WATER-CHESTNUT

or Water-nut. There are many ‘“‘water-chestnuts’’ used as food. Among the most important are the fruit-kernels of three species of floating aquatic plants of the genus Trapa, all native to Asia. One of them (known specifically as ‘‘water-chestnut,’’? and also as ‘“‘Jesuit’s nut’’) is widely distributed in southern Europe and is naturalized here in some parts. It can easily be grown in aqnarimns and pools. Its flowers are small and inconspicuous but the foliage is handsome. The nut is four-angled (three-angled in one or more varieties) and from one to two inches in maximum diameter. Boiled or roasted, it is floury and pleasing to the palate. The other two species vield the Chinese ‘‘ling,’’ marked by two long horns, extensively eaten fresh, dried, and canned (imported in considerable quantities for domestie consmmption by Chinese residents here); and the Singhara-nut with large, sweet kernels, popular among the natives of Ceylon and Tndia. A fourth ‘*water-chestnut’?? widely eaten by Orientals is the brown-skinned bulb of a marshy, rush-like plant, a species of Eleocharis. All of these, in meai form, are also added to soups, ete. The ‘‘water-chinkapin’’ of the old-time Indians of the eastern United States is the acorn-like fruit of the ‘‘ American lotus’? (Nelumbo lutea).