Abelmoschus esculentus (L - the University of Maine at Fort Kent

Kermath, Bennett and Pulsipher - Food Plants in the Americs
PORTUGUESE: feijão-acutupé, feijão-batata, feijão-macuçu, jacatupé,
jacutupé
SPANISH: achipa, ahipa, ajipa, ashipa, carota de caballo, frijol
chuncho, frijol de jícama, guavita cansa-boca, habilla, jacatupé,
jícama, jícama dulce, jícana, jiquima, nupe, nupera, poroto
batata, yuca de bejuco
USES/NOTES: Immature tubers are eaten fresh or cooked, mature
tubers are a starch source and an animal feed, and pods
occasionally are eaten as a green vegetable. Seeds and roots
contain rotenone, a compound toxic to cold-blooded animals, used
to kill fish and insects. More widely cultivated than P.
tuberosus.
NATURAL RANGE: Mexico and Central America
REFERENCES: Davis and Yost 1983, Duke 1986, IBGE 1980, Kay 1973,
León 1987, Noda et al. 1984, OAS 1973, Rehm and Espig 1991,
Yamaguchi 1983
Pachyrrhizus tuberosus (Lam.) Sprengel [syn. Cacara tuberosa
(Lam.) Britton, Dolichos tuberosus Lam.]
FAMILY: Fabaceae or Leguminosae subfam. Papilionoideae (bean or
pea)
ENGLISH: ahipa, jicama, potato bean, yam bean
PORTUGUESE: feijão-macuçu, feijão-yacatupé
SPANISH: ahipa, ajima, ajipa, ashipa, chícama, choreque blanco,
coén, cohén, haba de tocón, jícama, jícama de agua, macucú, nupe,
sincamas, xiquima
USES/NOTES: Fruit pods and starchy tubers are edible. Seeds are
medicinal.
NATURAL RANGE: Amazonian headwaters of the eastern Andes of Ecuador,
Peru, and Bolivia
REFERENCES: Cárdenas 1969, Duke and Vásquez 1994, Foster 1958,
Naranjo 1991, Noda et al. 1984, OAS 1973, Rehm and Espig 1991,
Sørensen 1988, Sørensen et al. 1993, Usher 1974, Wiersema et al.
1990, Yamaguchi 1983
Panax quinquefolium L.
FAMILY: Araliaceae (aralia or ginseng)
ENGLISH: American ginseng, ginseng
USES/NOTES: Aromatic roots are chewed fresh or eaten candied and
leaves and roots are made into tea. Now used in the herbal
supplements industry, like Asian ginseng (P. ginseng C. Meyer)
and Siberian ginseng (Eleutherococcus senticosus (Rupr. & Maxim.)
Maxim., Araliaceae) as an energy booster, an aphrodisiac, and for
its reported anti-aging properties. The U.S. exports over $100
million worth of American ginseng annually mostly to Asia. P.
ginseng is grown sparingly beyond China and is now rare in its
native Asia due to over-harvesting.
NATURAL RANGE: Eastern North America
REFERENCES: Duke 1997, Facciola 1990, Gibbons 1966, Peterson 1977,
Rolfsmeier et al. 1988, Suits et al. 2003
DRAFT - DO NOT DUPLICATE OR DISTRIBUTE
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