Edible Plant Species

Gladiolus edulis Burch. Irideae. EDIBLE GLADIOLUS.
South Africa.
The bulb-like roots are edible and taste like chestnuts when roasted.

Glaucium flavum Crantz. Papaveraceae.
Europe and the Mediterranean regions.
This plant furnishes an inodorous and insipid oil of a clear yellow color, sweet, edible and fit for burning.

Gleditsia triacanthos Linn. Leguminosae. HONEY LOCUST.
North America.
This tree, native of the region about the Mississippi and its tributaries, is cultivated as an ornamental tree both in this country and in Europe. The pods contain numerous seeds enveloped in a sweet, pulpy substance, from which a sugar is said to have been extracted. Porcher says a beer is sometimes made by fermenting the sweet pods while fresh.

Glyceria fluitans R. Br. Gramineae. FLOAT GRASS. MANNA GRASS. POLAND MANNA.
Northern temperate regions.
The seeds of this grass are collected on the continent and sold as manna seeds for making puddings and gruel.3 According to Von Heer,4 it is cultivated in Poland.

Glycine soja Sieb. & Zucc. Leguminosae. COFFEE BEAN. SOJA BEAN. SOY BEAN.
Tropical Asia.
This bean is much cultivated in tropical Asia for its seeds, which are used as food in India, China and Japan. It is an ingredient of the sauce known as soy. Of late, it has been cultivated as an oil plant. In 1854, two varieties, one white- and the other red-seeded, were obtained from Japan and distributed through the agency of the Patent Office. At the late Vienna Exposition, samples of the seed were shown among the agricultural productions of China, Japan, Mongolia, Transcaucasia and India. Professor Haberland says this plant has been cultivated from early ages and that it grows wild in the Malay Archipelago, Java and the East Indies. In Japan, it is called miso. Of late, its seeds have appeared among the novelties in our seed catalogs. According to Bretschneider, a Chinese writing of 163-85 B. C. records that Shen nung, 2800 B. C., sowed the five cereals, and another writing of A. D. 127-200 explains that these five cereals were rice, wheat, Panicum italicum Linn., P. miliaceum Linn. and the soja bean. The use of this bean as a vegetable is also recorded in authors of the fifth, fourteenth and sixteenth centuries. The first European mention of the soja bean is by Kaempfer,9 who was in Japan in 1690. In his account of his travels, he gives considerable space to this plant. It also seems to be mentioned by Ray, 1704. This bean is much cultivated in China and Cochin China. There are a large number of varieties. Seeds were brought from Japan to America by the Perry Expedition on its return and were distributed from the United States Patent Office in 1854. In France; seeds were distributed in 1855. In 1869, Martens described 13 varieties.

Glycosmis pentaphylla Correa. Rutaceae. JAMAICA MANDARIN ORANGE.
Tropical Asia and Australia.
This Asiatic tree is noted for the delicious flavor of its fruit. It is the mandarin orange of Jamaica and is grown as a fruit tree in the Public Gardens of Jamaica. The ripe fruit is eaten.

Glycyrrhiza asperrima Linn. f. Leguminosae. WILD LICORICE.
Russia and central Asia.
Pallas says the leaves are used by the Kalmucks as a substitute for tea.

G. echinata Linn. WILD LICORICE.
Southern Europe and the Orient.
From the root of this herb, a portion of the Italian licorice is prepared. The Russian licorice root is of this species.

G. glabra Linn. LICORICE.
South Europe, northern Africa and Persia.
This plant is cultivated in England, Germany and the north of France. Licorice root is used in medicine and in brewing porter. The leaves, called nakhalsa are employed by the Mongols as substitutes for tea.

G. lepidota Pursh. WILD LICORICE.
North America.
The root is eaten by the Indians of Alaska and the northwestern states.

Gmelina arborea Roxb. Verbenaceae.
Tropical India and Burma.
The yellow drupe is eaten by the Gonds of the Satpura who protect the tree near villages.