name, is grown in vast quantities 

in the Fiji group on the margins of streams under a system of irrigation. 

When the root is ripe, the greater part is cut off from the leaves and the 

portion which is left attached to them is at once replanted. These roots 

are prepared for use by boiling and are then pounded into a kind of 

flour, which is preserved until wanted for use. Large quantities of taro 

are also stored in pits where it becomes solid and is afterwards used by 

the natives as mandrai. In former times, the common spotted arum 

furnished food to the English during the periods of scarcity. It seems 

impossible to determine in all cases to which species of arum travelers 

refer in recording the use of this genera of plants. The information given 

under the heading of the species will show the generality of their use 

and their importance.

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A. dioscoridis Sibth. & Sm.

East Mediterranean countries. Theophrastus mentions that the roots 

and leaves of this plant, steeped in vinegar, were eaten in ancient 

Greece. The roots, as Pickering remarks, are cooked and eaten in the 

Levant.

A. italicum Mill. ITALIAN ARUM.

Mediterranean countries. This arum is described by Dioscorides, who 

says its root is eaten either raw or cooked. Westward, the cooked root is 

further mentioned by Dioscorides as mixed with honey by the Balearic 

islanders and made into cakes. This plant was in cultivation for seven 

years in Guernsey for the purpose of making arrow-root from its conns.

A. maculatum Linn.  ADAM-AND-EVE.  BOBBINS.   CUCKOO PINT.   

LORDS-AND-LADIES. STARCH-ROOT. WAKE ROBIN.

Europe. The thick and tuberous root, while fresh, is extremely acrid, 

but by heat its injurious qualities are destroyed, and in the isle of 

Portland the plant was extensively used in the preparation of an arrow-

root. According to Sprengel,4 its roots are cooked and eaten in Albania, 

and in Slavonia it is made into a kind of bread. The leaves, even of this 

acrid plant, are said by Pallas 5 to be eaten by the Greeks of Crimea. 

"Dioscorides showeth that the leaves also are prescribed to be eaten and 

that they must be eaten after they be dried and boy led."

Arundinaria japonica Sieb. & Zucc. 

Gramineae

. CANE.

Northern Japan. When the young shoots appear in early summer, they 

are carefully gathered and, under the name of 

take-no-ko

, are used for 

food as we would employ young asparagus; though by no means so 

tender as the latter, they make a very desirable dish. 

A. macrosperma Michx. LARGE CANE.

North America. This is the species of cane which forms cane brakes in 

Virginia, Kentucky and southward. Flint, in his Western States, says: "It 

produces an abundant crop of seed with heads very like those of broom 

corn. The seeds are farinaceous and are said to be not much inferior to 

wheat, for which the Indians and occasionally the first settlers 

substituted it."

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Asarum canadense Linn. 

Aristolochiaceae

. SNAKEROOT. WILD 

GINGER.

North America. Bartonl says the dried, pulverized root is commonly 

used in many parts of our country as a substitute for ginger, and 

Balfour says it is used as a spice in Canada.

Asclepias syriaca Linn. 

Asclepiadeae

. MILKWEED. SILKWEED.

North America. Kalm says the French in Canada use the tender shoots 

of milkweed in spring, preparing them like asparagus, and that they 

also make a sugar of the flowers; a very good, brown, palatable sugar. 

Fremont found the Sioux Indians of the upper Platte eating the young 

pods, boiling them with the meat of the buffalo. Jefferys, in his Natural 

History of Canada, says: "What they call here the cotton-tree is a plant 

which sprouts like asparagus to the height of about three feet and is 

crowned with several tufts of flowers; these are shaken early in the 

morning before the dew is off of them when there falls from them with 

the dew a kind of honey, which is reduced into sugar by boiling; the 

seed is contained in a pod which encloses also a very fine sort of cotton." 

In 1835, Gen. Dearborn of Massachusetts recommended the use of the 

young shoots of milkweed as asparagus, and Dewey says the young 

plant is thus eaten. In France the plant is grown as an ornament.

A. tuberosa Linn. BUTTERFLY WEED. PLEURISYROOT. TUBER-

ROOT.

Northeastern America. The tubers are boiled and used by the Indians. 

The Sioux of the upper Platte prepare from the flowers a crude sugar 

and also eat the young seed-pods. Some of the Indians of Canada use 

the tender shoots as an asparagus.

Asimina triloba Dun. 

Annonaceae

. PAPAW.

Middle and southern United States. All parts of the tree have a rank 

smell, and the fruit is relished by few except negroes. Vasey says the 

fruit, about four inches long, when ripe has a rich, luscious taste. "The 

pulp of the fruit," says Flint, "resembles egg-custard in consistence and 

appearance. It has the same creamy feeling in the mouth and unites the 

taste of eggs, cream, sugar and spice. It is a natural custard, too 

lucious for the relish of most people. The fruit is nutritious and a great 

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resource to the savages."

Asparagus acerosus Roxb. 

Liliaceae

.

East Indies and Burma. This species was found by Mason to be a 

passable substitute for our garden asparagus.

A. acutifolius Linn. ASPARAGUS.

Mediterranean regions. The young shoots are eaten in Italy, Spain, 

Portugal and by the Greeks in Sicily. They are thin, bitter and often 

stringy.

A. adscendens Roxb.

Himalayas and Afghanistan. From this plant is made, according to 

Modeen Sheriff, the genuine sufed mush, called in the Deccan 

skakakul-hindi and used as a substitute for salep.

A. albus Linn. GARDEN-HEDGE.

Western Mediterranean region. The young heads are cut from wild 

plants and brought to table in Sicily, but they form but a poor 

substitute for cultivated asparagus.

A. aphyllus Linn.

Mediterranean region. The young shoots are collected and eaten in 

Greece.

A. laricinus Burch.

A shrubby species of South Africa. Dr. Pappe says that it produces 

shoots of excellent tenderness and aromatic taste.

A. officinalis Linn. ASPARAGUS.

Europe, Caucasian regions and Siberia. This plant, so much esteemed 

in its cultivated state, is a plant of the seashore and river banks of 

southern Europe and the Crimea. It is now naturalized in many parts of 

the world. In the southern parts of Russia and Poland, the waste 

steppes are covered with this plant. Unger says it is not found either 

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wild or cultivated in Greece, but Daubeny says at the present time it is 

known under the name of 

asparaggia

, and Booth says it is common. 

Probably the mythological mention of the asparagus thickets which 

concealed Perigyne, beloved of Theseus,— the plant, in consequence, 

being protected by law among the lonians inhabiting Caria—referred to 

another species.

Cultivated asparagus seems to have been unknown to the Greeks of the 

time of Theophrastus and Disocorides, and the word 

asparagos

 seems 

to have been used for the wild plant of another species. The Romans of 

the time of Cato, about 200 B. C., knew it well, and Cato's directions for 

culture would answer fairly well for the gardeners of today, except that 

he recommends starting with the seed of the wild plant, and this seems 

good evidence that the wild and the cultivated forms were then of the 

same type as they are today. Columella, in the first century, 

recommends transplanting the young roots from a seed-bed and 

devotes some space to their after-treatment. He offers choice of  

cultivated seed or that from the wild plant, without indicating 

preference. Pliny, who also wrote in the first century, says that 

asparagus, of all the plants of the garden, receives the most 

praiseworthy care and also praises the good quality of the kind that 

grows wild in the island of Nesida near the coast of Campania. In his 

praise of gardens, he says: "Nature has made the asparagus wild, so 

that any one may gather as found. Behold, the highly-manured 

asparagus may be seen at Ravenna weighing three pounds.'' Palladius, 

an author of the third century, rather praises the sweetness of the wild 

form found growing among the rocks and recommends transplanting it 

to such places otherwise worthless for agriculture, but he also gives full 

directions for garden culture with as much care as did Cato. Gesner  

quotes Pomponius, who lived in the second century, as saying that 

there are two kinds, the garden and the wild asparagus, and that the 

wild asparagus is the more pleasant to eat. Suetonius, about the 

beginning of the second century, informs us how partial the Emperor 

Augustus was to asparagus, and Erasmus  also mentions it.

A. racemosus Willd. RACEMOSE ASPARAGUS.

East Indies, African tropics and Australia. In India, the tubers are 

candied as a sweetmeat. This preparation, however, as Dutt states, has 

scarcely any other taste or flavor besides that of the sugar. Firminger 

says the preserve prepared from the blanched shoots is very agreeable.

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A. sannentosus Linn.

East Indies. The long, fleshy, whitish root is used as food by the people 

of Ceylon and, in the candied state, is often brought to India from 

China.

A. verticillatus Linn.

South Russia.  The young shoots, according to Chaubard, are eaten in 

the Peloponesus.

Asperula odorata Linn. 

Rubiaceae

. WOODROOF.

Europe and the adjoining portions of Asia. The flowers are sweet-

scented. The herbage is not fragrant when fresh but, after being 

gathered for a short time, it gives out the perfume of new hay and 

retains this property for years. In Germany, woodroof is used for 

imparting a flavor to some of the Rhine wines. In England, it is 

cultivated occasionally as a garden herb, being used for flavoring 

cooling drinks. Its seed is advertised in American garden catalogs. 

Woodroof will thrive in the shade of most trees and grows in all kinds of 

garden soil.

Asphodeline lutea Reichb. 

Liliaceae

. ASPHODEL. JACOB'S ROD. 

KING'S SPEAR.

Region of the Mediterranean and the Caucasus. This plant is mentioned 

as covering large tracts of land in Apulia and as being abundant in 

Sicily. It was fabled to grow in the Elysian fields, and hence the ancient 

Greeks were wont to place asphodel on the tombs of their friends. The 

root is mentioned as an esculent by Pythagoras. Pliny says the roots of 

asphodel were generally roasted under embers and then eaten with salt 

and oil and when mashed with figs were thought a most excellent dish. 

Phillips, exercising some imagination, says: "Asphodel was to the 

ancient Greeks and Romans what the potato now is to us, a bread 

plant, the value of which cannot be too highly estimated. It has long 

since given way to its successors in favor."

Aster tripolium Linn. 

Compositae

. ASTER.

Northern Africa, Asia, the Orient and Europe. The somewhat fleshy 

leaves of this aster are occasionally gathered to make a kind of pickle.

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Astragalus aboriginorum Richards. 

Leguminosae

. ASTRAGALUS.

Arctic North America. The roots are eaten by the Cree and Stone 

Indians of the Rocky Mountains. 

A. adscendens Boiss. & Haussk.

Persia. The plant affords an abundance of gum and also a manna. 

A. boeticus Linn. SWEDISH COFFEE.

Mediterranean region. In certain parts of Germany and Hungary, this 

plant is cultivated for its seeds, which are roasted, ground and used as 

a substitute for coffee. Its culture is the same as that of the common pea 

or tare. The name applied to the seeds, Swedish coffee, would indicate 

that it is siso grown in Scandinavia.

A. caryocarpus Ker-Gawl. GROUND PLUM.

Mississippi region of North America. The unripe fruits are edible and 

are eaten raw or cooked.

A. christianus Linn.

Asia Minor and Syria. In Taurus, the roots of the great, yellow milk-

vetch are sought as an article of food. 

A. creticus Lam.

Greece. This plant yields tragacanth.

A. florulentus Boiss. & Haussk.

Persia. The plant yields a manna.

A. gummifer Labill.

Syria. This is another species supplying a source of tragacanth.

A. hamosus Linn.

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Mediterranean region to India. The plant is grown particularly on 

account of the singularity of its fruits which, before maturity, resemble 

certain worms. They are of a mediocre taste but are employed in salads 

chiefly to cause an innocent surprise.

A. kurdicus Boiss.

Kurdistan and Syria. The plant affords tragacanth. 

A. leioclados Boiss.

Persia. Tragacanth is produced by this plant.

A. mexicanus A. DC.

Open plains and prairies from Illinois westward and southward. The 

unripe fruits are edible and are eaten raw or cooked by travelers.

Astrocaryum acaule Mart. 

Palmae

.

Brazil. This is a palm of the Rio Negro. The fruit is edible.

A. murumura Mart. MURUMURA.

A palm of the Brazilian forest. The fruit, according to Kunth, has an 

agreeable flavor and at first a scent resembling musk but afterwards 

that of a melon. Wallace states that the fleshy covering of the fruit is 

rather juicy and is eatable. 

A. tucuma Mart.

Upper Amazon and Rio Negro. The fleshy part of the fruit is esteemed 

for food by the Indians. The yellowish, fibrous pulp is eaten by the 

natives.

Astronia papetaria Blume. 

Melastomaceae

.

A tree of the Moluccas. Its subacid leaves are cooked as a sauce for fish.

Athamanta cervariaefolia DC. 

Umbelliferae

. SPIGNEL.

Teneriffe Islands. The root is said to be eaten. 

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A. cretensis Linn. CANDY CARROT.

Southern Europe. An agreeable liquor is made from the seeds. 

A. matthioli Wulf.

Southeastern Europe. The plant has an edible root.

Atherosperma moschatum Labill. 

Monimiaceae/ 

Atherospermataceae

. TASMANIAN SASSAFRAS TREE. 

Australia. Its aromatic bark has been, used as a substitute for tea.

Atriplex halimus Linn. 

Chenopodiaceae

. SEA ORACH.

A plant of the seashores of Europe and the Mediterranean countries 

and salines as far as Siberia. Sea orach is one of the few indigenous 

plants of Egypt that affords sustenance to man. It is mentioned by 

Antipharues as esculent; by Dioscorides as cooked and eaten; by 

Toumefort as eaten in Greece. The men of the Euphrates expedition 

often used this species as a culinary vegetable.

A. hortensis Linn. BUTTER LEAVES. MOUNTAIN SPINACH. 

ORACH.

Cosmopolitan. Orach has long been used as a kitchen vegetable in 

Europe. It was known to the ancient Greeks under the name of 

atraphaxis

 and Dioscorides writes that it was eaten boiled. It was 

known to the Romans under the name of 

atriplex

. Orach was 

introduced into English gardens in 1548 and was long used, as it still 

is, in many countries to correct the acidity and the green color of sorrel. 

It is grown in three varieties.

Orach was known to Turner in England in 1538, who calls it areche, or 

red oreche. In 1686, Ray mentions the white and red, as mentioned by 

Gerarde in 1597. In 1623, Bauhin mentions the red, the white and the 

dark green. In 1806, three kinds are named by McMahon as in 

American gardens.

Attalea cohune Mart. 

Palmae

. COHUNE PALM.

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Honduras. The tree bears a fruit, about the size of a large egg, growing 

in clusters resembling a bunch of grapes. The kernel tastes somewhat 

like that of the cocoanut but is far more oleaginous and the oil is 

superior.

A. compta Mart.

Brazil. The seed-vessels are eaten as a delicacy.

A. excelsa Mart. URUCURI PALM.

Amazon region. Batesn says the fruit is similar in size and shape to the 

date and has a pleasantly flavored, juicy pulp. The Indians did not eat 

it but he did, although its wholesomeness was questionable.

Avena brevis Roth. 

Gramineae

. FLY'S LEG. SHORT OAT.

Europe. The Germans call this species a native plant and say that it 

grows wild among grain. It is cultivated in mountainous districts of 

Europe, as in those of Auvergne and Forez, because it ripens quickly, 

where the country people call it 

piedo de mouche

, or fly's leg, because 

of the appearance of the dark awns. In some parts of France, on 

account of its excellence for fodder, it is called 

avoine a fourrage

.

A. fatua Linn. DRAKE. FLAVER. POTATO OAT. TARTAREAN OAT. 

WILD OAT.

Europe, the Orient and Asia. This is the common wild oat of California. 

It may have been introduced by the Spaniards but it is now spread over 

the whole country many miles from the coast. The grain is gathered by 

the Indians of California and is used as a bread corn. In 1852, 

Professor Buckman sowed a plat of ground with seeds collected in 

1851 and in 1856 had for the produce poor, but true, samples of what 

are known as the potato and Tartarean oat. In 1860, the produce was 

good white Tartarean and potato oats.

A. nuda Linn. NAKED OAT. PEELCORN. PILLCORN.

Southern Europe. This is probably an oat produced by cultivation. The 

Chinese are said to cultivate a variety of it with a broad, flat rachis. It 

was growing in England, according to Turner, in 1538. It is now, and 

has been for some time, among the seeds of our seedsmen.

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A. orientalis Schreb. SIBERIAN OAT. TARTAREAN OAT.

Southern Europe and the Orient. Although the name leads to the 

supposition that this oat had its origin in the dry table-lands of Asia, 

yet we are not aware, says Lindley, that any evidence exists to show that 

it is so. We only know it as a cultivated plant. Phillips4 says the 

Siberian oat reached England in. 1777, and Unger says it was brought 

from the East to Europe at the end of the preceding century.

A. sativa Linn. HAVER. OAT.

The native land of the common oat is given as Abyssinia by Pickering. 

Unger says the native land is unknown, although the region along the 

Danube may pass as such. The oat is probably a domesticated variety 

of some wild species and may be 

A. strigosa

 Schreb., found wild in 

grain fields throughout Europe. Professor Buckman believed 

A. fatua

 

Linn., to be the original species, as in eight years of cultivation he 

changed this plant into good cultivated varieties. Unger says the Celts 

and the Germans, as far as can be ascertained, cultivated this oat 2000 

years ago, and it seems to have been distributed from Europe into the 

temperate and cold regions of the whole world. It was known to the 

Egyptians, Hebrews, Greeks and Romans. De Candolle, however, writes 

that the oat was not cultivated by the Hebrews, the Egyptians, the 

ancient Greeks or the Romans and is now cultivated in Greece only as 

an object of curiosity. The oat is not cultivated for human food in India.

