Dipladenia (Sturtevant, 1919)
Dipladenia (Sturtevant, 1919) |
Dipladenia tenuifolia A. DC.
Apocynaceae.
Brazil. This plant is called by the inhabitants of Sertao, Brazil, cauhy, and the tuberous root, which is the size and color of a large, black turnip-radish, is eaten by them when cooked and is said to be very palatable; in the raw state it tastes not unlike a turnip.
Diplazium esculentum.
Polypodioceae (Athyriaceae).
This fern, according to Royle, is employed as food in the Himalayas.
Diplothemium (Allagoptera) maritimum Mart.
Palmae. COAST PALM.
A palm of Brazil. The fruit, an ovate or obovate drupe, is yellow and has a fibrous, acid-sweet flesh, which is eaten by the Indians.
Diposis bulbocastanum DC.
Umbelliferae.
Chile. The tubers are edible.
Dobera roxburghii Planch.
Salvadoraceae.
East Indies and South Africa. This is a large tree called in Yemen dober; the fruit is eaten.
Dolichandrone stipulata Benth. & Hook. f.
Bignoniaceae.
Burma. The flowers, according to Mason, are brought to market for food.
Dolichos biflorus Linn.
Leguminosae. HORSE GRAIN.
Old World tropics. This is the horse grain of the East Indies. The bean occurs in white, brown and black. The seeds are boiled in India for the horses, and the liquor that remains is used by the lower class of servants in their own food. There are varieties with gray and black seeds; the natives use the seeds in their curries.
Dolichos hastatus Lour.
East Africa. This plant is cultivated on the east coast of Africa and the seeds are eaten by the natives.
Dolichos lablab Linn.
BONAVISTA BEAN. HYACINTH BEAN. LABLAB.
Tropics of India and China. A number of varieties of this bean are cultivated in Asiatic countries for the pulse and the tender pods. There is a great diversity in the color of the flowers, size and shape of pod and color of seeds. Roxburgh describes var. rectum, pods straight, seeds reddish, flowers white, large; called pauch-seem: Var. falcatum minus, pods falcate, size of the little finger, flowers white, largish; called baghonuko-seem: Var. falcatum majus, pods falcate, flowers purple; called dood-pituli-seem: Var. gladiatum flore albo, pods gladiateclavate, length of the little finger, flowers white; called sada-jamai-puliseem: Var. gladiatum flore purpureo, called pituli-jamai-puli-seem: Var. macrocarpum, the largest of all, pods six to eight inches long, seeds black with a white eye, flowers red; called gychi-seem.
A great number of synonyms which have been assigned to this species is indicative of the variable character of the plant. In India, where it is much cultivated, four eatable varieties which are offered for sale in the bazaars during the cold season, are thus described by Roxburgh: Var. albiflorum, the shevei-seem, flowers white, smallish, cultivated in gardens as a pole bean; the tender pods are eaten, the seeds never; the plant has a disagreeable smell: Var. rubiflorum, the jeea-seem, flowers red, cultivated and much esteemed by the natives: Var. purpurascens, the goordal-seem, a large variety with large, purple flowers: Var. purpureum, the ruk-to-seem, stem and large flowers purple, the pods deep purple. Wight calls the species a very valuable pulse generally esteemed by all classes of natives and very extensively cultivated in Mysore. In Jamaica, it is called the bonavista-bean and is cultivated in most parts of the country. The bean is a wholesome, palatable food and is in general use. On the east coast of Africa, the leaves are dried and made into a spinach.
Dolichos sesquipedalis Linn.
ASPARAGUS BEAN. YARD-LONG BEAN.
South America. This bean was first described by Linnaeus, 1763. It reached England in 1781. Linnaeus gives its habitat as America and Jacquin received it from the West Indies. Martens considers it as a synonym of Dolichos sinensis Linn. Loureiro's description of D. sinensis certainly applies well to the asparagus bean, and Loureiro thinks the D. sesquipedalis of Linnaeus the same. He refers to Rumphius's Amboina, 1.9, c. 22, tab. 134, as representing his plant, and this work, published in 1750, antedates the description of Linnaeus. Probably this is an East Indian plant, introduced into the West Indies.
The name, asparagus bean, comes from the use of the green pods as a vegetable, and a tender, asparagus-like dish it is. The name at Naples, fagiolo e maccarone, conveys the same idea. The pods grow very long, oftentimes two feet in length, hence the name, yard-long bean, often used. The asparagus, or yard-long, bean is mentioned for American gardens in 1828 and probably was introduced earlier. It is mentioned for French gardens under the name of haricot asperge in 1829. There are no varieties known to our seedsmen, but Vilmorin offers one, the Dolique de Cuba.
