86
"nut, and transported a d istan ce of. 4 miles, ill au hour and a
"quarer, without once taking it off his head."
Signed; GEOtlG" AL1,X. STEVENS, Consul ..
One wou ld be inclined to believe that the philosophie's stone,.
or should I say the philosopher's nut, has at last been found, and
some of the tribe of far inland Afri can appear to think so, for it
is said that the dry powder of th e Col a nut is there sold for its
weight in gold dust.
Any on e wishing to form an idea. of the phys iological action
of Cola on the nervous system, on the Ili gestive organ s, on th e
heart and on th e muscular system, will read with profit the exhausti'·e stu{l.r thereon hy Doctor G. W. BaIT (Therapeutic Gazette·
1896 ) which is g iven a t some length in Ch evali er and Perrot's
work.
CONCLUSIONS.
Th e conclusions whi ch I would draw fro m the fo re-goiug notes.
on Cola, are the following ;
1st . Kine of th e Cola tree. g row ing in the E conomic Ga rdens
belong to the species ' Cola. niticla.,' which is recogn ised as
t he best.
2nd. Although t he crop just obtained is a small on e, there is reason
to hope fo r larger yields in the future.
3rd. Fresh nuts offer very g reat advantages, for makin g Cola ex-·
t raet, over dri ed nuts such as are perf.o rce used in Europe..
4t h. '1'he Cola tree is not refra ctory to eultuml t reatm ent, and,
under systemati c cul t ivation, a nd fa i,· condi t ions, vields of
nuts can be looked forward to ina pcri od of fi I·e yea rs.
5th . F or the present, the outlook of Cola cult ivati on ill th ese
countri es, is limited, but nati ve co nsumption might, co n- ·
ccivably, gradually create a ,·ery large dcmand; the spread·
-of th e use of the Cola nut through north ern Mnssulman
coun tri es tend s to show that poss ib ilities exist th at way.
6th. P ersonal trial s over a peri od of two months of t he nut under ·
variou s form s, bave convinced the writer that the nut, as·
produ ced here, loses little, if at all, of the stimulating
properti es of the Af r ica n prod net. As was hown in the
hod.'· of th is paper, its Oaffei.ne content is as high as that
0.1 the Af ri can nut.
E. MATJIIEU.
SOME CULTIVATED YAMS FROM AFRICA, AND
ELSEWHERE .
The pUTpose of this note is to illustrate some unfamiliar cultivated Dioscoreas, namely ;1. th e white or eight mOJlths Guinea Yam.
2. th e ydllow or twelve months Guinea ·Yam,-D. CI1J!J-
en ens-is, La.mk.
PLATE
VI.
White or eight-months Guinea Yam , Ra ce No. 334 on the left of
the half-m etre and R'lSe No. 340 on the right.
L
White or eight-months Yam, Race No. 336 above and Race No. 330 below.
87
a Hai -nan Yam, probably D. belophylloides, P rain and
Burkill.
4. an African Yam, D. dumeto"um, Pax.
5. an Indian Yam, D. pentalJhylla, Linn ., val', Linnaei,
Prain and BUl·kill .
6. a iYIaluya n Yam D . pentaphyllct, r~i nn ., val'. mala.i ca,
Prai n a ucl Bmkill.
7 and 8 Phil ippin e Yams, D. pentaphy'lla, Linn ., var. and
an ally.
.
3.
Diosco'relt aleda, Linn., wh ich of all species is the yam most
cu ltirated ill Indo-Mal~ya , was the subj ect of an article in the la st
i sue of the Bulletin . It is cultivated in Afri ca; but it is app31'ent
that t he Portuguese who used it for p royisioning their ships on the
return journcy from India deliberately introdu ced it at their ports
of ca ll on the coast of that continent, not so mu ch because they
to uld not get yams in variou s parts of Afri ca, as because it wa s
thcir wont to introdu ce everywhere cverything, whether animal 01;
vcuetable, t ha t might becom e useful. It is not intended to deal
he7-c with the races of lhosc01'elt edata now in Africa, but with other
pee-ies on ly, and firstly with that Dioscorea which appears always
to have had the greatest importance upon the Guinea coast and to
be nati'·e. ::-Jo botani cal nalll e will be g iven to it; but it will be
ca ll ed the " ' hite or Ei g ht-months Guinea yam. l)late vi, i ll ustrates
it.