This grain is not mentioned in Scripture and hence would seem to be 

unknown to Egypt or Syria. The plant is noticed by Virgil in his 

Georgics

 with the implication that its culture was known. Pliny 

mentions the plant. It is, hence, quite probable that the Romans knew 

the oat principally as a forage crop. Pliny says that the Germans used 

oatmeal porridge as food. Dioscorides and Galen make similar 

statements, but the latter adds that although it is fitter food for beasts 

than men yet in times of famine it is used by the latter. From an 

investigation of the lacustrine remains of Switzerland, Heer finds that 

during the Bronze age oats were known, the oat-grain being somewhat 

smaller than that produced by our existing varieties. Turner observes, 

in 1568, that the naked oat grew in Sussex, England. The bearded oat 

was brought from Barbary and was cultivated in Britain about 1640; 

the brittle oat came from the south of Europe in 1796; the Spanish oat 

was introduced in 1770; the Siberian, in 1777; the Pennsylvanian, in 

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1785; the fan-leaved, from Switzerland in 1791. In Scotland, the oat 

has long been a bread grain and, about 1850, Peter Lawson gives 40 

varieties as cultivated. This cereal was sown by Gosnold on the 

Elizabeth Islands, Massachusetts, in 1602; is recorded as cultivated in 

Newfoundland in 1622; was growing at Lynn, Mass., in 1629-33. It was 

introduced into New Netherland prior to 1626 and was cultivated in 

Virginia previous to 1648. The Egyptian, or winter oat, was known in 

the South in 1800. In 1880, 36 named kinds were grown in the state of 

Kansas. The oat grows in Norway and Sweden as far north as 64° to 

65° but is scarcely known in the south of France, Spain or Italy, and in 

tropical countries its culture is not attempted.

A. strigosa Schreb. BRISTLE-POINTED OAT. MEAGRE OAT..

Europe. Pickering says this plant is of the Tauro-Caspian countries; it 

was first observed in. Germany in 1771 by Retz in Sweden in 1779; and 

the same year by Withering in Britain. Lindley says it is found wild in 

abundance in grain fields all over Europe. The smallness of the grain 

renders this oat unfit for cultivation except on poor, mountainous 

places, where nothing better may be had. The Germans, however, have 

much improved it

Averrhoa bilimbi Linn. 

Geraniaceae (Averrhoaceae/ 

Oxalidaceae)

. BILIMBI. BLIMBING. CUCUMBER TREE.

East Indies and China. The fruit is of the form and size of a gherkin, 

with a smooth, thin, pale green, translucent rind like that of a ripe 

grape. When ripe, the flesh is as soft as butter and has somewhat the 

flavor of an unripe gooseberry, too acid to be eaten except when cooked. 

Brandis speaks of it as pickled or preserved in sugar, and Smith writes 

that the flowers are made into conserves.

A. carambola Linn. BLIMBING. CARAMBA. CARAMBOLA. 

COUNTRY GOOSEBERRY.

East Indies and China. This plant has been cultivated for its fruit for 

ages in tropical and subtropical India. The form of the fruit is oblong, 

with five prominent angles; its skin is thin, green at first and yellowish 

afterwards; the flesh is soft and exceedingly juicy like a plum, with a 

grateful, acid flavor. In Hindustan and Ceylon, the fruit is sometimes as 

big as the two fists. In Sumatra, there are two sorts which are used 

chiefly in cookery. In Bengal, there are two varieties, one with acid, the 

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other with sweet fruit, as also in Burma. The fruit is used as a pickle by 

Europeans and the flowers are said to be made into a conserve.

Avicennia officinalis Linn. 

Verbenaceae (Avicenniaceae)

. NEW 

ZEALAND MANGROVE.

Region of the Caspian. This plant transudes a gum which the natives of 

New Zealand esteem as a food. The kernels are bitter but edible.

Aydendron (Aniba) firmulum Nees. 

Lauraceae

. PICHURIM BEAN. 

TODA SPECIE.

Brazil. The Portugese of the Rio Negro, a branch of the Amazon, gather 

the aromatic seeds, known in trade by the names of the pichurim bean 

and toda specie. The seed is grated like nutmeg.

Babiana plicata Ker-Gawl. 

Iridaceae

. BABOON-ROOT.

South Africa. The root is sometimes boiled and eaten by the colonists at 

the Cape.

Baccaurea dulcis Muell. 

Euphorbiaceae

.

Malayan Archipelago; cultivated in China. The fruits of this species are 

rather larger than a cherry, nearly round and of a yellowish color. The 

pulp is luscious and sweet and is greatly eaten in Sumatra, where the 

tree is called 

choopah

 and in Malacca, where it goes by the name of 

rambeh

.

B. sapida Muell.

East Indies and Malay. This plant is cultivated for its agreeable fruits. 

The Hindus call it 

lutqua

B. sp.?

India. Royle says the plant yields the 

tampui

, a fruit ranking in point of 

taste and flavor along with the 

lausch

.

Bactris gasipaes H. B. & K. 

Palmae

. PEACH PALM.

Venezuela. On the Amazon, says Bates, this plant does not grow wild 

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but has been cultivated from time immemorial by the Indians. The fruit 

is dry and mealy and may be compared in taste to a mixture of 

chestnuts and cheese. Bunches of sterile or seedless fruit sometimes 

occur at Ega and at Para. It is one of the principal articles of food at Ega 

when in season and is boiled and eaten with treacle and salt. Spencer 

compares the taste of the mealy pericarp, when cooked, to a mixture of 

potato and chestnut but says it is superior to either. Seemann says in 

most instances the seed is abortive, the whole fruit being a farinaceous 

mass. Humboldt says every cluster contains from 50 to 80 fruits, yellow 

like apples but purpling as they ripen, two or three inches in diameter, 

and generally without a kernel; the farinaceous portion is as yellow as 

the yolk of an egg, slightly saccharine and exceedingly nutritious. He 

found it cultivated in abundance along the upper Orinoco. In Trinidad, 

the peach palm is said to be very prolific, bearing two crops a year, at 

one season the fruit all seedless and another season bearing seeds. The 

seedless fruits are highly appreciated by natives of all classes.

B. major Jacq. PRICKLY PALM.

West Indies. The fruit is the size of an egg with a succulent, purple coat 

from which wine may be made. The nut is large, with an oblong kernel 

and is sold in the markets under the name of 

cocorotes

.

B. maraja Mart. MARAJA PALM.

Brazil. This palm has a fruit of a pleasant, acid flavor from which a 

vinous beverage is prepared.

B. minor Jacq. PRICKLY POLE. TOBAGO CANE.

Jamaica. The fruit is dark purple, the size of a cherry and contains an 

acid juice which Jacquin says is made into a sort of wine. The fruit is 

edible but not pleasant.

Bagassa guianensis Aubl.  

Urticaceae (Moraceae)

.

Guiana. The tree bears an orange-shaped edible fruit.

Balanites aegyptica Delile. 

Simarubaceae (Balanitaceae)

. 

ZACHUN-OIL TREE.

Northern Africa, Arabia and Palestine. A shrubby, thorny bush of the 

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southern border of the Sahara from the Atlantic to Hindustan. It is 

called in equatorial Africa m'choonchoo; the edible drupe tastes like an 

intensely bitter date.

Balsamorhiza hookeri Nutt. 

Compositae

. BALSAM-ROOT.

Northwestern America. The thick roots of this species are eaten raw by 

the Nez Perce Indians and have, when cooked, a sweet and rather 

agreeable taste.

B. sagittata Nutt. OREGON SUNFLOWER.

Northwestern America. The roots are eaten by the Nez Perce Indians in 

Oregon, after being cooked on hot stones. They have a sweet and rather 

agreeable taste. Wilkes mentions the Orgeon sunflower of which the 

seeds, pounded into a meal called 

mielito

, are eaten by the Indians of 

Puget Sound.

Bambusa. 

Gramineae

.

In India, the Bambusa flowers so frequently that in Mysore and Orissa 

the seeds are mixed with honey and eaten like rice. The farina of the 

seeds is eaten in China. In Amboina, in the East Indies, the young 

bamboo shoots, cut in slices and pickled, are used as a provision for 

long voyages and are sold in the markets as a culinary vegetable. In the 

Himalayas, the young shoots are eaten as a vegetable, and the seeds of 

a variety called praong in Sikldm are boiled and made into cakes or into 

beer. Williams says: "In China the tender shoots are cultivated for food 

and are, when four or five inches high, boiled, pickled, and comfited." 

Fortune says: "In China the young shoots are cultivated for food and 

are taken to market in large quantities."

B. arundinacea Willd. BAMBOO.

East Indies. The seeds of this and other species of Bambusa have often 

saved the lives of thousands in times of scarcity in India, as in Orissa in 

1812, in Kanara in 1864 and in 1866 in Malda. The plant bears 

whitish seed, like rice, and Drury says these seeds are eaten by the 

poorer classes.

B. tulda Roxb. BAMBOO.

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East Indies and Burma. In Bengal, the tender young shoots are eaten 

as pickles by the natives.

Banisteria (Heteroptyrys) crotonifolia A. Juss. 

Malpighiaceae

. 

Brazil. The fruit is eaten in Brazil.

Baptisia tinctoria R. Br. 

Leguminosae

. HORSE-FLY WEED. WILD 

INDIGO.

Northeastern America. Barton says the young shoots of this plant, 

which resemble asparagus in appearance, have been used in New 

England as a substitute for asparagus.

Barbarea arcuata Reichb. 

Cruciferae

. BITTER CRESS.

Europe and Asia. The plant serves as a bitter cress.

B. praecox R. Br. AMERICAN CRESS. BELLE ISLE CRESS. EARLY 

WINTER CRESS. LAND CRESS. SCURVY GRASS.

Europe. This cress is occasionally cultivated for salad in the Middle 

States under the name scurvy grass and is becoming spontaneous 

farther south. It is grown in gardens in England as a cress and is used 

in winter and spring salads. In Germany, it is generally liked. In the 

Mauritius, it is regular cultivation and is known as early winter cress. 

In the United States, its seeds are offered in seed catalogs.

B. vulgaris R. Br. ROCKET. WINTER CRESS. YELLOW ROCKET.

Europe and temperate Asia. This herb of northern climates has been 

cultivated in gardens in England for a long time as an early salad and 

also in Scotland, where the bitter leaves are eaten by some. In early 

times, rocket was held in some repute but is now banished from 

cultivation yet appears in gardens as a weed. The whole herb, says Don, 

has a nauseous, bitter taste and is in some degree mucilaginous. In 

Sweden, the leaves are boiled as a kale. In New Zealand, the plant is 

used by the natives as a food under the name, toi. Rocket is included in 

the list of American garden esculents by McMahon, in 1806. In 1832, 

Bridgeman says winter cress is used as a salad in spring and autumn 

and by some boiled as a spinage.

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Barringtonia alba Blume. 

Myrtaceae (Barringtoniaceae)

. BOTTLE-

BRUSH TREE. 

Moluccas. The young leaves are eaten raw.

B. butonica Forst.

Islands of the Pacific. This plant has oleaginous seeds and fruits which 

are eaten green as vegetables.

B. careya F. Muell.

Australia. The fruit is large, with an adherent calyx and is edible.

B. edulis Seem.

Fiji Islands. The rather insipid fruit is eaten either raw or cooked by the 

natives.

B. excelsa Blume.

India, Cochin China and the Moluccas. The fruit is edible and the 

young leaves are eaten cooked and in salad.

Basella rubra Linn. 

Chenopodiaceae (Basellaceae

. MALABAR 

NIGHTSHADE.

Tropical regions. This twining, herbaceous plant is cultivated in all 

parts of India, and the succulent stems and leaves are used by the 

natives as a pot-herb in the way of spinach. In Burma, the species is 

cultivated and in the Philippines is seemingly wild and eaten by the 

natives. It is also cultivated in the Mauritius and in every part of India, 

where it occurs wild. Malabar nightshade was introduced to Europe in 

1688 and was grown in England in 1691, but these references can 

hardly apply to the vegetable garden. It is, however, recorded in French 

gardens in 1824 and 1829. It is grown in France as a vegetable, a 

superior variety having been introduced from China in 1839. According 

to Livingstone, it is cultivated as a pot-herb in India. It is a spinach 

plant which has somewhat the odor of 

Ocimum basilicum

. The species 

is cultivated in almost every part of India as a spinach, and an infusion 

of the leaves in used as tea. It is called Malabar nightshade by 

Europeans of India.

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Bassia (Madhuca) butyracea Roxb. 

Sapotaceae

. INDIAN-BUTTER. 

PHOOLWA-OIL PLANT.

East Indies.  The pulp of the fruit is eatable. The juice is extracted from 

the flowers and made into sugar by the natives. It is sold in the Calcutta 

bazaar and has all the appearance of date sugar, to which it is equal if 

not superior in quality. An oil is extracted from the seeds, and the oil 

cake is eaten as also is the pure vegetable butter which is called chooris 

and is sold at a cheap rate.

B. latifolia Roxb. EPIE. MAHOUA. YALLAH-OIL PLANT.

East Indies. The succulent flowers fall by night in large quantities from 

the tree, are gathered early in the morning, dried in the sun and sold in 

the bazaars as an important article of food. They have a sickish, sweet 

taste and smell and are eaten raw or cooked. The ripe and unripe fruit 

is also eaten, and from the fruit is expressed an edible oil.

B. longifolia Linn. ILLUPIE-OIL PLANT. ILPA.

East Indies. The flowers are eaten by the natives of Mysore, either dried, 

roasted, or boiled to a jelly. The oil pressed from the fruits is to the 

common people of India a substitute for ghee and cocoanut oil in their 

curries.

Batis maritima Linn. 

Batidaceae

. JAMAICA SAMPHIRE. 

SALTWORT. 

Jamaica. This low, erect, succulent plant is used as a pickle.

Bauhinia esculenta Burch. 

Leguminosae

.

South Africa. The root is sweet and nutritious.

B. lingua DC.

Moluccas. This species is used as a vegetable.

B. malabarica Roxb.

East Indies and Burma. The acid leaves are eaten.

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B. purpurea Linn.

East Indies, Burma and China. The flower-buds are pickled and eaten 

as a vegetable.

B. tomentosa Linn. ST. THOMAS' TREE.

Asia and tropical Africa. The seeds are eaten in the Punjab, and the 

leaves are eaten by natives of the Philippines as a substitute for vinegar.

B. vahlii Wight & Am. MALOO CREEPER.

East Indies. The pods are roasted and the seeds are eaten. Its seeds 

taste, when ripe, like the cashew-nut.

B. variegata Linn. MOUNTAIN EBONY.

East Indies, Burma and China. There are two varieties, one with 

purplish, the other with whitish flowers. The leaves and flower-buds are 

eaten as a vegetable and the flower-buds are often pickled in India.

Beckmannia erucaeformis Host. 

Gramineae

.

Europe, temperate Asia and North America. According to Engelmann, 

the seeds are collected for food by the Utah Indians.

Begonia barbata Wall. 

Begoniaceae

. BEGONIA.

East Indies and Burma. The leaves, called tengoor, are eaten by the 

natives as a pot-herb. Hooker says the stems of many species are eaten 

in the Himalayas, when cooked, being pleasantly acid. The stems are 

made into a sauce in Sikkim.

B. cucullata Willd. BEGONIA.

Brazil. The leaves are used as cooling salads.

B. malabarica Lam. BEGONIA.

East Indies. Henfrey says the plants are eaten as pot-herbs.

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B. picta Sm. BEGONIA.

Himalayas. The leaves have an acid taste and are used as food.

Bellis perennis Linn. 

Compositae

. ENGLISH DAISY.

Europe and the adjoining portions of Asia. Lightfoot says the taste of 

the leaves is somewhat acid, and, in scarcity of garden-stuff, they have 

been used in some countries as a pot-herb

Bellucia aubletii Naud. 

Melastomaceae

.

Guiana. A tree of Guiana which has an edible, yellow fruit.7

B. brasiliensis Naud.

Brazil. The fruit is edible.

Benincasa cerifera Savi. 

Cucurbitaceae

. WAX GOURD. WHITE 

GOURD. WHITE PUMPKIN. 

Asia and African tropics. This annual plant is cultivated in India for its 

very large, handsome, egg-shaped gourd. The gourd is covered with a 

pale greenish-white, waxen bloom. It is consumed by the natives in an 

unripe state in their curries. This gourd is cultivated throughout Asia 

and its islands and in France as a vegetable. It is described as delicate, 

quite like the cucumber and preferred by many. The bloom of the fruit 

forms peetha wax and occurs in sufficient quantity to be collected and 

made into candles. This cucurbit has been lately introduced into 

European gardens. According to Bret-schneider, it can be identified in a 

Chinese book of the fifth century and is mentioned as cultivated in 

Chinese writings of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. In 1503-

08, Ludovico di Varthema describes this gourd in India under the name 

como-langa

. In 1859, Naudin says it is much esteemed in southern 

Asia, particularly in China, and that the size of its fruit, its excellent 

keeping qualities, the excellence of its flesh and the ease of its culture 

should long since have brought it into garden culture. He had seen two 

varieties: one, the cylindrical, ten to sixteen inches long and one 

specimen twenty-four inches long by eight to ten inches in diameter, 

from Algiers; the other, an ovoid fruit, shorter, yet large, from China. 

The long variety was grown at the New York Agricultural Experiment 

Station in 1884 from seed from France. The fruit is oblong-cylindrical, 

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resembling very closely a watermelon when, unripe but when ripe 

covered with a heavy glaucous bloom.

