Lamium-Latania (Sturtevant, 1919)

← Lacis-Laminaria

Sturtevant, Notes on edible plants, 1919 Lamium-Latania (Sturtevant, 1919)

Lathyrus →

Lamium album Linn.

Labiatae. ARCHANGEL. DEAD-NETTLE. DUMB-NETTLE.

Europe and the Orient. The young leaves are boiled in the spring and eaten as greens by the common people of Sweden.

Lamium purpureum Linn.

ARCHANGEL. RED DEAD-NETTLE.

Europe, northern Asia and naturalized as a weed in some places in the United States. The red dead-nettle, or archangel, is eaten in Sweden as greens in spring.

Landolphia florida Benth.

Apocynaceae. RUBBER TREE.

Tropical Africa. This species furnishes the abo of tropical Africa, eaten by the natives. Montiero describes a species of this genus, probably this, as occurring in Angola, and called rubber tree. The fruit, the size of a large orange, is yellow when ripe; the shell is hard and bitter and the inside full of a soft, reddish pulp in which the seeds are contained. This pulp is of an agreeable acid flavor and is much liked by the natives. On the Niger, according to Barter,9 its fruit, which is very sour, is eaten by the natives under the name of dboli.

Landolphia owariensis Beauv.

Tropical Africa. This a climbing plant, the fruit of which is the size of an orange and has a reddish-brown, woody shell and an agreeable, sweetish-acid pulp. It is eaten by the natives and is called abo. Schweinfurth says the fruit exceeds in sourness that of the citron and the natives of Djur-land manufacture a beverage from it as refreshing as lemonade.

Lansium domesticum Jack.

Meliaceae.

A tree of eastern Asia, cultivated in China. Its fruit is sold in the Canton markets. The fruit is the size of a pigeon's egg, of a yellowish color without and whitish within. It is highly esteemed and is eaten fresh or variously prepared. It is known in the East Indies as lansa, langsat, lanseh, ayer-ayer or bejetlan. In, Borneo, Wallace calls it one of the most delicious of the subacid, tropical fruits.

Lantana trifolia Linn.

Verbenaceae.

Tropical America. Sloane says the fruit is more juicy than that of other species and is not unpleasant to eat.

Lapageria rosea Ruiz & Pav.

Liliaceae.

Chile. The berries, which are of the size of an egg, are sweet and edible.

Lapsana communis Linn.

Compositae. NIPPLEWORT.

Europe, Orient, northern Asia and naturalized in America. The young leaves in the spring have the taste of radishes and are eaten at Constantinople as a salad. In some parts of England, the common people boil them as greens, but they have a bitter and not agreeable taste.

Lardizabala biternata Ruiz et Pav.

Berberideae.

Chile and Peru. The fruit is eatable and is sold in the market. The pulp is sweet and grateful to the taste. It is called in Peru aquilboguil or guilbogin and in Chile coguillvochi.

Lardizabala triternata Ruiz & Pav.

Chile. This plant has edible fruit.

Larix europaea DC.

Coniferae. EUROPEAN LARCH.

Europe and northern Asia. The Jakuts of northern Siberia grate the inner bark and use it in a broth of fish, meal, and milk. A kind of sugary matter exudes from the the larch in the summer and is collected under the name of manna, or briancono. When the larch forests of Russia take fire, a juice exudes from the scorched trunks which is collected under the name of orenburgh gum.

Larrea mexicana Moric.

Zygophyllaceae. CREOSOTE PLANT.

Mexico. Travellers chew the twigs to alleviate extreme thirst. The plant is a bright evergreen with foliage resembling that of Buxus.

Laserpitium latifolium Linn.

Umbelliferae. LASEWORT.

Europe. The Romans, says Glasspole, used the root of lasewort, with cumin, in seasoning preserved artichoke.

Latania commersonii J. P. Gmel.

Palmae.

Bourbon Island. The fruit is eaten by the negroes, says Seemann, but that argues little for their taste, as it has a rather disagreeable flavor.