1.
THE W a iTE OR EWHT-UON THS GU I NEA. Y ,UI.
Tlu s White or Ei ght-mon t hs Guinea yam has very many r aces
in its 011'11 home. A glance at the plate shows t.hat the tubers in
'ome are more elon gated than in others..
ome, also, more abun dantl.y thun others ha ve th em protected by thonls on the roots: and
again va.ri at ion al so appears in the foliage as the annexed outline
draw ings show. To enumerate' t he ra ces is out of the qu estion, and
even. to suggest a scheme for a classification of them is difficult.
Therefore little will be said a:bout th eir differences.
The tuber of t hi s specie ha s a skin of a dark khaki colour in
nil the ra ces t hat ha.Ye been grO\\TI1, with white fl esh .under it ; and
i( there i a ny sig n in the ce ll s of a sub tan ce with a magenta
colour it is to be fonlld ollly about the base of th e stcm at the top
of the nber. T he surfa ce of the tuber is <Yenerally mther f ree from
rootlets and nearl y smooth . The tn.ber. lllay grow as twins or 111
small groups.
When the new stcm appears aborc' ground, it is thick and of
a rather livid colou r, with ab un dant prickles, and pairs of large
broa dly ovatc bra cts fro m t he axils of whi ch stri ctly at right angles
tout rap idly taperin <Y bra nches arise. It is obvious t hat th ese
branches by the ir position a.nd their rigidity, sene the plHpose of
preventing t he tem from sli ppi ng ba ck tllrough t he tangled thickets
in wbi ch it would grow naturally.
Soon the bracts give place to paired leaves, and the stem becomes less prickly, until it is quite Iltlal·med.
88
The leal"es are of a mcd ium or dark green, and do u9t sp read
thcmseh es fla t bu t the sides rise up, particularly towards the base
and the midrib takes a curve ba ckwards. Th ey are cordate-ovat;
wh~n flattened in most of the races grown, but as the aunexed out-.
lille drawings of the two flattened leal"es show, may be elongated
from this. 'l'he 10"'er s urfa~e is paler than the upper. As all
parts of the plant, they are quite glabrous. Usually they are about.
10-12 CIll. long by 6-7 cm. broad.
Leaves of the White Gu in ea Yam , one quarte r natural size. That on theright the form whioh most races exhibit; that on the left a n extreme leaf of therace Efura .
On the upper parts of the plant the side branches show a
tendency to droop f rom the horizontal, and to die abruptly so as
to end with a pai.!. of f ully del'eloped lea '·es. 'l'hc pctioles wh ich
are qu ite as long as the bladcs ca rry the leavc rai ed above thc
axis bearing them, and from the top of the petio le thc blade is inclined downwaTCls, facing towards thc light, Il"ith the ti p deeul"I'cd
to'f3rds the earth.
In the axils of the remoter leaves of the bran ches infloresccnccs
. arise. If male there are 1--4 spikes in each axi l, atta inin g 4 cm.
in length, and taking a fOTlvard direction from th e axis whi ch
bears them. A spike about 4 Clll. long maY ca rry 24 flow ers, spaced
about th eir own diameter apart. The. e flower take an angle of
about 60° to the axis.
'l'he male flowers haye a rather broad base, but not so broad as
in those As iatic Dioscoreas where it presses the bract back against
t he axis : bu t the bract carries the bud like a bracket. The
three sepals are greenish below, and yellow above; the~' broaden
gradually through two thirds of their length, and then narrow
quickly and obtusel.,·. T he petals are si milar, just a little smallel>
Rnd a li ttle more obovate; they are slightly thicker. In unthesis
the sepals part to half their length, anel the petals at their tips,
making a narrow way to the six introrse a.nthers which "'ith their
short fi laments fi ll the ,vhole of the interior of the flowcr. The
filam ents are haH as long as t he anthers. The flow ers are ve ry
fragrant.
The fema le flowers are in spikes about 15 cm. long; the
}'cllowish sepals and petals are broadly ovate. The capsules am
PLATE VII
Yellow or twelve months Yam, Race No. 314 on the left of th e
half-m etre measure, and Race No. 338 on the right.
A Yam of Hainan .
SINOAl'ORB.