This plant is recorded in herbariums as from the Philippine Islands, 

New Guinea, New Caledonia, Fiji Islands, Tahiti, New Holland and 

southern China and as cultivated in Japan and in China.

This species is the 

Cumbulam

 of Rheede 

Hort. Mal

., 8, p. 5, t. 3; the 

Camolenga

 of Rumphius 

Amb

. 5, 395, t. 143; the 

Cucurbita Pepo

 of 

Loureiro 

Cochinch

. 593.

Berberis angulosa Wall. 

Berberideae

. BARBERRY.

India. This is a rare Himalayan species with the largest flowers and fruit 

of any of the thirteen species found on that range. In Sikkim, it is a 

shrub four or more feet in height, growing at an elevation of from 

11,000 to 13,000 feet, where it forms a striking object in autumn from 

the rich golden and red coloring of its foliage. The fruit is edible and less 

acid than that of the common species.

B. aquifolium Pursh. MAHONIA. MOUNTAIN GRAPE. OREGON 

GRAPE.

Western North America. This shrub is not rare in cultivation as an 

ornamental. It has deep blue berries in clusters somewhat resembling 

the frost grape and the flavor is strongly acid. The berries are used as 

food, and the juice when fermented makes, on the addition of sugar, a 

palatable and wholesome wine. It is said not to have much value as a 

fruit. It is common in Utah and its fruit is eaten, being highly prized for 

its medicinal properties. The acid berry is made into confections and 

eaten as an antiscorbutic, under the name mountain grape.

B. aristata DC. NEPAL BARBERRY.

East Indies. The Nepal barberry produces purple fruits covered with a 

fine bloom, which in India are dried in the sun like raisins and used like 

them at the dessert. It is native to the mountains of Hindustan and is 

called in Arabic 

aarghees

. The plants are quite hardy and fruit 

abundantly in English gardens. Downing cultivated it in America but it 

gave him no fruit. In Nepal, the berries are dried by the Hill People and 

are sent down as raisins to the plains.

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B. asiatica Roxb. ASIATIC BARBERRY.

Region of Himalayas. According to Lindley, the fruit is round, covered 

with a thick bloom and has the appearance of the finest raisins. The 

berries are eaten in India. The plants are quite hardy and fruit 

abundantly in English gardens.

B. buxifolia Lam. MAGELLAN BARBERRY.

This evergreen shrub is found native from Chile to the Strait of 

Magellan. According to Dr. Philippi, it is the best of the South American 

species; the berries are quite large, black, hardly acid and but slightly 

astringent. The fruit, says Sweet, is used in England both green and 

ripe as are gooseberries, for making pies and tarts. In Valdivia and 

Chiloe, provinces of Chile, they are frequently consumed. It has ripened 

fruit at Edinburgh, and Mr. Cunningham enthusiastically says it is as 

large as the Hamburg grape and equally good to eat. It is also grown in 

the gardens of the Horticultural Society, London, from which cions 

appear to have been distributed. Under the name Black Sweet 

Magellan, it is noticed as a variety in Downing. It was introduced into 

England about 1828.

B. canadensis Pursh. AMERICAN BARBERRY.

North America; a species found in the Alleghenies of Virginia and 

southward but not in Canada. The berries are red and of an agreeable 

acidity.

B. darwinii Hook. DARWIN'S BARBERRY.

Chile and Patagonia. In Devonshire, England, the cottagers preserve the 

berries when ripe, and a party of school children admitted to where 

there are plants in fruit will clear the bushes of every berry as eagerly as 

if they were black currants.

B. empetrifolia Lam. FUEGIAN BARBERRY.

Region of Magellan Strait. The berry is edible.

B. glauca DC.

New Granada. The berry is edible.

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B. lycium Royle. INDIAN BARBERRY.

Himalayan region. In China, the fruit is preserved as in Europe, and the 

young shoots and leaves are made use of as a vegetable or for infusion 

as a tea.

B. nepalensis Spreng. MAHONIA.

An evergreen of the Himalayas. The fruits are dried as raisins in the sun 

and sent down to the plains of India for sale.

B. nervosa Pursh. OREGON GRAPE.

Northwestern America; pine forests of Oregon. The fruit resembles in 

size and taste that of 

B. aquifolium

.

B. pinnata Lag. BLUE BARBERRY.

Mexico; a beautiful, blue-berried barberry very common in New Mexico. 

It is called by the Mexicans 

lena amorilla

. The berries are very pleasant 

to the taste, being saccharine with a slight acidity.

B. sibirica Pall. SIBERIAN BARBERRY. 

Siberia. The berry is edible.

B. sinensis Desf.

China. The berry is edible.

B. tomentosa Ruiz & Pav. HAIRY BARBERRY. 

Chile. The berry is edible.

B. trifoliolata Moric.

Western Texas. The bright red, acid berries are used for tarts and are 

less acid than those of 

B. vulgaris

B. vulgaris Linn. BARBERRY. JAUNDICE BERRY. PIPRAGE.

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Europe and temperate Asia. This barberry is sometimes planted in 

gardens in England for its fruit. It was early introduced into the 

gardens of New England and increased so rapidly that in 1754 the 

Province of Massachusetts passed an act to prevent its spreading. The 

berries are preserved in sugar, in syrup, or candied and are esteemed 

by some. They are also occasionally pickled in vinegar, or used for 

flavoring. There are varieties with yellow, white, purple, and black 

fruits. A celebrated preserve is made from a stoneless variety at Rouen, 

France. The leaves were formerly used to season meat in England. The 

berries are imported from Afghanistan into India under the name of 

currant. A black variety was found by Tournefort on the bank of the 

Euphrates, the fruit of which is said to be of delicious flavor.

Bertholletia excelsa Humb. & Bonpl. 

Myrtaceae (Lecythidaceae)

. 

AMAZON NUT. ALMONDS OF THE AMAZON. BRAZIL NUT. 

BUTTERNUT.  CREAMNUT. PARA NUT. NIGGERTOE.

Brazil.  This is one of the most majestic trees of Guiana, Venezuela and 

Brazil. It furnishes the triangular nuts of commerce everywhere used as 

a food. It was first described in 1808. An oil is expressed from the 

kernels and the bark is used in caulking ships.

Besleria violacea Aubl. 

Gesneraceae

.

Guiana. The purple berry is edible.

Beta vulgaris Linn.  

Chenopodiaceae

.  BEET.  CHARD.  CHILIAN 

BEET.  LEAF-BEET. MANGEL. MANGEL WURZEL. MANGOLD. 

ROMAN KALE. SEA BEET. SEA-KALE BEET. SICILIAN BEET. 

SPINACH BEET. SUGAR BEET. SWISS CHARD.

Europe and north Africa. The beet of the garden is essentially a modem 

vegetable. It is not noted by either Aristotle or Theophrastus, and, 

although the root of the chard is referred to by Dioscorides and Galen, 

yet the context indicates medicinal use. Neither Columella, Pliny nor 

Palladius mentions its culture, but Apicius, in the third century, gives 

recipes for cooking the root of 

Beta

, and Athenaeus, in the second or 

third century, quotes Diphilus of Siphnos as saying that the beet-root 

was grateful to the taste and a better food than the cabbage. It is not 

mentioned by Albertus Magnus in the thirteenth century, but the word 

bete

 occurs in English recipes for cooking in 1390.

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Barbarus, who died in 1493, speaks of the beet as having a single, long, 

straight, fleshy, sweet root, grateful when eaten, and Ruellius, in 

France, appropriates the same description in 1536, as does also 

Fuchsius in 1542; the latter figures the root as described by Barbarus, 

having several branches and small fibres. In 1558, Matthiolus says the 

white and black chards are common in Italian gardens but that in 

Germany they have a red beet with a swollen, turnip-like root which is 

eaten. In 1570, Pena and Lobel speak of the same plant but apparently 

as then rare, and, in 1576, Lobel figures this beet, and this figure shows 

the first indication of an improved form, the root portion being swollen 

in excess over the portion by the collar. This beet may be considered the 

prototype of the long, red varieties. In 1586, Camerarius figures a 

shorter and thicker form, the prototype of our half-long blood beets. 

This same type is figured by Daleschamp, 1587, and also a new type, 

the 

Beta Romana

, which is said in Lyte's Dodoens, 1586, to be a recent 

acquisition. It may be considered as the prototype of our turnip or 

globular beets.

Another form is the flat-bottomed red, of which the Egyptian and the 

Bassano of Vilmorin, as figured, may be taken as the type. The Bassano 

was to be found in all the markets of Italy in 1841, and the Egyptian 

was a new sort about Boston in 1869. Nothing is known concerning the 

history of this type.

The first appearance of the improved beet is recorded in Germany about 

1558 and in England about 1576, but the name used, Roman beet, 

implies introduction from Italy, where the half-long type was known in 

1584. We may believe Ruellius's reference in 1536 to be for France. In 

1631, this beet was in French gardens under the name, 

Beta rubra 

pastinaca

, and the culture of "betteraves" was described in 

Le Jardinier 

Solitaire

, 1612. Gerarde mentions the "Romaine beete" but gives no 

figure. In 1665, in England, only the Red Roman was listed by Lovell, 

and the Red beet was the only kind noticed by Townsend, a seedsman, 

in 1726, and a second sort, the common Long Red, is mentioned in 

addition by Mawe, 1778, and by Bryant, 1783. In the United States, 

one kind only was in McMahon's catalog of 1806 — the Red beet, but in 

1828 four kinds are offered for sale by Thorbum. At present, Vilmorin 

describes seventeen varieties and names and partly describes many 

others.

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CHARD.

Chard was the beta of the ancients and of the Middle Ages. Red chard 

was noticed by Aristotle about 350 B. C. Theophrastus knew two 

kinds—the white, called 

Sicula

, and the black (or dark green), the most 

esteemed. Dioscorides also records two kinds. Eudemus, quoted by 

Athenaeus, in the second century, names four; the sessile, the white, 

the common and the dark, or swarthy. Among the Romans, chard finds 

frequent mention, as by Columella, Pliny, Palladius and Apicius. In 

China is was noticed in writings of the seventh, eighth, fourteenth, 

sixteenth and seventeenth centuries; in Europe, by all the ancient 

herbalists.

Chard has no Sanscrit name. The ancient Greeks called the species 

teutlion

; the Romans, 

beta

; the Arabs, 

seig

; the Nabateans, 

silq

. 

Albertus Magnus, in the thirteenth century, uses the word 

acelga

, the 

present name in Portugal and Spain.

The wild form is found in the Canary Isles, the whole of the 

Mediterranean region as far as the Caspian, Persia and Babylon, 

perhaps even in western India, as also about the sea-coasts of Britain. It 

has been sparingly introduced, into kitchen-gardens for use as a chard. 

The red, white, and yellow forms are named from quite early times; the 

red by Aristotle, the white and dark green by Theophrastus and 

Disocorides. In 1596, Bauhin describes dark, red, white, yellow, chards 

with a broad stalk and the sea-beet.   These forms, while the types can 

be recognized, yet have changed their appearance in our cultivated 

plants, a greater compactness and development being noted as arising 

from the selection and cultivation which has been so generally accorded 

in recent times. Among the varieties Vilmorin describes are the White, 

Swiss, Silver, Curled Swiss, and Chilian.

SEA BEET.

The leaves of the sea beet form an excellent chard and in Ireland are 

collected from the wild plant and used for food; in England the plant is 

sometimes cultivated in gardens. This form has been ennobled by 

careful culture, continued until a mangold was obtained.

SWISS CHARD.

Swiss chard is deemed by Ray to have been known to Gerarde, 1597, 

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for Gerarde, in his 

Herball

, indicates the sportive character of the seed 

as to color and mentions a height which is attained only by this plant. 

He says of it, "another sort hereof that was brought unto me from 

beyond the seas," and particularly notices the great breadth of the 

stalk; but the color particularly noticed is the red sort. Ray gives as a 

synonym 

Beta italica

 Parkinson. Swiss chard is quite variable in the 

stalks, according to the culture received.

SILVER-LEAF BEET.

The silver-leaf beet (

Poiree blonde a carde blanche

 Vilm. 1883) is a 

lighter green form of swiss chard, as described by Vilmorin, but with 

shorter and much broader stalk. It seems to be a variety within the 

changes which can be effected by selection and culture and perhaps 

can be referred to the Chilean type.

CHILEAN BEET.

The Chilean beet is a form usually grown for ornamental purposes.  The 

stalks are often very broad and twisted and the colors very clear and 

distinct, the leaf puckered and blistered as in the Curled Swiss. In the 

Gardeners' Chronicle

, 1844, it is said that "these ornamental plants 

were introduced to Belgium some ten or twelve years previously." It is 

yellow or red and varies in all the shades of these two colors. In 1651, J. 

Bauhin speaks of two kinds of chard as novelties: the one, white, with 

broad ribs; the other, red. He also speaks of a yellow form, differing 

from the kind with a boxwood-yellow root. In 1655, Lobel describes a 

chard with yellowish stems, varied with red. The forms now found are 

described by their names: Crimson-veined Brazilian, Golden-veined 

Brazilian, Scarlet-ribbed Chilean, Scarlet-veined Brazilian, Yellow-

ribbed Chilean and Red-stalked Chilean.

The modern chards are the broad-leaved ones and all must be 

considered as variables within a type. This type may be considered as 

the one referred to by Gerarde in 1597, whose "seedes taken from that 

plant which was altogether of one colour and sowen, doth bring foorth 

plants of many and variable colours." Our present varieties now come 

true to color in most instances but some seeds furnish an experience 

such as that which Gerarde records.

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MANGOLD.

Mangolt

 was the old German name for chard, or rather for the beet 

species, but in recent times the mangold is a large-growing root of the 

beet kind used for forage purposes. In the selections, size and the 

perfection of the root above ground have been important elements, as 

well as the desire for novelty, and hence we have a large number of very 

distinct-appearing sorts: the long red, about two-thirds above ground; 

the olive-shaped, or oval; the globe; and the flat-bottomed Yellow 

d'Obendorf. The colors to be noted are red, yellow and white.  The size 

often obtained in single specimens is enormous, a weight of 135 

pounds has been, claimed in California, and Gasparin in France 

vouches for a root weighing 132 pounds.

Very little can be ascertained concerning the history of mangolds. They 

certainly are of modem introduction. Olivier de Serres, in France, 1629, 

describes a red beet which was cultivated for cattle-feeding and speaks 

of it as a recent acquisition from Italy. In England, it is said to have 

arrived from Metz in 1786; but there is a book advertised of which the 

following is the title: 

Culture and Use of the Mangel Wurzel, a Root of 

Scarcity

, translated from the French of the Abbe de Commerell, by J. C. 

Lettson, with colored plates, third edition, 1787, by which it would 

appear that it was known earlier. McMahon records the mangold as in 

American culture in 1806. Vilmorin describes sixteen kinds and 

mentions many others.

SUGAR BEET.

The sugar beet is a selected form from the common beet and scarcely 

deserves a separate classification. Varieties figured by Vilmorin are all of 

the type of the half-long red, and agree in being mostly underground 

and in being very or quite scaly about the collar. The sugar beet has 

been developed through selection 6f the roots of high sugar content for 

the seedbearers. The sugar beet industry was born in France in 1811, 

and in 1826 the product of the crop was 1,500 tons of sugar. The use 

of the sugar beet could not, then, have preceded 1811; yet in 1824 five 

varieties, the 

grosse rouge

, 

petite rouge

, 

rouge ronde

, 

jaune

 and 

blanche

 are noted and the French Sugar, or Amber, reached American 

gardens before 1828. A richness of from 16 to 18 per cent of sugar is 

now claimed for Vilmorin's new Improved White Sugar.

The discovery of sugar in the beet is credited to Margraff in 1747, 

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having been announced in a memoir read before the Berlin Academy of 

Sciences.

A partial synonymy of 

Beta vulgaris

 is as follows:

RED BEETS.

I. 

Beta rubra

. Lob. 124. 1576; Icon. 1:248. 1591; Matth. 371. 1598. 

B. rubra Romana

. Dod. 620. i6i6. 

Common Long Red

. Mawe. 1778. 

Betterave rouge grosse

. Vilm. 38. 1883. 

Long Blood

. Thorb. 1828, i886.

II.

Beta rubra

. Cam. Epit. 256. 1586; Lugd. 535. 1587; Pancov. n. 607. 

1673. 

Betiola rossa

. Durc. 71. 1617. 

Betterave rouge naine

. Vilm. 37. 1883. 

Pineapple beet

.

III.

Beta erythorrhizos

 Dodo. Lugd. 533. 1587.

Beta rubra radice crassa, alia species

. Bauh. J. 2:961. 1651.

B. rubra . . . russa; Beta-rapa

. Chabr. 303. 1677.

Turnip-pointed red

. Mawe. 1778.

Turnip-rooted red

. Bryant 26. 1783.

Early Blood Turnip

. Thorb. 1828, i886.

YELLOW BEETS.

IV. 

Beta quarto radice buxea

. Caesalp. 1603 from Mill. Diet. 1807. 

Yellow-rooted

. Mill. Diet. 1807. 

Betterave jaune grosse

. Vilm. 41. 1883.

V.

Beta rubra, lutea; Beta-rapa

. Chabr. 305. 1677.

Turnip-pointed yellow

. Mawe. 1778.

Yellow Turnip

. Thorb. 1828.

Betterave jaune ronde sucre

. Vilm. 41. 1883.

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SEA BEET.

VI. 

