The daily morning journal and courier., 1896-09-26
 FLOWERS THAT ARE EATEN.
The caulihower is a Specimen.

| ue AduilllONeI IS d 9DEclI1Gfi.
 In many parts of India the flowers of a saponaceous tree, Bassia latifolia or mahwah, form really important arti- cle of food These blossoms, which are succulent and very numerous, fall at night in large quantities from the tree, and are gathered early in the morning and eaten raw. They have a sweet but sickly taste and odor. They are like wise dried in the sun and sold in the
 bazars. The Beels dry them and store
 them as a, staple article of food, and so
 important are they considered for this
 purpose that when in expeditions for the punishment of or subjection of these tribes, when unruly, a threat is
 made by the invading force to cut
 down their Bassia trees, the menace
 most commonly insures their submis- sion.
 An ardent spirit like whiskey is dis titled from these flowers, and Is con- stunned in large quantities by the na-
 tives of Guzerat, etc. The Parsees and hill people eat the flowers both raw and
 cooked, often with the addition of grain, and make sweetmeats of them A sim gle tree will afford them two to four
 hundred pounds of flowers.
 The blossoms of another species, B. longjfolia, are employed in similar
 manner by the natives of Malabar and | Mysore, where it abounds. They are either dried and roasted and then eat en, or are bruised and boiled to a jelly
 and made into small balls, which are sold or exchanged for fish, rice and va
 rious sorts of small grain.
 The flowers of the Judas tree, Cercis siliquastrum, of Europe, have an agree able acid taste and are sometimes mixed with salads or made into fritters with batter, and the flower buds are pickled in vinegar The flowers of the American species, C. Canadensis, the red bud, are used by the French Cana dians in salads and pickles.
 The flowers of the Ambition esculen- 1 tum bencago de deos are used in Brazil as a boiled vegetable. The flowers of
 Moringo pterygosperma, the horserad- | ish tree, are eaten by the natives of In- | dia in their curries
 ! The large and snowy flowers of Tro- paeolum majus, the Indian crese or | nasturtium, are frequently used along l WlLu Ilt yOuIlS ledNSS dS c | They have warm taste, not unlike l that of the common cress, and it is | from this circumstance that the plant has obtained the name of nasturtium. The young calices of Dillenia sea- brella and D. specioso, which are swol- len and fieshy, have pleasantly acid taste and are used by the inhabitants
 of Chittagong and Bengal in their cur
 ries and also for making jelly.
 The flowers of Rhododendron abo-
 reum are eaten by the hill people of h.
 dia, and are made into jelly by the
 European visitors. Yet poisonous pro-
 prieties are usually ascribed to the spe-
 cies of this genius, and it has been said l that the R. Ponticum was the plant from whose flowers the bees of Pontus collected the honey that produced the
 extraordinary symptoms of poisoning
 described as having attacked the Greek
 soldiers in the retreat of the ten thou
 sand.
 The flower buds of Zygophyllum Fa-
 bago are used as a substitute for ca
 pers, and the flowers of Meliantis ma- jor, a plant of the same order, are so full of honey that the natives of Good
 Hope, where the plant grows wild, ob-
 tain it for food by shaking the branch
 es. when it falls in heavy shower.
 Coccoloba uvifera Is remarkable from
 the peculiarity of the calyx, which be- | comes pulpy and of a violet color,
 whence the plant is called the seaside grape. The pulpy calyx has an agreed ble acid flavor and is edible.
 ] The flower stalks of HoYenta dulcis