Edible Plant Species

Scaevola koenigii Vahl. Goodenovieae.
Tropical regions.
The leaves are eaten as potherbs. Some miraculous qualities are ascribed to its berries. The pith, which is soft and spongy, is fashioned by the Malays into artificial flowers.

Scandix grandiflora Linn. Umbelliferae.
Eastern Europe and Asia Minor.
This is an annual herb much liked as a salad for its pleasant, aromatic taste.

S. pecten-veneris Linn. SCANDIX. VENUS COMB. WILD CHERVIL.
East Mediterranean countries.
This is the skanthrix, sold, according to scandal, by the mother of Euripides. Skanthrix is mentioned also as a potherb by Opion, Theophrastus and Erisistratris. This, too, is the skanthrox of Dioscorides, eaten either raw or cooked. Scandix is enumerated by Pliny among the esculent plants of Egypt. It was observed by Honorius Bellus to be eaten in Crete.

Schinus dependens Orteg. Anacardiaceae.
Brazil and Chile.
The inhabitants prepare from the berries a kind of red wine of an agreeable flavor but very heating. The fruits have a less disagreeable flavor than S. molle.

S. latifolius Engl.
Chile.
Dr. Gillies states that the Pehuenco Indians of Chile prepare by fermentation an intoxicating liquor from the fruit of this or a nearly allied species.

S. molle Linn. AUSTRALIAN PEPPER. MOLLE.
Tropical America.
Acosta says that the molle tree possesses rare virtues, and that the Indians make a wine from the small twigs. Garcilasso de la Vega says, in Peru, they make a beverage of the berries. Molina says the people of Chile prepare a red wine, very heating, from the berries. The tree was introduced into Mexico after the time of Montezuma and is now found in southwestern United States.

Schisandra grandiflora Hook. f. & Thorns. Magnoliaceae (Schisandraceae).
Himalayan region.
The fruits are pleasantly acid and are much eaten in Sikkim. The seeds are very aromatic. Royle n says the fruit is eaten by the Hill People in the Himalayas.

Schizostachyum hasskarlianum Kurz. Gramineae.
Java.
The young shoots of this bamboo, when bursting out of the ground, are cooked as a vegetable in Java.

S. serpentinum Kurz.
Java.
Mueller says the young shoots are used as a vegetable.

Schleichera trijuga Willd. Sapindaceae. GUM-LAC.
A handsome tree of India. Wight says the subacid aril of the seed is eaten, and from the seeds a lamp-oil is expressed in Malabar.

Schmidelia (Alophylus) edulis A. St. Hil. Sapindaceae. FRUTA DE PARAO.
Brazil.
The fruits are of a sweet and agreeable taste and are sought for by the inhabitants of the places where they grow.

Schotia speciosa Jacq. Leguminosae. CAFFIR BEAN.
Tropical and south Africa.
The beans of this poisonous shrub are said by Thunberg to be boiled and eaten by the Hottentots. According to Atherstone, the beans are roasted and eaten in the Albany districts, where they are called boer boom.

Scindapsus cuscuaria Presl. Araceae.
Malay.
The corms are baked and eaten by the Polynesians.

Scirpus articulatus Linn. Cyperaceae.
Africa, East Indies and Australia.
This species is enumerated by Thunberg among the edible plants of Japan.

S. grossus Linn. f.
East Indies and Malay.
In portions of India in time of famine, the root is eagerly dug for human food. The fibers and dark cuticle being removed, the solid part of the root is dried, ground and made into bread, a little flour being sometimes mixed with it.

S. lacustris Linn. BULRUSH. TULE.
Northern climates.
In California, the plant is called tule and the roots are eaten by the Sierra Indians; they are also eaten by the Indians of Arizona and the upper Missouri.

S. maritimus Linn. SEASIDE BULRUSH.
In India, the roots, which are large, have been ground and used as a flour in times of scarcity.

Sclerocarya birroea Hochst. Anacardiaceae.
Eastern equatorial Africa.
This plant is a forest tree called m'ckoowee on the upper Nile. The kernels of the fruit, whose unripe sarcocarp is apple-scented, are milky and are eaten like ground nuts. This species affords to the natives of Abyssinia an edible kernel, while its fruits are employed in Senegal in the preparation of an alcoholic drink.

S. caffra Sond.
South Africa.
This species is known on the Zambezi as mooroola, and the seeds are eaten by the natives.

Scolymus grandiflorus Desf. Compositae.
Egypt.
The Arabs eat the stalks, both raw and boiled.