Beta sylvestris spontanea marina

. Lob.Obs.125. 1576. 

B. sylvestris maritima

. Bauh. Phytopin. 191. 1596. 

Sea Beet

. Ray Hist. l :204. 1686.

WHITE BEET.

VII. 

Beta alba lactucaeand rumicis folio, etc. Advers. 93. 1570. B. alba vel 

pallescens, quawi Cicia officin. Bauh. Pin. n8. 1623. White Beet. Ray 

204. 1686. Beta cicla. Linn. Sp. 322. 1774. Common White-Leaved. 

Mawe. 1778. White-leaved. McMahon 187. 18o6. Spinach-Beet. 

Loudon. 1860. Poiree blonde ou commune. Vilm. 421. 1883.

SWISS CHARD.

VIII.

Beta alba

? 3. Gerarde 251. 1597. 

The Sicilian Broad-Leaved Beet

. Ray 205. 1686. 

White Beet

. Townsend. 1726. 

Chard, or Great White Swiss Beet

. Mawe. 1778. 

Swiss, or Chard Beet

. Mill. Diet. 1807. 

Swiss Chard, or Silver Beet

. Buist. 1851. 

Silver-Leaf Beet

. Burr 292. 1863. 

Poiree a carde blanche

. Vilm. 421. 1883.

SILVER-LEAF BEET.

IX.

Poiree blonde a carde blanche

. Vilm. 1883.

CURLED SWISS CHARD.

X.

Curled-Leaf Beet

. Burr 291. 1863. 

Beck's Seakale Beet

. Card. Chron. 1865. 

Poiree a blanche frises

. Vilm. 1883.

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Betula alba Linn. 

Cupuliferae (Betulaceae)

. CANOE BIRCH. LADY 

BIRCH. PAPER BIRCH. WHITE BIRCH.

Europe, northern Asia and North America. The bark, reduced to 

powder, is eaten by the inhabitants of Kamchatka, beaten up with the 

ova of the sturgeon, and the inner bark is ground into a meal and eaten 

in Lapland in times of dearth. Church says sawdust of birchwood is 

boiled, baked and then mixed with flour to form bread in Sweden and 

Norway. In Alaska, says Dall, the soft, new wood is cut fine and mingled 

with tobacco by the economical Indian. From the sap, a wine is made in 

Derbyshire, England, and, in 1814, the Russian soldiers near Hamburg 

intoxicated themselves with this fermented sap. The leaves are used in 

northern Europe as a substitute for tea, and the Indians of Maine make 

from the leaves of the American variety a tea which is relished. At 

certain seasons, the sap contains sugar. In Maine, the sap is sometimes 

collected in the spring and made into vinegar.

B. lenta Linn. BLACK BIRCH. CHERRY BIRCH. MAHOGANY 

BIRCH. SWEET BIRCH. 

North America. The sap, in Maine, is occasionally converted into 

vinegar.

B. nigra Linn. RED BIRCH. RIVER BIRCH.

From Massachusetts to Virginia. The sap contains sugar in the spring, 

according to Henfrey.

Billardiera mutabilis Salisb. 

Pittosporeae

. APPLE-BERRY.

Australia. This species is said by Backhouse to have pleasant, subacid 

fruit.

Bixa orellana Linn. 

Bixaceae

. ANNATTO.

South America. This shrub furnishes in the reddish pulp surrounding 

the seeds the annatto of commerce, imported from South America and 

used extensively for coloring cheese and butter. The culture of this 

plant is chiefly carried on in Guadeloupe and Cayenne, where the 

product is known as roucou. It is grown also in the Deccan and other 

parts of India and the Eastern Archipelago, in the Pacific Islands, Brazil, 

Peru, and Zanzibar, as Simmonds writes.

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Blepharis edulis Pers. 

Acanthaceae

.

Persia, Northwestern India, Nubia and tropical Arabia. The leaves are 

eaten crude.

Blighia sapida Kon. 

Sapindaceae

. AKEE FRUIT.

Guinea. This small tree is a native of Guinea and was carried to 

Jamaica by Captain Bligh in 1793. It is much esteemed in the West 

Indies as a fruit. The fruit is fleshy, of a red color tinged with yellow, 

about three inches long by two in width and of a three-sided form. 

When ripe, it splits down the middle of each side, disclosing three 

shining, jet-black seeds, seated upon and partly immersed in a white, 

spongy substance called the aril. This aril is the eatable part. Fruits 

ripened in the hothouses of England have not been pronounced very 

desirable. Unger says, however, the seeds have a fine flavor when 

cooked and roasted with the fleshy aril.

Boerhaavia repens Linn. 

Nyctagineae

. HOG-WEED.

Cosmopolitan tropics. According to Ainslie, the leaves are eaten in 

India, and Graham says in the Deccan it is sometimes eaten by the 

natives as greens. It is a common and troublesome weed of India. The 

young leaves are eaten by the natives as greens and made into curries.

Bomarea edulis Herb. 

Amaryllideae (Alstroemeriaceae)

. WHITE 

JERUSALEM ARTICHOKE.

Tropical America. The roots are round and succulent and when boiled 

are said to be a light and delicate food. A farinaceous or mealy 

substance is also made of them, from which cream is made, wholesome 

and very agreeable to the taste. The roots are sold under the name of 

white Jerusalem artichoke.

B. glaucescens Baker.

Ecuador. The fruit is sought after by children on account of a sweet, 

gelatinous pulp, resembling that of the pomegranate, in which the 

seeds are imbedded.

B. salsilla Mirb.

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Chile. The tubers are available for human food.

Bombax ceiba Linn. 

Malvaceae (Bombacaceae)

. GOD-TREE. SILK-

COTTON TREE.

South America. The leaves and buds, when young and tender, are very 

mucilaginous, like okra, and are boiled as greens by the negroes of 

Jamaica. The fleshy petals of the flowers are sometimes prepared as 

food by the Chinese. The tree is called god-tree in the West Indies, 

where it is native.

B. malabaricum DC. COTTON TREE.

East Indies, Malay and China. The calyx of the flower-bud is eaten as a 

vegetable.

B. septenatum Jacq.

Tropical America. The plant furnishes a green vegetable.

Bongardia rauwolfii C. A. Mey. 

Berberideae (Leonticaceae)

.

Greece and the Orient. This plant was noticed as early as 1573 by 

Rauwolf, who spoke of it as the true 

chrysogomum

 of Dioscorides. The 

Persians roast or boil the tubers and use them as food, while the leaves 

are eaten as are those of sorrel.

Boottia (Ottelia) cordata Wall. 

Hydrocharitaceae

.

A water plant of Burma. All the green parts are eaten by the Burmese as 

pot-herbs, for which purpose they are collected in great quantity and 

carried to the market at Ava.

Boquila trifoliata Decne. 

Berberideae (Lardizabalaceae)

.

Chile. The berries, about the size of a pea, are eaten in Chile. It is 

commonly called in Chile, 

baquil-blianca

.

Borago officinalis Linn. 

Boragineae

. BORAGE. COOL-TANKARD. 

TALEWORT.

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Europe, North Africa and Asia Minor. This plant has been distributed 

throughout the whole of southern and middle Europe even in the 

humblest gardens and is now cultivated likewise in India, North 

America and Chile.  Its leaves and flowers were used by the ancient 

Greeks and Romans for cool tankards. The Greeks called it 

euphrosynon

, for, when put in a cup of wine, it made those who drank 

it merry. It has been used in England since the days of Parkinson. In 

Queen Elizabeth's time, both the leaves and flowers were eaten in 

salads. It is at present cultivated for use in cooling drinks and is used 

by some as a- substitute for spinach. The leaves contain so much nitre 

that when dry they bum like match paper. The leaves also serve as a 

garnish and are likewise pickled. In India, it is cultivated by Europeans 

for use in country beer to give it a pleasant flavor. Borage is enumerated 

by Peter Martyr as among the plants cultivated at Isabela Island by the 

companions of Columbus. It appears in the catalogs of our American 

seedsmen and is mentioned by almost all of the earlier writers of 

gardening. The flowering parts of borage are noted or figured by nearly 

all of the ancient herbalists.

Borassus flabellifer Linn. 

Palmae

. DOUB PALM. PALMYRA PALM. 

TALA PALM. WINE PALM.

A common tree in a large part of Africa south of the Sahara and of 

tropical eastern Asia. The fruits, but still more the young seedlings, 

which are raised on a large scale for that purpose, are important as an 

article of food. Livingstone says the fibrous pulp around the large nuts 

is of a sweet, fruity taste and is eaten. The natives bury the nuts until 

the kernels begin to sprout; when dug up and broken, the inside 

resembles coarse potatoes and is prized in times of scarcity as 

nutritious food. During several months of the year, palm wine, or sura, 

is obtained in large quantities and when fresh is a pleasant drink, 

somewhat like champagne, and not at all intoxicating, though, after 

standing a few hours, it becomes highly so. Grant says on the Upper 

Nile the doub palm is called by the negroes m'voomo, and the boiled 

roots are eaten in famines by the Wanyamwezi.

The Palmyra palm is cultivated in India. The pulp of the fruit is eaten 

raw or roasted, and a preserve is made of it in Ceylon. The unripe seeds 

and particularly the young plant two or three months old are an 

important article of food. But the most valuable product of the tree is 

the sweet sap which runs from the peduncles, cut before flowering, and 

is collected in bamboo tubes or in earthern pots tied to the cut 

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peduncle. Nearly all of the sugar made in Burma and a large proportion 

of that made in south India is the produce of this palm. The sap is also 

fermented into toddy and distilled. Drury says the fruit and fusiform 

roots are used as food by the poorer classes in the Northern Circars. 

Firminger says the insipid, gelatinous, pellucid pulp of the fruit is eaten 

by the natives but is not relished by Europeans. A good preserve may, 

however, be made from it and is often used for pickling.

Borbonia (Aspalathus) cordata Linn. 

Leguminosae

.

South Africa. At the Cape of Good Hope, in 1772, Thunberg found the 

country people making tea of the leaves.

Boscia senegalensis Lam. 

Capparideae

.

African tropics. The seeds are eaten by the negroes of the Senegal.

Boswellia frereana Birdw. 

Burseraceae

.

Tropics of Africa. Though growing wild, the trees are carefully watched 

and even sometimes propagated. The resin is used in the East for 

chewing as is that of the mastic tree.

B. serrata Roxb. FRANKINCENSE TREE.

India. In times of famine, the Khnoods and Woodias live on a soup 

made from the fruit of this tree.

Botrychium virginianum Swartz. 

Ophioglossaceae

. 

RATTLESNAKE FERN.

This large, succulent fern is boiled and eaten in the Himalayas as well 

as in New Zealand.

Boucerosia (Caralluma) incamata N. E. Br. 

Asclepiadeae

.

South Africa. The Hottentots eat it, says Thunberg, after peeling off the 

edges and prickles.

Bouea burmanica Griff'. 

Anacardiaceae

.

Burma. The fruit is eaten, that of one variety being intensely sour, of 

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another insipidly sweet.

Bourreria succulenta Jacq. 

Boragineae (Ehretiaceae)

. CURRANT 

TREE.

West Indies. The berries are the size of a pea, shining, saffron or orange-

colored, pulpy, sweet, succulent and eatable.

Brabejum stellatifolium Linn. 

Proteaceae

. WILD CHESTNUT.

South Africa. Thunberg says the Hottentots eat the fruit of this shrub 

and that it is sometimes used by the country people instead of coffee, 

the outside rind being taken off and the fruit steeped in water to deprive 

it of its bitterness; it is then boiled, roasted and ground like coffee;

Brachistus solanaceus Benth. & Hook. f. 

Solanaceae

.

Nicaragua. This perennial merits trial culture on account of its large, 

edible tubers.

Brachystegia appendiculata Benth. 

Leguminosae

. 

Tropical Africa. The seeds are eaten.

Brachystelma sp.? 

Asclepiadeae

.

South Africa. This genus furnishes edible roots in South Africa and 

those of some species are esteemed as a preserve by the Dutch 

inhabitants.

Brahea dulcis Mart. 

Palmae

.

Peru. This Mexican palm, called 

palma dulce

 and 

soyale

, has a fruit 

which is a succulent drupe of a yellow color and cherry-size, sweet and 

edible.

B. (Serenoa) serrulata H. Wendl. SAW PALMETTO.

Southern United States. A fecula was formerly prepared from the pith 

by the Florida Indians.

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Brasenia schreberi J. F. Gmel. 

Nymphaeaceae. (Cabombaceae) 

WATER SHIELD.

India, Japan, Australia, Tropical Africa and North America. The 

tuberous root-stocks are collected by the California Indians for food.

Brassica. 

Cruciferae

. BORECOLE. BROCCOLI. BRUSSELS 

SPROUTS. CABBAGE. CAULIFLOWER.  CHARLOCK.   CHINESE 

CABBAGE.   COLLARDS.   KALE.  KOHL-RABI. MUSTARD.   

PORTUGAL CABBAGE.  RAPE.  RED CABBAGE.  RUTABAGA. 

SAVOY CABBAGE. TURNIPS.

This genus, in its cultivated species and varieties, assumes protean 

forms. In the cabbage section we have the borecoles and kales, which 

come nearest to the wild form; green and red cabbage with great, single 

heads; the savoys with their blistered and wrinkled leaves; brussels 

sprouts with numerous little heads; broccolis and the cauliflowers with 

their flowers in an aborted condition and borne in a dense corymb; the 

stalked cabbage of Jersey, which sometimes attains a height of 16 feet; 

the Portuguese 

couve tronchuda

 with the ribs of its leaves greatly 

thickened; and kohl-rabi. All of these vegetables are referred by Darwin  

to 

B. oleracea

 Linn. The other cultivated forms of the genus are 

descended, according to the view adopted by some, from two species, 

B. 

napus

 Linn. and

 B. rapa

 Linn.; but, according to other botanists, from 

three species; while others again strongly suspect that all these forms, 

both wild and cultivated, ought to be ranked as a single species. The 

genus, as established by Bentham, also includes the mustards.

B. alba Boiss. WHITE MUSTARD.

Europe and the adjoining portions of Asia. The cultivated plant appears 

to have been brought from central Asia to China, where the herbage is 

pickled in winter or used in spring as a pot-herb. In 1542, Fuchsius, a 

German writer, says it is planted everywhere in gardens. In 1597, in 

England, Gerarde  says it is not common but that he has distributed 

the seed so that he thinks it is reasonably well known. It is mentioned 

in American gardens in 1806. The young leaves, cut close to the 

ground before the formation of the second series or rough leaves 

appear, form an esteemed salad.

B. campestris Linn. TURNIP. RAPE. RUTABAGA. TURNIP.

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The turnip, says Unger, is derived from a species growing wild at the 

present day in Russia and Siberia as well as on the Scandinavian 

peninsula. From this, in course of cultivation, a race has been produced 

as 

B. campestris

 Linn., and a second as 

B. rapa

 Linn., our white turnip, 

with many varieties. The cultivation of this plant, indigenous in the 

region between the Baltic Sea and the Caucasus, was probably first 

attempted by the Celts and Germans when they were driven to make 

use of nutritious roots. Buckman was inclined to the belief that 

B. 

campestris

 and 

B. napus

 are but agrarian forms derived from 

B. 

oleracea

. Nowhere, he asserted, are the first two varieties truly wild but 

both track cultivation throughout Europe, Asia and America. Lindley 

says this plant, 

B. campestris

, has been found apparently wild in 

Lapland, Spain, the Crimea and Great Britain but it is difficult to say 

whether or not it is truly wild. When little changed by cultivation, it is 

the 

colsa

, 

colza

, or 

colsat

, the 

chou oleifere

 of the French, an oil-reed 

plant of great value. This is the 

colsa

 of Belgium, the east of France, 

Germany and Switzerland but not of other districts, in which the name 

is applied to rape. Unger states that this plant, growing wild from the 

Baltic Sea to the Caucasus, is the 

B. campestris

 oleifera DC. or 

B. colza

 

Lam. and that its culture, first starting in Belgium, is now extensively 

carried on in Holstein. De Candolle supposes the Swedish turnip is a 

variety, analogous to the kohl-rabi among cabbages, but with the root 

swollen instead of the stem. In its original wild condition, it is a flatfish, 

globular root, with a very fine tail, a narrow neck and a hard, deep 

yellow flesh. Buckman, by seeding rape and common turnips in mixed 

rows, secured, through hybridization, a small percentage of malformed 

swedes, which were greatly improved by careful cultivation. If Bentham 

was correct in classing 

B. napus

 with 

B. campestris

, the result of 

Buckman's experiment does not carry the rutabaga outside of 

B. 

campestris

 for its origin. Don classifies the rutabaga as 

B. campestris

 

Linn. var. 

oleifera

, sub. var. 

rutabaga

.

The turnip is of ancient culture. Columella, A. D. 42, says the 

napus

 

and the 

rapa

 are both grown for the use of man and beast, especially in 

France; the former does not have a swollen but a slender root, and the 

latter is the larger and greener. He also speaks of the 

Mursian gongylis

, 

which may be the round turnip, as being especially fine. The distinction 

between the 

napus

 and the 

rapa

 was not always held, as Pliny uses the 

word 

napus

 generically and says that there are five kinds, the 

Corinthian, Cleonaeum, Liothasium, Boeoticum and the Green. The 

Corinthian, the largest, with an almost bare root, grows on the surface 

and not, as do the rest, under the soil. The Liothasium, also called 

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Thracium, is the hardest. The Boeoticum is sweet, of a notable 

roundness and not very long as is the Cleonaeum. At Rome, the 

Amitemian is in most esteem, next the Nursian, and third our own kind 

(the green?). In another place, under 

rapa

, he mentions the broad-

bottom (flat?), the globular, and as the most esteemed, those of Nursia. 

