Grias-Gyrophora (Sturtevant, 1919)

← Grewia

Sturtevant, Notes on edible plants, 1919 Grias-Gyrophora (Sturtevant, 1919)

Haematostaphis-Heldreichia →

Grias cauliflora Linn.

Myrtaceae. ANCHOVY PEAR.

West Indies. The anchovy pear is a native of Jamaica, where it forms a high tree. It has for a long time been cultivated in plant houses for the sake of its magnificent foliage. The fruits are pear-shaped, russet-brown drupes and when young are pickled like the mango, which they resemble in taste. This plant is cultivated to a limited extent in extreme southern Florida.

Guazuma tomentosa H. B. & K.

Sterculiaceae. BASTARD CEDAR.

West Indies; introduced into India. The fruit is filled with mucilage, which is said by Drury to be very agreeable to the taste.

Guazuma ulmifolia Lam.

BASTARD CEDAR.

Tropical America. The fruit, says St. Hilaire, is hard and woody but is filled with a mucilage of a sweet and agreeable taste, which can be sucked with pleasure. In Jamaica, says Lunan, the fruit is eaten by the negroes, either raw or boiled as a green.

Guizotia abyssinica Case.

Compositae. RAMTIL.

Tropical Africa. This plant is a native of Abyssinia, where it is cultivated, as well as in India, for the sake of its seeds, which yield an oil to pressure, bland like that of sesame and called ramtil. This oil is sweet and is used as a condiment and as a burning oil. It is much used for dressing food in Mysore.

Gundelia tournefortii Linn.

Compositae.

Syria, Asia Minor and Persia. This thistle is grown abundantly in Palestine and is similar to the artichoke. The young plant, especially the thick stem, with the young and still undeveloped flower-buds, is brought to the market of Jerusalem under the name cardi and is sought after as a vegetable.

Gunnera chilensis Lam.

Halorageae.

Chile. The acidulous leaf-stalks serve as a vegetable. The plant somewhat resembles rhubarb on a gigantic scale. The inhabitants, says Darwin, eat the stalks, which are subacid. The leaves are sometimes nearly eight feet in diameter, and the stalk is rather more than a yard high. It is called panke. In France, it is grown as an ornament.

Gustavia speciosa DC.

Myrtaceae.

New Granada. The small fruits of this tree, according to Humboldt and Bonpland, cause the body of the eater to turn yellow, and, after it remains 24 or 48 hours, nothing can erase the color.

Gymnema lactiferum R. Br.

Asclepiadeae. COW PLANT.

East Indies and Malay. This is the cow plant of Ceylon, where it is said to yield a mild and copious milk.

Gymnocladus canadensis Lam.

Leguminosae. CHICOT. KENTUCKY COFFEE-TREE. NICKER-TREE. STUMP TREE.

North America. This tree, which occurs in the northern United States and in Canada, is often cultivated for ornamental purposes. The pods, preserved like those of the tamarind, are said to be wholesome and slightly aperient. The seeds were employed by the early settlers of Kentucky as a substitute for coffee.

Gynandropsis pentaphylla DC.

Capparideae.

Cosmopolitan tropics. This plant is a well-known esculent in the Upper Nile and throughout equatorial Africa as far as the Congo. In India, the leaves are eaten by the natives, and the seeds are used as a substitute for mustard and yield a good oil. In Jamaica, it is considered a wholesome plant but, from its being a little bitterish, requires repeated boilings to make it palatable.

Gynura sarmentosa DC.

Compositae.

Malay. In China, the leaves are employed as food.

Gyrophora muhlenbergii Ach.

Lichenes. ROCK TRIPE.

Arctic climates. Franklin says, when boiled with fish-roe or other animal matter, this lichen is agreeable and nutritious and is eaten by the natives.

Gyrophora vellea Linn. Ach.

ROCK TRIPE.

Cold regions. This lichen forms a pleasanter food than the other species of this genus.