89
than the half of a circle, so that
I I'·OUS · their wings Iare' broader
",11"
d
I base tlC
I IVUl
' g passes by
the apex of the capsu e IS cor ate : a t tIe
well nlarked angle lUtO a WUlg on the stalk.
"
Thi spec ies of D'iosCOI'ect wa s received in the Botani c Gardens,.
Singapore, from the Gold Coast and from S,outhern ~igel'ia in
February and Jul.,', 1915, thl'Ough the Royal Gard ens, Kell'. The
first Hi ngapore crops were dug ill :K ol'ell1her, 19~5 and F ebruary,
IVJ6' the second III Decembcr, 1916 and th c tlllrd 11'1 December,
IVI7.' '\!'rom the small begi nni ngs of th e first crop the stock has.
been built up suJ'ficientl,l' to justil'y a recorc1 of th e retuTns got at
thc th iI'd crop. Th ese lI'ere :number of
average vi eld pel'
(; arden ' number
hil ls.
hill. .
and nam e of ra cc.
1358 grHmlll CS or about 3 1b ~ .
11
lIst bed
330 Eyiheri(2nd bed
2079
.,
or about 4 Ibs. 9 oz.
3
25
]
966
,.
or about ± Ibs. 5 oz.
336 Twa.l'o 0 lorum
2228
01' about 4 lbs. 15 oz.
28
32R Esill1'in111111
12
10±7
"
01'
abou t 2 Ibs. 5 oz.
316 Puna
or
about 3 l bs. 13 oz.
1723
.,
14
:l.W· Opnraga
186]
.,
or
about 4, lbs. 2 oz.
3
:322 Od ee krllkupa
8
2271
"
or about 5 Ibs. 4 oz.
3 2~ Batafu entumtu
329 7
.,
or about 7 1bs. 4 oz.
18
;l3-t mura
7
257 1
"
or abo ut 5 lbs. 11 oZ.
;HO BH,I'ere pa
H 77
,.
01' about 3 lbs. 4 oz.
;376 Eururuka ap ima
n
2.
T HE YELLOW OR TWELVE MO NTHS GUI NE A YAM.
'rhe upper bl ock of pla te "ii. rcprc ents a race of an other
pec-ies of lJoioscol'ea-t bat which is second i n importancc upon thc
Guinea coast. It is beli eved that it is Dliosc01'ea cayenensis, Lamk.
Apparcnt ly tbe Portugu ese early took it to tbe N ew World: and
when it 'fell into th e hand s of th e French botanist Lamarck, he in
ignol'lln C'c of its Afri can orig in named it from the colon,\' wh ence
hi spec· im ens cam e. It is a pity that it sbould have so obtained a
mi leading spec ific name. 'l' he icj,entity of D. cagen lNlsis with D.
preil ellsilis whi ch Bentham descri bed wh en wOl'kiug at thB collect ion s
made on t he ~ iger Expedition, ha s rece ntly been declared b.-·
French botani ts (vide Chevalier et P errot, L es Vegetaux utiles de
l'Afrique tropicale f ran gaise,. viii, Paris, 1913, p. 356 and Jumellc,
Les cultures coloniales, L egume et Fruits, Paris, 1913, p. 12).
As th e plate shows, the tubers of D. cayen en sis are unlike those
of the Whi te Guinea yam in bein g more irregulaT and with a thick
neck, an c1 om ewb at un eveu surface. They differ also in bein g
yellow fle heel
. 'l'he new shoots are thi ck and very prickly with dark reflexed
PrIckles : they aTe of a purplish green, and carry altel'llate leaves at
first, which may have thick bran ches in their axils iu positions such
as ~o prevent t he stem from slipping back among the vegetation into
whIch it is climbing.
The leaves are quite unlike those of the White Yam in tbeir
flatnes in life and greater breadth. They are equally 'd ark green,
90
;and equally paler below. They are corclate-orbicular, anel shortly
acuminate, CJuite· g labrous, as is the whole plant. '1'he blade lies
luuch more nearly in the plane of the petiole than cloes the blacle
in the White Guinea yalll . '1'owards the upper parts of the branches
flowers arc producecl . If male there are 1--4 spikes in the axil of
.each leaf. These spikes attain 6 cm. in length, and carry about
40 flowers spaced about their own diameter apart set on at an
.angle of about 70°, so that the angle which the)' take to the axis
is a little lm'gel' than in the White Yam. 'rhey ate sessile aJld
though the base is broad, it is not so broad as to cause the bract
to be reflexed. '1'he buds are more stout than those of the White
'Guinea Yam, from base t9 apex more pear-shaped but laterally distinctly three lobed from the strong curvatures of the sepals. '1'he
.sepals are white and they just part in flowering to one third of
their length. '1'he petals are brownish and shaped like the sepals,
,but smaller. Within are six introrse anthers on short filaments.