The 

napus

 of Amiternum, of a nature quite similar to the 

rapa

, 

succeeds best in a cool place. He mentions that the 

rapa

 sometimes 

attains a weight of forty pounds. This weight has, however, been 

exceeded in, modem times. Matthiolus, 1558, had heard of turnips that 

weighed a hundred pounds and speaks of having seen long and purple 

sorts that weighed thirty pounds. Amatus Lusitanus, 1524, speaks of 

turnips, weighing fifty and sixty pounds. In England, in 1792, Martyn 

says the greatest weight that he is acquainted with is thirty-six pounds. 

In California, about 1830, a turnip is recorded of one hundred pounds 

weight.

In the fifteenth century, Booth  says the turnip had become known to 

the Flemings and formed one of their principal crops. The first turnips 

that were introduced into England, he says, are believed to have come 

from Holland in 1550. In the time of Henry VIII (1509-1547) according 

to Mclntosh, turnips were used baked or roasted in the ashes and the 

young shoots were used as a salad and as a spinach. Gerarde describes 

them in a number of varieties, but the first notice of their field culture is 

by Weston in 1645. Worlidge, 1668, mentions the turnip fly as an 

enemy of turnips and Houghton speaks of turnips as food for sheep in 

1684. In 1686, Ray says they are sown everywhere in fields and 

gardens. In 1681, Worlidge says they are chiefly grown in gardens but 

are also grown to some extent in fields. The turnip was brought to 

America at a very early period. In 1540, Cartier sowed turnip seed in 

Canada, during his third voyage. They were also cultivated in Virginia 

in 1609; are mentioned again in 1648; and by Jefferson in 1781. They 

are said by Francis Higginson n to be in cultivation in Massachusetts in 

1629 and are again mentioned by William Wood, 1629-33. They were 

plentiful about Philadelphia in 1707. Jared Sparks planted them in 

Connecticut in 1747. In 1775, Romans in his Natural History of Florida 

mentions them. They are also mentioned in South Carolina in 1779. In 

1779, General Sullivan destroyed the turnips in the Indian fields at the 

present Geneva, New York, in the course of his invasion of the Indian 

country. The common flat turnip was raised as a field crop in 

Massachusetts and New York as early as 1817.

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NAVET, OR FRENCH TURNIP.

(

B. napus esculenta

 DC.)

This turnip differs from the 

Brassica rapa oblonga

 DC. by its smooth 

and glaucous leaves. It surpasses other turnips by the sweetness of its 

flavor and furnishes white, yellow and black varieties. It is known as the 

Navet, or French turnip. This was apparently the napa of Columella.1 

This turnip was certainly known to the early botanists, yet its 

synonymy is difficult to be traced from the figures. However, the 

following are correct:

Napus

. Trag. 730. 1552; Matth. 240. 1664; Pin. 144. 1561; Cam. Epit. 

222. 1586; Dod. 674. 1616; Fischer 1646.

Bunias sive napus

. Lob. Icon. 1 :200. 1591.

Bunias silvestris lobelii

. Ger. 181.  1597.

Napi

. Dur. C. 304. 1617.

Bunias

. Bodaeus 733. 1644.

Napus dulcis

. Blackw. t. 410. 1765.

Navet petit de Berlin

. Vilm. 360. 1883.

Teltow turnip

. Vilm. 580. 1885.

The navets are mentioned as under cultivation in England by Worlidge, 

1683; as the French turnip by Wheeler, 1763, and in 

Miller's 

Dictionary

, 1807. Gasparin says the 

navet de Berlin

, which often 

acquires a great size, is much grown in Alsace and in Germany. It is 

grown in China, according to Bretschneider. This turnip was known in 

the fifth century.

THE COMMON FLAT TURNIP.

 (

B. rapa depressa

 DC.)

This turnip has a large root expanding under the origin of the stem into 

a think, round, fleshy tuber, flattened at the top and bottom. It has 

white, yellow, black, red or purple and green varieties. It seems to have 

been known from ancient times and is described and figured by the 

earlier botanists. The synonymy is as follows:

A. Flattened both above and below.

Rapum

. Matth. 240. 1554; Cam. Epit. 218. 1586.

Rapum sive rapa

. Pin. 143. 1561.

Rapa

. Dur. ?.386. 1617.

Navet turnip

. Vilm. 583. 1883. 

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B. Flattened, but pointed below.

Orbiculatum seu turbinatum rapum

. Lob. Icon. I :197. 1791

Rapum

. Porta, Phytognom. 120. 1591.

Rapum vulgare

. Dod. 673. 16i6.

Rave d'Auvergne tardive

. Vilm. 

C. Globular.

Rapum

. Trag. 728. 1552.

Rapa, La Rave

. Toum. 113. 1719.

Navet jaune d'Hollande

. Vilm. 370. 1883.

Yellow Dutch

. Vilm. 588. 1885.

THE LONG TURNIP. 

(

B. rapa oblonga

 DC.)

This race of turnip differs from the preceding in having a long or oblong 

tuber tapering to the radicle. It seems an ancient form, perhaps the 

Cleonaeum of Pliny.

Vulgare rapum alterum

. Trag. 729. 1532.

Rapum longum

. Cam. Epit. 219. 1586.

Rapum tereti, rotunda, oblongaque radici

. Lob. Icon. 1: 197. 1591.

Rapum oblongius

. Dod. 673. 1616.

Rapum sativum rotundum et oblongum

. Bauh. J. 2:838. 1651.

Rapa. La Rave

. Tourn. 113. 1719.

Navet de Briollay

. Vilm. 372. 1883.

This account by no means embraces all the turnips now known, as it 

deals with form only and not with color and habits. In 1828, 13 kinds 

were in 

Thorburn's American Seed Catalog

 and in 1887, 33 kinds. In 

France, 12 kinds were named by Pirolle in 1824 and by Petit in 1826. 

In 1887, Vilmorin's Wholesale Seed-list enumerates 31 kinds.

RAPE.

Bentham classes rape with 

B. campestris

 Linn. and others are disposed 

to include it as an agrarian form of 

B. oleracea

 Linn. Darwin says 

B. 

napus

 Linn., in which he places rape, "has given rise to two large 

groups, namely Swedish turnips (by some believed to be of hybrid 

origin) and colzas, the seeds of which yield oil." It can be believed quite 

rationally that the Swedish turnip may have originated in its varieties 

from 

B. campestris

 and from hybridization with 

B. napus

. To this 

species, Lindley refers some of the rapes, or coles, the 

navette

, 

navette 

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d'hiver

, or 

rabette

 of the French, and the 

repo

, 

ruhen

 or 

winter reps

 of 

the Germans, while the summer rapes he refers to 

B. praecox

. Rape is 

used as an oil plant but is inferior to colza. It is also used in a young 

state as a salad plant. Of this species there is also a fleshy-rooted 

variety, the Tetlow turnip, or 

navet de Berlin petit

 of the French, the 

root long and spindle-shaped, somewhat resembling a carrot. Its 

culture in England dates from 1790 but it was well known in 1671 and 

is noticed by Caspar Bauhin in his 

Pinax

. It is much more delicate in 

flavor than our common turnip. In Prance and Germany, this Tetlow 

turnip is extensively cultivated. To what extent our common turnips are 

indebted to the rapes, seems impossible to say, for Metzger, by culture, 

converted the biennial, or winter rape, into the annual, or summer rape, 

varieties which Lindley believes to be specifically distinct. The 

Bon 

Jardinier

 says, in general, the early turnips of round form and growing 

above ground belong to 

B. napus

 and names the Yellow Malta, Yellow 

Finland and Montmaquy of our catalogs.

Summer rape is referred by Lindley to 

B. praecox

 Waldst. & Kit. In the 

east of France, it is called 

navette d'ete

, or 

navette de mai

 and by the 

Germans summer reps. Some botanists refer summer rape to 

B. 

campestris

 Linn. and winter rape to 

B. napus

 Linn. Rape is also 

referred to

 B. rapa

 Linn. The evidence is unusually clear, says Darwin, 

that rape and the turnip belong to the same species, for the turnip has 

been observed by Koch and Godron to lose its thick roots in 

uncultivated soil and when rape and turnips are sown together they 

cross to such a degree that scarcely a single plant comes true. Summer 

rape seems to be grown to a far less extent than winter rape.

RUTABAGA.

The rutabaga of the Swedes, the 

navel de Suede

, or 

chou de Suede

, or 

chou rutabaga

, or 

chou navel jaune

, of the French was introduced into 

England somewhere about the end of the eighteenth century. In the 

Maine Farmer of May 15, 1835, a correspondent, John Burston, states 

that the rutabaga, Swedish turnip, or Lapland turnip — for by all these 

names was it known — was introduced to this country since the 

commencement of the present century. Six or more varieties are named 

in all seed catalogs and Burr describes 11 kinds.

The rutabagas of our gardens include two forms, one with white flesh, 

the other with yellow. The French call these two classes 

chou-navets

 

and rutabagas respectively. The 

chou-navet

, or 

Brassica napo-brassica 

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communis

 DC., has either purple or white roots; the rutabaga, or 

B. 

napo-brassica Ruta-baga

 A. P. DC., has a more regular root, round or 

oval, yellow both without and within. In English nomenclature, while 

now the two forms are called by a common name, yet formerly the first 

constituted the turnip-rooted cabbage. In 1806, the distinction was 

retained in the United States, McMahon describing the turnip-rooted 

cabbage and the Swedish turnip, or Rutabaga. As a matter of 

convenience we shall describe these two classes separately.

The first description of the white-rooted form is by Bauhin in his 

Prodromus

, 1620, and it is named again in his 

Pinax

, 1623, and is 

called 

napo-brassica

. In 1686, Ray apparently did not know it in 

England, as he quotes Bauhin's name and description, which states 

that it is cultivated in Bohemia and is eaten, but Morison, in 1669, 

catalogs it among the plants in the royal gardens. In France, it is named 

by Tournefort, in 1700, 

Brassica radice napiformi

, or 

chou-navet

. In 

1778, this was called in England turnip-cabbage with the turnip 

underground and in the United States, in 1806, turnip-rooted cabbage, 

as noted above. There are three varieties described by Vilmorin  under 

the names 

chou-navet

, 

chou turnip

, and 

chou de Lapland

, one of which 

is purple at the collar; apparently these same varieties are named by 

Noisette in 1829. The white and the red-collared were named by Pirolle, 

in 1824. This class, as Don says in 1831, is little known in English 

gardens, though not uncommon in French horticulture.

The rutabaga is said by Sinclair, in the account of the system of 

husbandry in Scotland, to have been introduced into Scotland about 

1781-2, and a quotation in the 

Gardeners' Chronicle

 says it was 

introduced into England in 1790. It is mentioned in 1806 by McMahon 

as in American gardens, and in 1817 there is a record of an acre of this 

crop in Illinois. The vernacular names all indicate an origin in Sweden 

or northern Europe. It is called Swedish turnip or Roota-baga by 

McMahon, 1806, by Miller's Dictionary, 1807, by Cobbett, 1821, and 

by other authors to the present time. De Candolle, 1821, calls it 

navet 

jaune

, 

navet de Suede

, 

chou de Laponie

, and 

chou de Suede

; Pirolle, 

in 1824, Ruta-baga or 

chou navet de Suede

, as does Noisette in 1829. 

In 1821 Thorbum calls it Ruta-baga, or Russian turnip, and a 

newspaper writer in 1835 calls it Ruta-baga, Swedish turnip and 

Lapland turnip. The foreign names given by Don in 1831 include many 

of the above named and the Italian 

navone di Laponia

. Vilmorin in his 

Les Plantes Potageres, 1883, describes three varieties: one with a green 

collar, one with a purple collar and a third which is early.

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B. carinata A. Braun.

This plant is said by Unger to be found wild and cultivated in Abyssinia 

although it furnishes a very poor cabbage, not to be compared with 

ours.

B. chinensis Linn. CHINESE CABBAGE.

The 

pe-tsai

 of the Chinese is an annual, apparently intermediate 

between cabbage and the turnip but with much thinner leaves than the 

former. It is of much more rapid growth than any of the varieties of the 

European cabbage, so much so, that when sown at midsummer it will 

ripen seed the same season. Introduced from China in 1837, it has 

been cultivated and used as greens by a few persons about Paris but it 

does not appear likely to become a general favorite. It is allied to the 

kales. Its seeds are ground into a mustard.

But little appears to be recorded concerning the varieties of this 

cabbage of which the Pak-choi and the Pe-tsai only have reached 

European culture. It has, however, been long under cultivation in 

China, as it can be identified in Chinese works on agriculture of the 

fifth, sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Loureiro, 1790, 

says it is also cultivated in Cochin China and varieties are named with 

white and yellow flowers. The Pak-choi has more resemblance to a 

chard than to a cabbage, having oblong or oval, dark shining-green 

leaves upon long, very white and swollen stalks. The Pe-tsai, however, 

rather resembles a cos lettuce, forming an elongated head, rather full 

and compact and the leaves are a little wrinkled and undulate at the 

borders. Both varieties have, however, a common aspect and are 

annuals.

Considering that the round-headed cabbage is the only sort figured by 

the herbalists, that the pointed-headed early cabbages appeared only at 

a comparatively recent date, and certain resemblances between Pe-tsai 

and the long-headed cabbages, it is not an impossible suggestion that 

these cabbage-forms appeared as the effect of cross-fertilization with the 

Chinese cabbage. But, until the cabbage family has received more 

study in its varieties, and the results of hybridization are better 

understood, no certain conclusion can be reached. It is, however, 

certain that occasional rare sports, or variables, from the seed of our 

early, long-headed cabbages show the heavy veining and the limb of the 

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leaf extending down the stalk, suggesting strongly the Chinese type. At 

present, however, views as to the origin of various types of cabbage 

must be considered as largely speculative.

B. cretica Lam.

Mediterranean regions. The young shoots were formerly used in Greece.

B. juncea Coss. CHINESE MUSTARD. INDIAN MUSTARD.

The plant is extensively cultivated throughout India, central Africa and 

generally in warm countries. It is largely grown in south Russia and in 

the steppes northeast of the Caspian Sea. In 1871-72, British India 

exported 1418 tons of seed. The oil is used in Russia in the place of 

olive oil. The powdered seeds furnish a medicinal and culinary 

mustard.

B. nigra Koch. BLACK MUSTARD.

This is the mustard of the ancients and is cultivated in Alsace, Bohemia, 

Italy, Holland and England. The plant is found wild in most parts of 

Europe and has become naturalized in the United States. According to 

the belief of the ancients, it was first introduced from Egypt and was 

made known to mankind by Aesculapius, the god of medicine, and 

Ceres the goddess of seeds. Mustard is mentioned by Pythagoras and 

was employed in medicine by Hippocrates, 480 B. C. Pliny says the 

plant grew in Italy without sowing. The ancients ate the young plants 

as a spinach and used the seeds for supplying mustard.

Black mustard is described as a garden plant by Albertus Magnus in 

the thirteenth century and is mentioned by the botanists of the 

sixteenth century. It is, however, more grown as a field crop for its seed, 

from which the mustard of commerce is derived, yet finds place also as 

a salad plant. Two varieties are described, the Black Mustard of Sicily 

and the Large-seeded Black. This mustard was in American gardens in 

1806 or earlier. The young plants are now eaten as a salad, the same as 

are those of 

B. alba

 and the seeds now furnish the greater portion of 

our mustard.

B. oleracea acephala DC. BORECOLE. COLE. COLEWORT. KALE.

The chief characteristics of this species of Brassica are that the plants 

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are open, not heading like the cabbages, nor producing eatable flowers 

like the cauliflowers and broccoli. The species has every appearance of 

being one of the early removes from the original species and is 

cultivated in many varieties known as kale, greens, sprouts, curlico, 

with also some distinguishing prefixes as Buda kale, German greens. 

Some are grown as ornamental plants, being variously curled, 

laciniated and of beautiful colors. In 1661, Ray journeyed into Scotland 

and says of the people that "they use much pottage made of coal-wort 

which they call keal." It is probable that this was the form of cabbage 

known to the ancients.

The kales represent an extremely variable class of vegetable and have 

been under cultivation from a most remote period. What the varieties of 

cabbage were that were known to the ancient Greeks it seems 

impossible to determine in all cases, but we can hardly question but 

that some of them belonged to the kales. Many varieties were known to 

the Romans. Cato, who lived about 201 B. C., describes the Brassica as: 

the 

levis

, large broad-leaves, large-stalked; the 

crispa

 or 

apiacan

; the 

lenis, small-stalked, tender, but rather sharp-tasting. Pliny, in the first 

century, describes the 

Cumana

, with sessile leaf and open head; the 

Aricinum

, not excelled in height, the leaves numerous and thick; the 

Pompeianum

, tall, the stalk thin at the base, thickening along the 

leaves; the 

brutiana

, with very large leaves, thin stalk, sharp savored; 

the 

sabellica

, admired for its curled leaves, whose thickness exceeds 

that of the stalk, of very sweet savor; the 

Lacuturres

, very large headed, 

innumerable leaves, the head round, the leaves fleshy; the 

Tritianom

, 

often a foot in diameter and late in going to seed. The first American 

mention of coleworts is by Sprigley, 1669, for Virginia but this class of 

the cabbage tribe is probably the one mentioned by Benzoni as growing 

in Hayti in 1565. In 1806, McMahon recommends for American 

gardens the green and the brown Aypres and mentions the Red and 

Thick-leaved Curled, the Siberian, the Scotch and especially 

recommends Jerusalem kale.