S. hispanicus Linn. GOLDEN THISTLE. SPANISH OYSTER PLANT.
Mediterranean region.
The root of the wild plant is collected and is used as a salsify. According to Pickering, this plant is mentioned by Theophrastus, who says, "its edible root, becoming milky;" by Dioscorides, who says "the young plant, eaten as greens;" by Sibthorp, as eaten in Greece; and by Clusius who says "the root and young plant, eaten in Spain." This plant is supposed to be the skolumus and leimonia of Theophrastus, 322 B. C.; it is the scolymus of Pliny, A. D. 79, recorded as a food plant. The wild plant was seen in Portugal and Spain by Clusius in 1576. The plant was described by Gerarde in England, 1597, but he does not appear to have grown it. It was in the botanic gardens at Oxford in 1658 but receives only a quoted mention from Clusius by Ray in 1686. The vegetable appears not to have been in English culture in 1778, nor in 1807, and, in 1869, it is recorded as a new vegetable. In 1597, Gerarde mentions its culture in Holland, and, in 1616, Dodonaeus says it was planted in Belgian gardens. In France, in 1882, it is said not to be under culture, but that its long, fleshy root is used as a kitchen vegetable in Provence and Languedoc. In 1883, it is included among kitchen esculents by Vilmorin. It is recorded by Burr for American gardens in 1863, and its seed was offered in American seed catalogs of 1882, perhaps a few years earlier.

S. maculatus Linn. SPOTTED GOLDEN THISTLE.
Mediterranean region.
This plant is thought by Unger to be the skolumos of Dioscorides. The young leaves are eaten as a spinach. Fraas says the young leaves are eaten in Greece.

Scoparia dulcis Linn. Scrophulariaceae. SWEET BROOM.
Peru and neighboring tropical America.
The plant is called in Brazil basourinha or vacourinha.3 In the Philippines, it is sometimes used as a substitute for tea and is called in Tagalo chachachachan^

Scorpiurus sp. Leguminosae. CATERPILLARS.
A strange taste causes various species of Scorpiurus to be included among garden vegetables, the caterpillar-like forms of the seed pods being used as salad-garnishing by those fond of practical jokes. As a vegetable their flavor is very indifferent. The species enumerated by Vilmorin are Scorpiurus vermiculata Linn., the common caterpillar; S. muricata Linn., the prickly caterpillar; S. sulcata Linn., the furrowed caterpillar; and S. subvillosa Linn., the hairy caterpillar. The latter species is figured by Dodonaeus, 1616, and is said even then to be sometimes grown in gardens. They are all native to southern Europe.

Scorzonera crocifolia Sibth. & Sm. Compositae.
Greece.
The leaves, according to Heldreich, are used for a favorite salad and spinach.

S. deliciosa Guss.
Sicily.
This species is in most extensive cultivation in Sicily on account of its sweet roots of very grateful flavor. It is considered by Mueller equal, if not superior, in its culinary use to the allied salsify.

S. hispanica Linn. BLACK OYSTER PLANT. BLACK SALSIFY. VIPER'S GRASS.
Central and southern Europe.
The slimy, sweetish roots have gained considerably by cultivation. The roots are long, black and tapering and are eaten, boiled or stewed, after soaking in water to extract the bitter taste. This plant was not mentioned by Matthiolus, 1554, but, in 1570, was described as a new plant, called by the Spaniards scurzonera or scorzonera. In 1576, Lobel says the plant was in French, Belgian and English gardens from Spanish seed. Neither Camerarius, 1586, nor Dalechamp, 1587, nor Bauhin, 1596, nor Clusius, 1601, indicates it as a cultivated plant, and Gerarde, 1597, calls it a stranger in England but growing in his garden. In 1612, Le Jardinier Solitaire calls this salsify the best root which can be grown in gardens. The use of the root as a garden vegetable is recorded in England by Meager, 1683, Worlidge, 1683, and by Ray, 1686. Quintyne, in France, 1690, calls it "one of our chiefest roots." Its cultivation does not, therefore, extend back to the sixteenth century. No varieties are recorded under culture. Black salsify was in American gardens in 1806. It was first known in Spain about the middle of the sixteenth century for its medicinal qualities as a supposed remedy for snake-bite. Black salsify was introduced into France from Spain about the beginning of the seventeenth century.

S. parviflora Jacq.
Europe, northern and western Asia.
This plant is called by the Kirghis idschelik and is eaten as greens.

S. tuberosa Pall.
Turkestan.
This species yields an edible root.

Scrophularia aquatica Linn. Scrophulariaceae. BISHOP'S LEAVES. BROWNWORT. WATER-BETONY.
Europe and adjoining Asia.
In France, this plant is called herbe du siege, according to Burnett, from its roots having been eaten by the garrison of Rochelle during the siege in 1628.

S. frigida Boiss.
Persia.
According to Haussknecht, this species yields a saccharine exudation in Persia.