It appears exceeding probable that the White and the Yellow
Yams have been confused in books, which should not be, as they
.are abundantly distinct.
Leaves of the Yellow Guinea Yam. Olle qua.rte r natural size. That on the
l eft is the common fo rm; tha.t on the right the form confined to th e bases of
the stems.
3.
A.
HAl· NAN YAM APPARENTLY Dro SCOREA
BELOPHYLLOIDES.
Th e lower block of Plate vii sho,rs the tubers and leaves of a
species of Dioscorea which wa s introdu ced into Singapore from the
Chinese province of Hai-nan by a serva nt of Mr. G. P. Owen; and
Mr. Owen presented tubers to the Gardens. '1'he return that the'y
gi ve is small; and they are uneven so that if peeled for cooking a
large part of them is lost; but they are excellent cooked.
'1'his 'yam has not as yet flowered in Singa pore, and there is
some doubt as to its name; but it appears to be D'iosc01'ea belolJhylloides, Prain and Bmkill.
4.
DroSCOREA DUMETORU)I.
'1'he top block of plate viii illu strates Diosc01'ea dU1net01'U11t,
Pax, an African ally of the Indo-Malayan D. hil'suta (D. triphylla,
91
.billlb. in part or D. daemon a, R o.~b , ) ,
Jut as D. hi1'slLia is a most
impoTtant famine food of Indi a and Malaya, so does D . dU1neto1"lL1n
appear to be a famine food ilJ Africa; but it appears to be more,
'for wh erea D. hi1'sltia has gi l'cn n<? culb,'ated ra ces, D. dU1neto1"lL1n
has; a Dd the conflicting statements of tra I'ellers as to its utility
,lire to be ex-plam ed m the h ght of tlll S.
'fwo very distinct races are in culti va tiou in 'ingapore : in the
.one th e tubers are lo bed; in the other the t ubers are star-shaped.
'fh e plate shows both . 'fh e bluntly lobed tubers " 'ere fTom a stock
recei,'ed as Nfamko f rom th e Gold Coast; wh il e the star-shaped
nlbers from one call ed E SUl'a in Southern .\ igeria. With the
ori a-inal tu bers of Xfa mko \\"a re 'eil'e 1 a memoTRndmll stating that
Xf~lJlko j edible but med icina l. Esura has been eaten in Singapore without causi ng any discomfort, but it i lightly bitter.
Bearing the llam e of ]~s ura theTe are again two races distina-u i hed by t heiT COIOUT, th e fl esh in on e being white and the fl esh
~l the other being yellow. That thi s should be so is most interestina- bee-a use 7) . itispici(t exh ibits the sa me I'ariation in colom being
so~,etimes yellow anel sometimes white, but as r egards it as yet
the colour ha s not bee n shown to be a TH eial characteristic.
\rh en D. d'lilneto1'wn sprouts, it throll's up a sto nt prickly
shoot, wi th alternate leaves " and these le,aves have the peculiarity
that the base of the petiole is bent downwards sharply in such a
way as to aid th e plant in climbing by preventing the stem from
lippi ng back ol'er its support. It is most interesting to find in
D, clu1neto1"u1n as well as the \lhite and the Yellow Guinea Yamspecies all of the sam e region-the need of holding to its support
met in a slightly different way:
'l'he leaves of D . dumciont1n are compound : at the apex of a
prickly petiole are three leaflets, which wh en young are sparingly
hi spid above, then glabrescent, but on the back at all times densely
shortly hispid-pubescent. Th e mid cUe leaflet is obovate, an el usually vel'.\' long acuminate ; the latm'al leaflets are of the same shape
in th e inn er half, but as r egard s the onter are cOl'elate, and often
' with a lateral lobe. Toward the a:pices of the stems the middle
leaflet is often smaller than the lateml leaflets.