The form of kale known in France as the chevalier seems to have been 

the longest known and we may surmise that its names of 

chou caulier

 

and 

caulet

 have reference to the period when the word 

caulis

, a stalk, 

had a generic meaning applying to the cabbage race in general. We may 

hence surmise that this was the common form in ancient times, in like 

manner as coles or coleworts in more modern times imply the 

cultivation of kales. This word 

coles

 or 

caulis

 is used in the generic 

sense, for illustration, by Cato, 200 years B. C.; by Columella the first 

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century A. D.; by Palladius in the third; by Vegetius in the fourth 

century A. D.; and Albertus Magnus in the thirteenth. This race of 

chevaliers

 may be quite reasonably supposed to be the 

levis

 of Cato, 

sometimes called 

caulodes

.

According to De Candolle, this race of chevaliers has five principal sub-

races, of which the following is an incomplete synonymy:

I.

Brassica laevis

. Cam. Epit. 248. 1586; Matth. Op. 366. 1598.

Br. vulgaris sativa

. Ger. 244. 1597.

Cavalier branchu

. DeCand. Mem. 9. 1821.

Thousand-headed

. Burr 236. 1863.

Chou branchu du Poitou

. Vilm. 135. 1883.

Chou mille teles

. Vilrn. 1. c.

II. a. viridis. 

Kol

. Roeszl. 87. 1550. Brassica. Trag. 720. 1552. 

Brassica alba vulgaris

. Bauh. J. 2:829. 1651. 

Chou vert commun

. Decand. Mem. 9. 1821. 

Cow Cabbage

. Burr 232. 1863. 

Chou cavalier

. Vilm. 134. 1883. 

Brassica vulgaris alba

. Chabr. 290. 1677.

II. b. rubra. 

Brassica primum genus

. Fuch. 413. 1542. 

Br. rubra prima species

. Dalechamp 523. 1587. 

Br. rubra

. Ger. 244. 1597.

Br. rubra vulgaris

. Bauh. J. 2:831. 1651; Chabr. 270. 1877. 

Red cavalier

. De Cand. Mem. 9. 1821. 

Flanders kale

. Burr 233. 1863. 

Caulet de Flander

. Vilrn. 134. 1883.

III. 

Brassica vulgaris sativa

. Lob. Obs. 122. 1576; Icon. 1:243. 1591; D 

Br. alba vulgaris

. Dalechamp 520. 1587. 

Brassica

. Dur. C. 76. 1817. 

Chou a feuilles de Chene

. De Cand. Mem. 10. 1821. 

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Buda kale

. Vilm. 141. 1885.

IV. a. 

Brassica secundum genus

. Fuch. 414. 1542. 

Br. fimbriata

. Lob. Obs. 124. 1576; Icon. 247. 1591. 

Br. sativa crispa

. Ger. 244. 1597. 

Br. crispa

. Dod. 622. i6i6. 

Br. crispa lacinosa

. Bauh. J. 2:832. 1651. 

Chou vert frise

. De Cand. Mem. 10. 1821. 

Tall Green Curled

. Burr 236. 1863. 

Chou frise vert grand

. Vilm. 131. 1883.

IV. b.

Brassica crispa, seu apiana

. Trag. 721. 1552.

Br. crispa

 Tragi. Dalechamp 524. 1587.

Br. tenuifolia laciniata

. Lob. Icon. 1:246. 1591.

Br. selenoides

. Dod. 622. i6i6.

Br. tenuissima laciniata

. Bauh. J. 2:832. 1651.

Br. selenoides

. Ger. 248. 1597.

Chou plume ou Chou aigrette

. De Cand. Mem. n. 1821. 

Ornamental 

kales of our gardens

.

V. 

Brassica tophosa

. Ger. 246. 1547; Bauh. J. 2:830. 1651. 

Br. tophosa Tabernemontano

. Chabr. 270. 1677. 

Chou palmier

. De Cand. Mem. n. 1821; Vilm. 133. 1883.

These forms occur in many varieties, differing in degree only, and of 

various colors, even variegated. In addition to the above we may 

mention the proliferous kales, which also occur in several varieties. The 

following synonyms refer to proliferation only, as the plants in other 

respects are not similar:— 

Brassica asparagoides

 Dalechampii. Dalechamp 522. 1587. 

Brassica prolifera

. Ger. 245. 1597. 

Brassica prolifera crispa

. Ger. 245. 1597. 

Cockscomb kale

. Burr 232. 1863. 

Chou frise prolifere

. Vilm. 133. 1883.

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THE DWARF KALES.

De Candolle does not bring these into his classification as offering true 

types, and in this perhaps he is right. Yet, olericulturally considered, 

they are quite distinct. There are but few varieties. The best marked is 

the Dwarf Curled, the leaves falling over in a graceful curve and 

reaching to the ground. This kale can be traced through variations and 

varieties to our first class, and hence it has probably been derived in 

recent times through a process of selection, or through the preservation 

of a natural variation. There is an intermediate type between the Dwarf 

Curled and the Tall Curled forms in the intermediate Moss Curled.

THE PORTUGAL KALES.

Two kales have the extensive rib system and the general aspect of the 

Portugal cabbage. These are the chou brocoli and the chou frise de 

mosbach of Vilmorin. These bear the same relation to Portugal cabbage 

that common kale bears to the heading cabbages.

B. oleracea botrytis cymosa DC. BROCCOLI.

The differences between the most highly improved varieties of the 

broccoli and the cauliflower are very slight; in the less changed forms 

they become great. Hence two races can be defined, the sprouting 

broccolis and the cauliflower broccolis. The growth of the broccoli is far 

more prolonged than that of the cauliflower, and in the European 

countries it bears its heads the year following that in which it is sown. It 

is this circumstance that leads us to suspect that the Romans knew the 

plant and described it under the name 

cyma

—"

Cyma a prima sectione 

praestat proximo vere

." "

Ex omnibus brassicae generibus suavissima 

est cyma

," says Pliny. He also uses the word 

cyma

 for the seed stalk 

which rises from the heading cabbage. These excerpts indicate the 

sprouting broccoli, and the addition of the word 

cyma

 then, as exists in 

Italy now, with the word broccoli is used for a secondary meaning, for 

the tender shoots which at the close of winter are emitted by various 

kinds of cabbages and turnips preparing to flower.

It is certainly very curious that the early botanists did not describe or 

figure broccoli. The omission is only explainable under the supposition 

that it was confounded with the cauliflower, just as Linnaeus brought 

the cauliflower and the broccoli into one botanical variety. The first 

notice of broccoli is quoted from Miller's Dictionary, edition of 1724, in 

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which he says it was a stranger in England until within these five years 

and was called "sprout colli-flower," or Italian asparagus. In 1729, 

Switzer says there are several kinds that he has had growing in his 

garden near London these two years: "that with small, whitish-yellow 

flowers like the cauliflower; others like the common sprouts and flowers 

of a colewort; a third with purple flowers; all of which come mixed 

together, none of them being as yet (at least that I know of) ever sav'd 

separate." In 1778, Mawe, names the Early Purple, Late Purple, White 

or Cauliflower-broccoli and the Black. In 1806, McMahon mentions the 

Roman or Purple, the Neapolitan or White, the Green and the Black. In 

1821, Thorbum names the Cape, the White and the Purple, and, in 

1828, in his seed list, mentions the Early White, Early Purple, the Large 

Purple Cape and the White Cape or Cauliflower-broccoli.

The first and third kind of Switzer, 1729, are doubtless the heading 

broccoli, while the second is probably the sprouting form. These came 

from Italy and as the seed came mixed, we may assume that varietal 

distinctions had not as yet become recognized, and that hence all the 

types of the broccoli now grown have originated from Italy. It is 

interesting to note, however, that at the Cirencester Agricultural College, 

about 1860, sorts of broccoli were produced, with other variables, from 

the seed of wild cabbage.

Vilmorin says: "The sprouting or asparagus broccoli, represents the 

first form exhibited by the new vegetable when it ceased to be the 

earliest cabbage and was grown with an especial view to its shoots; after 

this, by continued selection and successive improvements, varieties 

were obtained which produced a compact, white head, and some of 

these varieties were still further improved into kinds which are 

sufficiently early to commence and complete their entire growth in the 

course of the same year; these last named kinds are now known as 

cauliflowers."

B. oleracea bullata gemmifera DC. BRUSSELS SPROUTS.

This vegetable, in this country, grown only in the gardens of amateurs, 

yet deserving more esteem, has for a type-form a cabbage with an 

elongated stalk, bearing groups of leaf-buds in the axils of the leaves. 

Sometimes occurring as a monstrosity, branches instead of heads are 

developed. Quite frequently an early cabbage, after the true head is 

removed, will develop small cabbages in the leaf-axils, and thus is 

formed the 

Brassica capitata polycephalos

 of Dalechamp, 1587, which 

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he himself describes as a certain unused and rare kind.

Authors have stated that brussels sprouts have been grown from time 

immemorial about Brussels, in Belgium; but, if this be so, it is strange 

that they escaped the notice of the early botanists, who would have 

certainly noticed a common plant of such striking appearance and have 

given a figure. Bauhin, indeed, 1623, gives the name 

Brassica ex 

capitibus pluribus conglobata

, and adds that some plants bear 50 

heads the size of an egg, but his reference to Dalechamp would lead us 

to infer that the plant known to him was of the same character as that 

figured by Dalechamp above noted. Lobel, 1655, refers to a cabbage 

like a 

Brassica polycephalos

, but, as he had not seen it, he says he will 

affirm nothing. Ray, 1686, refers to a like cabbage.

A. P. De Candolle, 1821, describes brussels sprouts as commonly 

cultivated in Belgium and implies its general use in French gardens, 

but Booth says it is only since about 1854 that it has been generally 

known in England. A correspondent of the 

Gardeners' Chronicle

, 1850, 

however, refers to the tall sorts as generally preferred to the dwarf by 

the market gardeners about London. In American gardens, it is 

mentioned in 1806 and this implies its general use in Europe.

But two classes are known, the tall and the dwarf, and but a few minor 

variations in these classes. The tall is quite distinct in habit and leaf 

from the dwarf, the former having less crowded sprouts and a more 

open character of plant, with leaves scarcely blistered or puckered. As, 

however, there is considerable variation to be noted in seedlings, 

furnishing connecting links, the two forms may legitimately be 

considered as one, the difference being no greater than would be 

explained by the observed power of selection and of the influence for 

modification which might arise from the influence of cabbage pollen. 

This fact of their being of but one type, even if with several variables, 

would seem to indicate a probability that the origin is to be sought for 

in a sport, and that our present forms have been derived from a 

suddenly observed variable of the Savoy cabbage type and, as the lack 

of early mention and the recent nature of modern mention presupposes, 

at some time scarcely preceding the last century.

Allied to this class is the Tree cabbage, or Jersey cabbage, which attains 

an extreme height of 16 feet, bearing a comparatively small, open 

cabbage on the summit, the Thousand-headed cabbage, the Poiton 

cabbage, and the Marrow cabbage, the stems of which last are 

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succulent enough to be boiled for food. In 1806, McMahon describes 

brussels sprouts, but he does not include them in his list of American 

garden esculents so they were not at that time in very general use. 

Fessenden, 1828, mentions the Thousand-headed cabbage but it does 

not seem to have been known to him personally.  Thorbum, in his 

catalog for 1828, offers its seed for sale, but one variety only, and in 

1881, two varieties.

B. oleracea bullata major DC. SAVOY CABBAGE.

This race of cabbage is distinguished by the blistered surface of its 

leaves and by the formation of a loose or little compacted head. 

Probably the heading cabbages of the ancient Romans belong to this 

class, as, in their descriptions, there are no indications of a firm head, 

and at a later period this form is named as if distinctly Roman. Thus, 

Ruellius, 1536, describes under the name 

romanos

 a loose-heading 

sort of cabbage but does not describe it particularly as a Savoy. This 

sort probably is the 

Brassica italica tenerrima glomerosa flore albo

 

figured by J. Bauhin, 1651, its origin, judging from the name, being 

ascribed to Italy; it is also figured by Chabraeus, 1677, under the same 

name and with the additional names of 

Chou d'ltalie

 and 

Chou de 

Savoys.

 In the 

Adversaria

 and elsewhere, this kind is described as 

tender and as not extending to northern climates. This form, so 

carefully pictured as existing under culture, has doubtless been 

superseded by better varieties. It has been cultivated in English 

gardens for three centuries. In 1806, McMahon mentions three savoys 

for American gardens.  In 1828, Thorbum offers in his catalog seeds of 

five varieties and in 1881 offers seed of but three.

B. oleracea capita DC. CABBAGE.

Few plants exhibit so many forms in its variations from the original type 

as cabbage. No kitchen garden in Europe or America is without it and it 

is distributed over the greater part of Asia and, in fact, over most of the 

world. The original plant occurs wild at the present day on the steep, 

chalk rocks of the sea province of England, on the coast of Denmark 

and northwestern France and, Lindley says, from Greece to Great 

Britain in numerous localities. At Dover, England, wild cabbage varies 

considerably in its foliage and general appearance and in its wild state 

is used as a culinary vegetable and is of excellent flavor. This wild 

cabbage is undoubtedly the original of our cultivated varieties, as 

experiments at the garden of the Royal Agricultural College and at 

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Cirencester resulted in the production of sorts of broccoli, cabbages and 

greens from wild plants gathered from rocks overhanging the sea in 

Wales. Lindley groups the leading variations as follows: If the race is 

vigorous, long jointed and has little tendency to turn its leaves inwards, 

it forms what are called open cabbages (the kales); if the growth is 

stunted, the joints short and the leaves inclined to turn inwards, it 

becomes the heart cabbages; if both these tendencies give way to a 

preternatural formation of flowers, the cauliflowers are the result. If the 

stems swell out into a globular form, we have the turnip-rooted 

cabbages. Other species of Brassica, very nearly allied to 

B. oleracea

 

Linn., such as 

B. balearica

 Richl., 

B. insularis

 Moris, and 

B. cretica

 

Lam., belong to the Mediterranean flora and some botanists suggest 

that some of these species, likewise introduced into the gardens and 

established as cultivated plants, may have mixed with each other and 

thus have assisted in, giving rise to some of the many races cultivated at 

the present day.

The ancient Greeks held cabbage in high esteem and their fables 

deduce its origin from the father of their gods; for, they inform us that 

Jupiter, laboring to explain two oracles which contradicted each other, 

perspired and from this divine perspiration the colewort sprung. 

Dioscorides mentions two kinds of coleworts, the cultivated and the 

wild. Theophrastus names the curled cole, the swath cole and the wild 

cole. The Egyptians are said to have worshipped cabbage, and the 

Greeks and Romans ascribed to it the happy quality of preserving from 

drunkenness. Pliny mentions it. Cato describes one kind as smooth, 

great, broadleaved, with a big stalk, the second ruffed, the third with 

little stalks, tender and very much biting. Regnier says cabbages were 

cultivated by the ancient Celts.

Cabbage is one of the most generally cultivated of the vegetables of 

temperate climates. It grows in Sweden as far north as 67° to 68°. The 

introduction of cabbage into European gardens is usually ascribed to 

the Romans, but Olivier de Serres says the art of making them head 

was unknown in France in the ninth century. Disraeli says that Sir 

Anthony Ashley of Dorsetshire first planted cabbages in England, and a 

cabbage at his feet appears on his monument; before his time they were 

brought from Holland. Cabbage is said to have been scarcely known in 

Scotland until the time of the Commonwealth, 1649, when it was 

carried there by some of Cromwell's soldiers. Cabbage was introduced 

into America at an early period. In 1540, Cartier in his third voyage to 

Canada, sowed cabbages. Cabbages are mentioned by Benzoni as 

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growing in Hayti in 1556; by Shrigley, in Virginia in 1669; but are not 

mentioned especially by Jefferson in 1781. Romans found them in 

Florida in 1775 and even cultivated by the Choctaw Indians. They were 

seen by Nieuhoff in Brazil in 1647. In 1779, cabbages are mentioned 

among the Indian crops about Geneva, New York, destroyed by Gen. 

Sullivan in his expedition of reprisal. In 1806, McMahon mentions for 

American gardens seven early and six late sorts. In 1828, Thorbum 

offered 18 varieties in his seed catalog and in 1881, 19. In 1869, 

Gregory tested 60 named varieties in his experimental garden and in 

1875 Landreth tested 51.

The headed cabbage in its perfection of growth and its multitude of 

varieties, bears every evidence of being of ancient origin. It does not 

appear, however, to have been known to Dioscorides, or to 

Theophrastus or Cato, but a few centuries later the presence of cabbage 

is indicated by Columella and Pliny, who, of his variety, speaks of the 

head being sometimes a foot in diameter and going to seed the latest of 

all the sorts known to him. The descriptions are, however, obscure, and 

we may well believe that if the hard-headed varieties now known had 

been seen in Rome at this time they would have received mention. 

Olivier de Serres says: "White cabbages came from the north, and the 

art of making them head was unknown in the time of Charlemagne." 

Albertus Magnus, who lived in the twelfth century, seems to refer to a 

headed cabbage in his 

Caputium

, but there is no description. The first 

unmistakable reference to cabbage is by Ruellius, 1536, who calls them 

capucos coles

, or 

cabutos

 and describes the head as globular and often 

very large, even a foot and a half in diameter. Yet the word 

cabaches

 

and 

caboches

, used in England in the fourteenth century, indicates 

cabbage was then known and was distinguished from coles. Ruellius, 

also, describes a loose-headed form called 

romanos

, and this name and 

description, when we consider the difficulty of heading cabbages in a 

warm climate, would lead us to believe that the Roman varieties were 

not our present solid-heading type but loose-headed and perhaps of 

the savoy class.