Dolichos sphaerospermus DC.
BLACK-EYED PEA.
Jamaica. This is the black-eyed pea of the Barbados. It is a native of Jamaica, and the seeds are sweet and as good for food as any of the kidney beans.
Dolichos umbellatus Thunb.
Japan. The seeds and pods are used in the preparation of a starch and meal. There are several varieties of this plant under culture; some of them are pole beans, others dwarf.
Doryanthes excelsa Correa.
Amaryllideae. GIANT LILY.
Australia. A liliaceous plant 24 feet high of which the stem is roasted and eaten by the Australians.
Dovyalis (Doryalis) zizyphoides E. Mey.
Bixineae (Flacourtiaceae).
South Africa. The red berries are edible.
Dracaena draco Linn.
Liliaceae (Agavaceae). DRAGON-TREE.
Canary Islands. The dragon tree furnished dragons-blood once considerably exported from the Canaries. At Porto Santo, one of the Madeira Islands, Cada Mosto in 1454 found the tree yielding "a kind of fruit, like to our cherries but yellow, which grows ripe in March and is of a most exquisite taste."
Dracontium polyphyllum Linn.
Aroideae (Araceae).
South America. The roots serve as food to the natives of the Pacific isles.5
Dracontomelon sylvestre Blume.
Anacardiaceae.
Borneo. This species is planted at Rewa, Fiji Islands. Pickering, in Races of Man, mentions the fruit under the name canarium and says it is sour and edible.
Dregea volubilis Benth.
Asclepiadaceae.
East Indies. "I have been informed," says Ainslie, "that the leaves are amongst those which are occasionally eaten as greens by the natives of lower India but I am doubtful of this, considering the general character of the genus."
Drimys aromatica F. Muell.
Magnoliaceae (Winteraceae). PEPPER TREE.
Australia. The ripe fruit is black, Hooker says, and the whole plant is highly aromatic and pungent, hence its seeds and berries are sometimes used as pepper.
Drimys winteri Forst.
NEW GRANADA WINTER-BARK.
South America. The bark of the variety montana is used in Brazil as a seasoning.
Drosera rotundifolia Linn.
Droseraceae. LUSTWORT. SUNDEW.
Northern regions. The round-leaved sundew is said by Figuer to be acrid and caustic, and in Italy a liquor called rossoli is distilled from its juices. It curdles milk.
Dryas octopetala Linn.
Rosaceae. MOUNTAIN AVENS.
Northern temperate and arctic regions. In Iceland, the leaves of this plant are used as a substitute for tea.
Duguetia longifolia Baill.
Anonaceae.
Guiana, Peru and Trinidad. The fruit is nearly round, as big as a Reinette apple, the surface divided by reticulated divisions, the skin thin, and the red, delicate, viscous flesh excellent and very agreeable. It is very much prized by the Caribs.
Durio oxieyanus Griff.
Malvaceae.
Malay Islands. This is probably the form of the durian from which the cultivated species has originated.
Durio zibethinus Murr.
DURIAN.
Malayan Archipelago. Accounts of this far-famed fruit had reached Europe as early as 1640, as Parkinson mentions it. The fruit is of the size of a man's head and the seed, with its enveloping pulp, about the size of a hen's egg. The pulp is a pure white, resembling blanc mange and as delicious in taste as the finest cream. The odor is, however, intolerable. Wallace says that to eat durians is a sensation worth a voyage to the East to experience. The unripe fruit is used as a vegetable. Bayard Taylor says: "Of all fruits, at first the most intolerable but said by those who have smothered their prejudices, to be of all fruits, at last, the most indispensable. When it is brought to you at first, you clamor till it is removed; if there are durians in the next room to you, you cannot sleep. Chloride of lime and disinfectants seem to be its necessary remedy. To eat it, seems to be the sacrifice of self respect; but endure it for a while, with closed nostrils, taste it once or twice, and you will cry for durians thenceforth, even — I blush to write it—even before the glorious mongosteen."
Durville utilia Bory.
Algae.
This seaweed is employed in soups in Chile.
Dysoxylum spectabile Hook. f.
Meliaceae.
A tree of New Zealand, called by the inhabitants kohe, or wahahe. Its leaves have a bitter taste and are employed as a substitute for hops.