Inflorescences arise in the leafaxils towards the ends of the
, tem . If male a pyramid of spikes is produced, which may be uI>
to 10 em. long : th e axes and the bracts are densely stiflly pubescent,
and the thin glabrous orbicular-ol'ate sepals peep out from among
the hairy bracts. 'l'hese sepals exposing the green ovate .petals
open at flowering rather more widely than elo those of the flowers
of the White or the Yellow Guinea Yam a movement facilitated by
thinness : th ey are ovate and rounded above. The petals are only
a ver)' little smaller than the sepal s : and there are six introrse
-tamens within.
The fema le spi ke may attain as much as 70 em. when the
Irllit i ripening; it carries some 30-40 flowers. The fruits are
'elongated and very like those of D. hispida.
92
DroSCOREA PENTAPHYLLA AND All ALLIED PLANT.
'l'he lo,,'er block of plate viii illustrates some I ndo-Malayan
Dioscoreas of the same section as D. d1'1nei01'll1l! . Fi rst of all there is.
Diosc01'ea pe?~taphylla, Linn., var., Lillnaei, an eclible variety of that
usually inedi ble species, cultivated in Southern India and Ceylon.
It is the D. pentaphylla which Linnaells had f rom Ceylon in his
Hm'bari lIm, -a variety which probabl,r \\'as 1110re common ly cultiratcd the re i n his time than now. Coo ked properly it is a very
good I'egeta ble, but as the figures sho\\' i t bmi es so deeply that the·
labou r of digging it up is considerable, and the return is small. It
i, li k"l\' therefore for all time to remain Tath er a curiosity than a
(·ommodi ty.
'rhe stems and the leaves in th is variety are much smaller thaI!
those of most of the varieties of D. penlaphylla, and it is almost
deserving of specific rank. 'rh e lcares arc rclativel l' small and the
stem is wiry, prickly and purple-fl ()(·ked.
Tn Singaporc, it flow ers 6-8 months after the shoot has appeared above ground, and later cons iderably than the val'ieties of
iJ. l'pnlaphylla from Korthe]'Jl Tndia that hal'e been grown experimenta llv alongside it.
Tb e four tubers at the top on the Tight or the same block represent j)·iosc01·ea lJentaphylla, Li nn ., var., maZaiCC!. Th e parcnt
tuber ca me from a garden hedge in P eoang where it wa s but small:
but in the Botanic Oardells, Singapore, tubel'~ wcighing np to
9638 gnlmmes or 21± lbs. haye been mi sed. The I'a l' icty may be·
fO LU)cl here and thel'e through th e Malay Peninsula, and usnally Jll
garden fences.
Th e fOllr tubers on the lowei- TOW to the right represe nt two·
Philippine· stocks. They are numbered 196 and 19 . No. 19 G·
flll'nished figlll:e 5 on p. 207 of volume i ii of: the Philippine A.g,··ic!./tU'ris/' r1Jlld F'01'este1'>' and K o. 198 furnished figure 6. 'rhe first
j . certainl.'· ascribable to ]).iosco'·8(£ lJ8'ntapilyllc£, Lion .
Its big'
clavate tuber.s have very soft flesh, and keep ~'ery badly. It flowers
reglllarl~· .
Bllt No. 198 refuses to flower . However the stems and leayes
exactly match Philippine herbarium specimens which beaT the
number" Ahearn's collector 1971" from R izal and these have female
. flowers; but the female flowers ' are not altogether adequate to place·
it and fruits must be sought. It also matches exactly the sterile
speeimens of Ramos 12176 to whi ch the note is attached" tuber
edible." The tubers are most abundantly lobcd and with soft
white flesh . As it grows in the Botani c Gardens, Singapore, it
dies down in 6-7 months, i .e. as n. l)entaphylla Val' . Linnaei is
toming ioto flower . It produces an abundance of: bulbils about
1-2 cm. long ,,,ith a rough brol\'Jl skin l ike shagl'een.
I. H .
B UHKILL.
PLATE VIII.
•
C(.
Dioscorea dumetorum, Race No. 3~2 above and Race No 346 below.
On the Ielt of the half - metre measure two tubers of Dioscorea pentaphylla,
vaf., Linnaei, origin Ceylon: on the right above. four tubers of Dioscorea
pentaphylla, Var., malaica, origin Penang: on the right below, tubers of two
Dioscorea allied to D. pentaphylla, Nos. 196 and 198 origin Luzon.
\