Our present cabbages are divided by De Candolle into five types or 

races: the flat-headed, the round-headed, the egg-shaped, the elliptic 

and the conical.  Within each class are many sub-varieties. In Vilmorin's 

Les Plantes Potageres

, 1883, 57 kinds are described, and others are 

mentioned by name. In the Report of the New York Agricultural 

Experiment Station for 1886, 70 varieties are described, excluding 

synonyms. In both cases the savoys are treated as a separate class and 

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are not included. The histories of De Candolle's forms are as follows:

FLAT-HEADED CABBAGE.

Type, Quintal. The first appearance of this form is in Pancovius 

Herbarium, 1673, No. 612. A Common Flatwinter, probably this form, 

is mentioned by Wheeler, 1763; the Flat-topped is described by Mawe, 

1778. The varieties that are now esteemed are remarkably flat and 

solid.

ROUND CABBAGE.

Type, Early Dutch Drumhead. This appears to be the earliest 

form, as it is the only kind figured in early botanies and was hence 

presumably the only, or, perhaps, the principal sort known during 

several centuries. The following synonymy is taken from drawings only 

and hence there can be no mistake in regard to the type:

Brassicae quartum genus

. Fuch. 416. 1542.

Kappiskraut

. Roeszl. 87. 1550.

Caulis capitulatis

. Trag. 717. 1552.

Brassica capitata

. Matth. 247. 1558; Pin. 163. 1561; Cam. Epit. 250. 

1586.

Kol oder Kabiskraut

. Pict. 90. 1581.

Brassica alba sessilis glomerata, ant capitata Lactucae habitu

. Lobel 

Icon. 1:243. 1591.

Brassica capitata albida

. Dalechamp 1:521. 1587; Dod. Pempt. 623. 

1616.

Brassica capuccia

. Dur. C. 78. 1617.

Brassica capitata alba

. Bod. 777. 1644; Bauh. J. 1:826. 1651; Chabr. 

269. 1677.

The descriptive synonymy includes the losed cabbage, a great round 

cabbage of Lyte's Dodoens, 1586; the White Cabbage Cole of Gerarde, 

1597; the White Cabbage of Ray, 1686; the 

chou pomme blanc

 of 

Toumefort, 1719; the English of Townsend, 1726; the Common White 

of Wheeler, 1763; the English or Late, of Stevenson, 1765; the Common 

Round White of Mawe, 1778.

EGG-SHAPED CABBAGE.

Type, the Sugar-loaf. Vilmorin remarks of this variety, the Sugar-loaf, 

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that, although a very old variety and well known in every country in 

Europe, it does not appear to be extensively grown anywhere. It is 

called 

chou chicon

 in France and 

bundee kobee

 in India. It is 

mentioned by name by Townsend, 1726; by Wheeler, 1763; by 

Stevenson, 1765; and by Mawe, 1778. Perhaps the Large-sided 

cabbage of Worlidge and the Long-sided cabbage of Quintyne belong to 

this division.

ELLIPTIC CABBAGE.

Type, Early York. This is first mentioned by Stevenson, 1765, and he 

refers to it as a well-known sort. According to Burr, it came originally 

from Flanders. There are now many varieties of this class.

CONICAL CABBAGE.

Type, Filderkraut. This race is described by Lamarck, 1783, and, if 

there is any constancy between the name and the variety during long 

periods, is found in the Battersea, named by Townsend in 1726 and by 

a whole line of succeeding writers.

It is certainly very singular that but one of these races of cabbage 

received the notice of the older botanists (excepting the one flat-topped 

given by Chabraeus, 1677), as their characteristics are extremely well 

marked and form extreme contrasts between the conical, or pointed, 

and the spherical-headed. We must, hence, believe that they either 

originated or came into use in a recent period. How they came and 

whence they came, must be decided from a special study, in which the 

effect of hybridization may become a feature. From the study of sports 

that occasionally appear in the garden, the suggestion may be offered 

that at least some of these races have been derived from crossings with 

some form of the Chinese cabbage, whereby form has become 

transferred while the other characteristics of the Chinese species have 

disappeared. On the other hand. the savoy class, believed to have origin 

from the same source as the cabbage, has oval or oblong heads, which 

have been noted by the herbalists.

It is very remarkable, says Unger, that the European and Asiatic names 

used for different species of cabbage may all be referred to four roots. 

The names 

kopf kohl

 (German), 

cabus

 (French), 

cabbage

 (English), 

kappes

, 

kraut

, 

kapost

, 

kaposta

, 

kapsta

 (Tartar), 

kopee

 (Beng.), 

kopi

 

(Hindu), have a manifest relation to the Celto-Slavic root 

cap

 or 

kap

, 

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which in Celtic means head. Brassica of Pliny is derived from the Celtic, 

bresic

 cabbage. The Celto-Germanico-Greek root 

caul

 may be detected 

in the word 

kaol

, the Grecian 

kaulion

 of Theophrastus, the Latin 

caulis

; 

also in the words 

caulx

, 

cavolo

, 

coan

, 

kohl

, 

kale

, 

kaal

 (Norwegian), 

kohl

 

(Swedish), 

col

 (Spanish), 

kelum

 (Persian); finally, the Greco-Germanic 

root 

cramb

, 

krambe

, passes into 

krumb

, 

karumb

 of the Arabians. The 

want of a Sanscrit name shows that the cabbage tribe first found its 

way at a later period to India and China. This tribe is not mentioned as 

in Japan by Thunberg, 1775.

B. oleracea capitata mbra DC. RED CABBAGE.

This is a very distinct and probably a very ancient kind of a peculiar 

purple color and solid heading. It is cultivated in a number of varieties 

and in 1854 the seed of Red Savoy was distributed from the United 

States Patent Office. One variety is mentioned for American gardens by 

McMahon, 1806, and one variety only by Thorbum, 1828 and 1881, 

but several distinct sorts can now be obtained from seedsmen. Burr, 

1863, describes three reds and one so deeply colored as to be called 

black.

The first certain mention of this cabbage is in 1570, in Pena and Lobel's 

Adversarial

 and figures are given by Gerarde, 1597, Matthiolus, 1598, 

Dodonaeus, 1616, and J. Bauhin, 1651. These figures are all of the 

spherical-headed type. In 1638, Ray notices the variability in the colors 

upon which a number of our seedsmen's varieties are founded. The 

oblong or the pointed-headed types which now occur cannot be traced. 

The solidity of the head and the perfectness of the form in this class of 

cabbage indicate long culture and a remote origin. In England, they 

have never attained much standing for general use, and, as in this 

country, are principally grown for pickling.

COLLARDS OR COLEWORT.

As grown in the United States, collards, or colewort, are sowings of an 

early variety of cabbage in rows about one foot apart to be cut for use 

as a spinach when about six or eight inches high. Other directions for 

culture are to sow seeds as for cabbage in June, July and August for 

succession, transplant when one month old in rows a foot apart each 

way, and hoe frequently. The collard plants are kept for sale by 

seedsmen, rather than the cabbage seed under this name. In the 

Southern States, collards are extensively grown and used for greens 

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and after frost the flavor is esteemed delicious.

B. oleracea caulo-rapa communis DC. KOHL-RABI.

This is a dwarf-growing plant with the stem swelled out so as to 

resemble a turnip above ground. There is no certain identification of 

this race in ancient writings. The 

bunidia

 of Pliny seems rather to be the 

rutabaga, as he says it is between a radish and a rape. The 

gorgylis

 of 

Theophrastus and Galen seems also to be the rutabaga, for Galen says 

the root contained within the earth is hard unless cooked. In 1554, 

Matthiolus speaks of the kohl-rabi as having lately come into Italy. 

Between 1573 and 1575, Rauwolf saw it in the gardens of Tripoli and 

Aleppo. Lobel, 1570, Camerarius, 1586, Dalechamp, 1587, and other 

of the older botanists figure or describe it as under European culture.

Kohl-rabi, in the view of some writers, is a cross between cabbage and 

rape, and many of the names applied to it convey this idea. This view is 

probably a mistaken one, as the plant in its sportings under culture 

tends to the form of the Marrow cabbage, from which it is probably a 

derivation. In 1884, two kohl-rabi plants were growing in pots in the 

greenhouse at the New York Agricultural Experiment Station; one of 

these extended itself until it became a Marrow cabbage and when 

planted out in the spring attained its growth as a Marrow cabbage. This 

idea of its origin finds countenance in the figures of the older botanists; 

thus, Camerarius, 1586, figures a plant as a kohl-rabi which in all 

essential points resembles a Marrow cabbage, tapering from a small 

stem into a long kohl-rabi, with a flat top like the Marrow cabbage. The 

figures given by Lobel, 1591, Dodonaeus, 1616, and Bodaeus, 1644, 

when compared with Camerarius' figure, suggest the Marrow cabbage. 

A long, highly improved form, not now under culture, is figured by 

Gerarde, 1597, J. Bauhin, 1651, and Chabraeus, 1677, and the 

modern form is given by Gerarde and by Matthiolus, 1598. A very 

unimproved form, out of harmony with the other figures, is given by 

Dalechamp, 1587, and Castor Durante, 1617. The synonymy can be 

tabulated as below:

I. 

Caulorapum

. Cap. Epit. 251. 1586.

II.

Rapa Br. peregrine, caule rapum gerens

. Lob. Icon. 246. 1591. 

Br

. caule rapum gerens

. Dod. Pempt. 625. 1616. 

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Rapa brassica

. Bodaus 777. 1644.

III. 

Caulo rapum longum

. Ger. 250. 1597. 

Br. caulorapa

. Bauh. J. 2:830. 1651. 

Br. caulorapa sive Rapo caulis

. Chabr. 270. 1677.

IV. 

Caulorapum rotundum

. Ger. 250. 1597. 

Brassica gongylodes

. Matth. Opera 367. 1598.

V. 

Brassica raposa

. Dalechamp 522. 1587. 

Bradica raposa

. Dur. C. 1617. app.

Matthiolus, as we have stated, says the plant came into Germany from 

Italy; Pena and Lobel say it came from Greece; Gerarde, that it grows in 

Italy, Spain and Germany, whence he received seeds. This plant was an 

inmate of the Old Physic Garden in Edinburgh before 1683. In 1734, it 

was first brought into field culture in Ireland; in Scotland in 1805; and 

in England in 1837. In the United States, it was mentioned by 

McMahon, 1806. Fessenden, 1828, names two varieties, one the above-

ground and the other the below-ground tumip-rooted. Darwin speaks 

of the recently formed new race, already including nine subvarieties, in 

which the enlarged part lies beneath the ground like a turnip. Two 

varieties are used in France in ornamental gardening, the leaves being 

cut and frizzled, and the artichoke-leaved variety is greatly prized for 

decoration by confectioners. These excerpts indicate a southern origin, 

for this vegetable and the Marrow cabbage are very sensitive to cold. 

The more highly improved forms, as figured in our synonymy, are in 

authors of northern or central Europe, while the unimproved forms are 

given by more southern writers. This indicates that the present kohl-

rabi received its development in northern countries. The varieties now 

grown are the White and Purple, in early and late forms, the Curled-

leaf, or Neapolitan, and the Artichoke-leaved.

B. olearacea costata oblonga DC. PORTUGAL CABBAGE.

This cabbage is easily recognizable through the great expansion of the 

midribs and veins of the leaf, in some cases forming quite half of the 

leaf, the midrib losing its identity in the multitude of radiating, 

branching veins. In some plants the petioles are winged clear to the 

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base. Nearly all the names applied to this form indicate its distribution, 

at least in late years, from Portugal, whence it reached English gardens 

about 1821 and American gardens, under the name of Portugal 

Cabbage, about 1850. It should be remarked, however, that a 

chou a la 

grosse cote

 was in French gardens in 1612 and in three varieties in 

1824.

This cabbage varies in a direction parallel to that of the common 

cabbage, or has forms which can be classed with the kales and the 

heading cabbages of at least two types.

The peculiarity of the ribs or veins occasionally appears among the 

variables from the seed of the common cabbage, hence atavism as the 

result of a cross can be reasonably inferred. As to the origin of this form, 

opinion, at the present stage of studies, must be largely speculative but 

we may reasonably believe that it originated from a different form or a 

different set of hybridizations than did the common cabbage. The 

synonymy appears to be:

Choux a la grosse cote

. Jard. Solit. 1612.

Chou blond aux grosses cotes

. Bosc. Diet. 4, 43. 1789.

Brassica oleracea aceppala costata

. DC. Syst. 2:584. 1821.

B. oleracea costata

. DC. Trans. Hort. Soc. Lond. M. 5:12. 1824.

Chou aux grosses cotes

. Vilm. 1883.

B. sinapistrum Boiss. CHARLOCK. FIELD MUSTARD.

This is an European plant now occurring as a weed in cultivated fields 

in America. In seasons of scarcity, in the Hebrides, the soft stems and 

leaves are boiled in milk and eaten. It is so employed in Sweden and 

Ireland. Its seeds form a good substitute for mustard.

Bridelia retusa Spreng. Euphorbiaceae.

A tree of eastern Asia. The fruit is sweetish and eatable.

Brodiaea grandiflora Sm. 

Liliaceae

. CALIFORNIAN HYACINTH.

Northwestern America. Its fruit is eaten by the Indians. In France, it is 

grown in the flower garden.

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Bromelia Sp. 

Bromeliaceae

.

In the Malay Archipelago, Wallacel left two men for a month, by 

accident, on an island near Oeram, who "subsisted on the roots and 

tender flower-stalks of a species of Bromelia, on shell fish and on a few 

turtle's eggs."

Brosimum alicastrum Sw. 

Urticaceae (Moraceae)

. ALICASTRUM 

SNAKEWOOD. BREADNUT.

American tropics. The fruit, boiled with salt-fish, pork, beef or pickle, 

has frequently been the support of the negro and poorer sorts of white 

people in times of scarcity and has proved a wholesome and not 

unpleasant food.

B. galactodendron D. Don. COW-TREE. MILK-TREE.

Guiana; the 

polo de vaca

, 

arbol de lecke

, or cow-tree of Venezuela. 

Humboldt says "On the barren flank of a rock grows a tree with 

coriaceous and dry leaves. Its large, woody roots can scarcely penetrate 

into the stone. For several months of the year not a single shower 

moistens its foliage. Its branches appear dead and dried; but when the 

trunk is pierced there flows from it a sweet and nourishing milk. It is at 

the rising of the sun that this vegetable fountain is most abundant. The 

negroes and natives are then seen hastening from all quarters, 

furnished with large bowls to receive the milk which grows yellow and 

thickens at its surface. Some empty their bowls under the tree itself, 

others carry the juice home to their children."  This tree seems to have 

been noticed first by Laet in 1633, in the province of Camana. The 

plant, according to Desvaux, is one of the 

polo de vaca

 or cow-trees of 

South America. From incisions in the bark, milky sap is procured, 

which is drunk by the inhabitants as a milk. Its use is accompanied by 

a sensation of astringency in the lips and palate. This cow-tree is grown 

in Ceylon and India, for Brandis says it yields large quantities of thick, 

gluey milk without any acridity, that it is drunk extensively, and that it 

is very wholesome and nourishing.

Broussonetia papyrifera Vent. 

Urticaceae (Moraceae)

. PAPER 

MULBERRY. TAPA-CLOTH TREE.

A tree of the islands of the Pacific, China and Japan. It is cultivated for 

the inner bark which is used for making a paper as well as textile 

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fabrics. The fleshy part of the compound fruit is saccharine and edible.

Bruguiera gymnorrhiza Lam. Rhizophoreae.

Muddy tropical shores from Hindustan to the Samoan Islands. Its fruit, 

leaves and bark are eaten by the natives in the Malayan Archipelago.8\

Bryonia alba Linn. 

Cucurbitaceae

. WHITE BRYONY.

West Mediterranean countries. Loudon says the young shoots are 

edible.

B. dioica Jacq. RED BRYONY. WILD HOP.

Europe and adjoining Asia. Loudon says the young shoots of red 

bryony are edible. Masters says that the plant has a fetid odor and 

possesses acrid, emetic and pungent properties.

Buchanania lancifolia Roxb. 

Anacardiaceae

. CHEEROJEE-OIL 

PLANT.

East Indies and Burma. The tender, unripe fruit is eaten by the natives 

in their curries.

B. latifolia Roxb.

Tropical India and Burma. The fruit, says Brandis, has a pleasant, 

sweetish, sub-acid flavor and is an important article of food of the hill 

tribes of central India. The kernel of the seed tastes somewhat like the 

pistachio nut and is used largely in native sweetmeats. Drury says 

these kernels are a general substitute for almonds among the natives 

and are much esteemed in confectionery or are roasted and eaten with 

milk.

Bumelia lanuginosa Pers. 

Sapotaceae

. FALSE BUCKTHORN.

North America. This is a low bush of southern United States which, 

according to Nuttall, bears an edible fruit as large as a small date.

B. reclinata Vent. WESTERN BUCKTHORN.

Southwestern United States. In California, Torrey says the fruit is sweet 

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and edible and nearly three-quarters of an inch long.

Bunias erucago Linn. 

Cruciferae

.

Mediterranean countries. In Italy, Unger says this species serves as a 

salad for the poor.

B. orientalis Linn. HILL MUSTARD. TURKISH ROCKET.

Eastern Europe and Asia Minor. This plant is called 

dikaia retka

 on the 

Lower Volga. Its stems are eaten raw. This rocket was cultivated in 

1739 by Philip Miller in the Botanic Garden of Chelsea and was first 

introduced into field culture in England as a forage plant, by Arthur 

Young. The young leaves are recommended by Vilmorin either as a 

salad or boiled.

Bupleurum falcatum Linn. 

Umbelliferae

. HARE'S EAR.

Europe, Orient, Northern Asia and Himalayan region. The leaves are 

used for food in China and Japan.

B. octoradiatum Bunge.

Northern China. In China, the tender shoots of this apparently foreign 

plant are edible.

B. rotundifolium Linn. THOROUGH WAX.

Europe, Caucasus region and Persia. “Hippocrates hath commended it 

in meats for salads and potherbs."

Burasaia madagascariensis DC. 

Menispermaceae

. 

Madagascar. This plant has edible fruit.

Bursera gummifera Linn. 

Burseraceae

. AMERICAN GUM TREE. 

INDIAN BIRCH.

American tropics. An infusion of the leaves is occasionally used as a 

domestic substitute for tea.

B. icicariba Baill.

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Brazil.  The tree is said to have edible, aromatic fruit. It yields the 

elemi

 

of Brazil.

B. javanica Baill.

Java. This plant is the 

tingulong

 of the Javanese, who eat the leaves and 

fruit.

Butomus umbellatus Linn. 

Alismaceae (Butomaceae)

. 

FLOWERING RUSH. GRASSY RUSH. WATER GLADIOLUS.

Europe and adjoining Asia. Unger says, in Norway, the rhizomes serve 

as material for a bread. Johns says, in the north of Asia, the root is 

roasted and eaten. Lindley says the rhizomes are acrid and bitter, as 

well as the seeds but are eaten among the savages. In France, it is 

grown in flower gardens as an aquatic.

Butyrospermum parkii Kotschy. 

Sapotaceae

. BUTTER TREE. 

SHEA TREE.

Tropical west Africa. Shea, or galam, butter is obtained from the kernel 

of the fruit and serves the natives as a substitute for butter. This butter 

is highly commended by Park. The tree is called 

meepampa

 in 

equatorial Africa.

Buxus sempervirens Linn. 

Euphorbiaceae (Buxaceae)

. BOX.

Europe, Orient and temperate Asia. In France and some other parts of 

the continent, the leaves of the box have been. used as a substitute for 

hops in beer, but Johnson says they cannot be wholesome and would 

probably prove very injurious.

Byrsonima crassifolia H. B. & K. 

Malpighiaceae

.

A small tree of New Granada and Panama. The small, acid berries are 

eaten.

B. spicata Rich. SHOEMAKER'S TREE.

Tropical America. The yellow, acid berries are good eating but 

astringent.

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Cadaba farinosa Forsk. 

Capparideae

.

A shrub of tropical Africa and Arabia. Spinach is made from the leaves.

Caesalpinia pulcherrima Sw. 

Leguminosae

. PEACOCK FLOWER. 

PRIDE OF BARBADOS.

Cosmopolitan tropics. The green seeds are eaten raw and have the taste 

of peas.

Cajanus indicus Spreng. 

Leguminosae

. ANGOLA PEA. CATJANG. 

CONGO PEA. DAHL. GRANDUE. NO-EYE PEA. PIGEON PEA. TOOR. 

URHUR.

East Indies. The pigeon pea is a perennial shrub, though treated 

generally as an annual when in cultivation. It is now naturalized in the 

West Indies, in tropical America and in Africa. The variety Bicolor grows 

from three to six feet high and is called the Congo pea in Jamaica. The 

variety Flavus grows from five to ten feet high and is called in Jamaica 

no-eye pea, pigeon pea and Angola pea6 Dr. MacFayden says there are 

few tropical plants so valuable. Lunan says the pea when young and 

properly cooked is very little inferior as a green vegetable to English 

peas and when old is an excellent ingredient in soups. Berianger says at 

Martinique there are several varieties greatly used, and that the seeds 

both fresh and dried are delicious. In Egypt, on the richest soil, says 

Mueller, 4000 pounds of peas have been produced to the acre, and the 

plant lasts for three years, growing 15 feet tall. This variety is said by 

Pickering to be native of equatorial Africa. In India, the seeds of the two 

varieties are much esteemed, ranking, with the natives, third amongst 

their leguminous seeds. Elliott says the pulse when split is in great and 

general esteem and forms the most generally used article of diet among 

all classes in India. At Zanzibar, the seeds are a principal article of diet. 

It is both cultivated and wild all over India as well as in all parts of 

tropical Africa. It certainly is one of the oldest cultivated plants in the 

world, a fact attested by its presence in ancient tombs. Schweinfurth 

states that it is found in Egyptian tombs of the twelfth dynasty (2200-

2400 B. C.)

Cakile maritima Scop. Cruciferae. SEA ROCKET.

Europe, northern Africa and North America. Kalm says the sea rocket 

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furnishes a root in Canada which is pounded, mixed with flour and 

eaten, when there is a scarcity of bread.

Caladium bicolor Vent. 

Aroideae (Araceae)

.

South America. The corms are eaten roasted or boiled. The leaves are 

eaten, boiled as a vegetable, in the West Indies.

Calamus rotang Linn. 

Palmae

. RATTAN CANE.

East Indies. Thunberg saw the fruit of the rattan exposed for sale in 

Batavia. When ripe this fruit is roundish, as large as a hazelnut and is 

covered with small, shining scales, laid like shingles, one upon the 

other. The natives generally suck out the subacid pulp which 

surrounds the kernel by way of quenching their thirst. Sometimes the 

fruit is pickled with salt and eaten at tea-time. This palm furnishes 

rattan canes.

Calathea allouia Lindl. 

Scitamineae (Marantaceae)

.

Guiana. This species is cultivated in the West Indies and, according to 

Lindley, furnishes one of the arrowroots of commerce.

Calendula officinalis Linn. 

Compositae

. GOLDINS GOLDS. POT 

MARIGOLD.

Southern Europe. This marigold was cultivated in England prior to 

1573. The petals of the flowers are occasionally used in broths and 

soups in Britain and Holland and are also used for coloring butter. In 

1806, it was included in McMahon's list of aromatic, pot and sweet 

herbs of American gardens. There are a number of ornamental varieties, 

and the species is to be found in many of our country gardens. The 

plant is described in nearly all of the early herbals and is mentioned by 

Albertus Magnus in the thirteenth century.

Calla palustris Linn. 

Aroideae (Araceae)

. WATER ARUM. WATER 

DRAGON.

Europe, Northern Asia and North America. The rootstocks of this plant 

yield eatable starch, prepared by drying and grinding them and then 

heating the powder until the acrid properties are dissipated.

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Callicarpa lanata Linn. 

Verbenaceae

.

East Indies. The bark has a peculiar, subaromatic and slightly bitter 

taste and is chewed by the Cinghalese when they cannot obtain betel 

leaves.

Calligonum pallasia L'Herit. 

Polygonaceae

.

Caspian region, Russia and Siberia. The roots when pounded are said 

to furnish a mucilaginous, edible substance resembling gum 

tragacanth.

C. polygonoides Linn.

Armenia, Persia and northwestern India. The abortive flowers, which fall 

in great numbers, are, in the south Punjab and sometimes in Sind, 

swept up, made into bread, or cooked with ghee and eaten.

Callirhoe involucrata A. Gray. 

Malvaceae

. POPPY MALLOW.

Northwestern America. The large, tapering root of this plant is said to be 

edible. It is an inmate of the flower garden in France.

C. pedata A. Gray. PIMPLE MALLOW.

Northwestern America. The roots of this species resemble those of a 

parsnip and are used as food by the Indians of Nebraska and Idaho. In 

France it is grown in flower gardens.

Calluna vulgaris Salisb. 

Ericaceae

. HEATH.

Europe and North America. The Celtic tribes had a method of preparing 

an intoxicating drink from a decoction of heath. This beverage, mixed 

with wild honey, was their common drink at feasts. In the Hebrides, 

says Johnson, a kind of beer is formed by fermenting a mixture of two 

parts of heath tops and one of malt. The Picts had a mode of preparing 

beer or wine from the flowers of the heath.

Calochortus elegans Pursh. 

Liliaceae

. STAR TULIP.

Pacific northwest of America. The root of this plant is eaten by the 

Indians.

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C. luteus Dougl. BUTTERFLY TULIP. SEGO LILY.

Western United States. This plant has a small, bulbous root about the 

size of a walnut, very palatable and nutritious and much used by the 

Indian tribes of Utah as an article of food. The Mormons during their 

first years in Utah consumed the root in large quantities.

Calophyllum inophyllum Linn. 

Guttiferae

. ALEXANDRIAN 

LAUREL. POONAY-OIL PLANT. 

Old world tropics. The fruit when ripe is red and sweet and is eaten by 

the natives. An oil is expressed from it and is used in lamps.

Calotropis gigantea Ait. 

Asclepiadeae

. BOW-STRING HEMP.

East India. According to Twemlow, an intoxicating liquor called 

bar

 is 

obtained from the plant by the Hill People about Mahableshwur. 

According to Royle, it yields a kind of manna.

Caltha palustris Linn. 

Ranunculaceae

. COWSLIP. MARSH 

MARIGOLD. MEADOW BRIGHT. 

Of northern climates. This well-known plant, says Gray, is used as a 

potherb in spring when coming into flower, under the name of cowslip. 

In the Southern States, the flower-buds are pickled for use as a 

substitute for capers.

Calycanthus floridus Linn. 

Calycanthaceae

. CAROLINA 

ALLSPICE.

North America. The aromatic bark is said to be used as a substitute for 

cinnamon.

Calyptranthes aromatica St. Hil. 

Myrtaceae

.

South Brazil. Mueller says the flower-buds can be used as cloves; the 

berries, as allspice.

C. obscura DC.

Brazil. The fruit is sold in Rio Janeiro as an aromatic and astringent.

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C. paniculata Ruiz & Pav.

Peru. The fruit is used as a substitute for cloves.

C. schiediana Berg.

Mexico. In Mexico, the fruit is used as cloves.

Calystegia sepium R. Br. 

Convolvulaceae

. BINDWEED.

Temperate climates. It has edible stalks which are eaten by the Hindus. 

The roots are said to be boiled and eaten by the Chinese, who manage, 

says Smith, to cook and digest almost every root or tuber in spite of the 

warnings of botanists and chemists.

C. soldanella R. Br. SEA BINDWEED.

Temperate climates. The tender stalks of the sea bindweed are pickled. 

The young shoots, says Johnson, were gathered formerly by the people 

on the southern coasts of England and pickled as a substitute for 

samphire.

Camassia esculenta Lindl. 

Liliaceae

. COMMON CAMASS. 

KAMOSH. QUAMASH.

Northwestern America. The root forms the greater part of the vegetable 

food of the Indians on the northwest coast of America and Vancouver 

Island and is called 

kamosh

 or 

quamash

. This bulbous root is said to 

be of delicious flavor and highly nutritious, but Lewis says it causes 

bowel complaints if eaten in quantity. This plant covers many plains 

and is dug by the women and stored for eating, roasted or boiled. The 

bulbs, when boiled in water, yield a very good molasses, which is much 

prized and is used on festival occasions by various tribes of Indians. In 

France, it is an inmate of the flower garden.

Camelina sativa Crantz. 

Cruciferae

. FALSE FLAX. GOLD-OF-

PLEASURE. OIL-SEED PLANT. SIBERIAN OIL-SEED.

Europe and temperate Asia. This plant occurs in northeastern America 

as a noxious weed in flax fields, having been introduced from Europe. It 

was regularly cultivated in the mediaeval ages in Germany and Russia 

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and is now cultivated in Flanders. The stem yields a fiber, but the stalks 

seem to be used only in broom making. The seeds yield an oil which is 

used for culinary and other purposes. In 1854, the seeds of this plant 

were distributed from the United States Patent Office. It was called in 

Britain gold-of-pleasure even in the time of Gerarde. The seeds are 

sometimes imported into England under the name dodder seed, but 

they have no relation to the true dodder which is a far different plant.

Camellia sasanqua Thunb. 

Ternstroemiaceae (Theaceae)

. TEA-

OIL PLANT.

Japan and China. This plant was introduced from China to England in 

1811. It yields a nut from which an oil is expressed in China, equal, it is 

said, to olive oil. In Japan the dried leaves are mixed with tea to give it a 

grateful odor.

C. thea Link. TEA.

China. This is the species to which the cultivated varieties of tea are all 

referred. In its various forms it is now found in China and Japan, in the 

mountains that separate China from the Burmese territories, especially 

in upper Assam, in Nepal, in the islands of Bourbon, Java, St. Helena 

and Madeira, in Brazil and experimentally in the United States. The first 

mention of tea seems to have been by Giovanni Pietro Maffei in his 

Historiae Indicae, 1589, from which it appears that it was then called 

by the Chinese 

chia

. Giovanni Botero in his 

Delia Cause della 

grandezza...delta citta

, 1589, says the Chinese have an herb from 

which they extract a delicate juice, which they use instead of wine. In 

1615, an Englishman in Japan, in the employment of the East India 

Company, sent to a brother official at Macao for a "pot of the best 

chaw

," and this is supposed to be the earliest known mention by an 

Englishman. Adam Olearius describes the use of tea in Persia in 1633, 

and says—his book being published in 164 —"this herb is now so well 

known in most parts of Europe, where many persons of quality use it 

with good success." In 1638, Mandelslo visited Japan and about this 

time wrote of the 

tsia

 or tea of Japan.

Prior to 1657, tea was occasionally sold in England at prices ranging 

from $30 to $50 a pound. In 1661, Mr. Pepys, secretary of the British 

Admiralty, speaks of "tea (a China drink) of which I had never drank 

before," and in 1664, the Dutch India Company presented two pounds 

and two ounces to the King of England as a rare and valuable offering 

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and in 1667 this company imported 100 pounds. In 1725, there were 

imported into England 370,323 pounds; in 1775, the quantity had 

increased to 5,648,188 pounds. In 1863, upwards of 136,000,000 

pounds were imported of which 85,206,779 pounds were entered for 

home consumption. In 1863, the United States received 29,761,037 

pounds and 72,077,951 pounds in 1880.

In 1810, the first tea plants were carried to Rio Janeiro, together with 

several hundred Chinese experienced in its culture. The government 

trials do not seem to have resulted favorably but later, the business 

being taken up by individuals, its culture seems to be meeting with 

success and the tea of Brazil, called by its Chinese name of 

cha

, enters 

quite largely into domestic consumption. In 1848, Junius Smith, of 

South Carolina, imported a number of shrubs and planted them at 

Greenville. At about the same time some 32,000 plants were imported 

from China and distributed through the agency of the Patent Office. In 

1878, the Department of Agriculture distributed 69,000 plants. In 

Louisiana, in 1870, a plantation of tea shrubs, three to four hundred in 

number, is said to have existed.

Campanula edulis Forsk. 

Campanulaceae

. BELLFLOWER.

Arabia. The root is thick, sapid and is eaten by children.

C. persicifolia Linn. PEACH BELLS.

Europe and north Asia. This plant has been used as food in England 

but has long since fallen into disuse. In France it is called cloche and is 

grown as a flowering plant.

C. rapunculoides Linn. CREEPING BELLFLOWER.

Europe and temperate Asia. This plant may be substituted in 

cultivation for rampion. It has long since fallen into disuse.

C. rapunculus Linn. RAMPION.

Europe, Orient, north Africa and northern Asia. This biennial plant was 

formerly much cultivated in gardens for its roots as well as its leaves. 

Loudon says the latter are excellent, eaten raw as a salad or boiled as a 

spinach, and the root, which has the flavor of walnuts, is also eaten raw 

like a radish or mixed with salads, either raw or boiled and cold. It is 

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much cultivated in France and Italy, says Johns.

Rampion is recorded in gardens by Pena and Lobel, 1570, and is 

figured by Tragus, 1552, Lobel, 1576, as well as by other writers of this 

period, as an improved root. In 1726, Townsend says it is to be found 

in only few English gardens; and Bryant, 1783, says it is much 

cultivated in France but in England is now little regarded. It is recorded 

in American gardens in 1806, 1819 and 1821. As late as 1877, an 

English writer says rampion is a desirable addition to winter salads.

Campomanesia aromatica Griseb. 

Myrtaceae

. GUAVA 

STRAWBERRY.

Guiana and Cayenne. At Martinique, where this shrub is cultivated, it is 

called guava strawberry, because the flavor of its delicate pulp reminds 

one of the Pine strawberry. The fruit is edible.

C. lineatifolia Ruiz & Pav.

Peru. This species furnishes edible fruit.

Canarina campanulata Linn. 

Campanulaceae

.

Canary Islands. The fleshy capsule, roots and young shoots are said to 

be edible."

Canarium album Raeusch. 

Burseraceae

. CANARIUM

A tree native of China and Cochin China, Anam and the Philippines. 

The fruit is pickled and used as olives.

C. commune Linn. CHINESE OLIVE. JAVA ALMOND. 

Moluccas. This fine-looking tree is cultivated for the sake of its fruit 

which, in taste, is something like an almond. An oil is expressed from 

the seed which in Java is used in lamps and when fresh is mixed with 

food. Bread is also made from its nuts in the island of Celebes. In 

Ceylon, the nut is called wild almond by Europeans and is eaten.

C. edule Hook. f.

Tropical Africa. This is the safu of the island of St. Thomas in the Gulf of 

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