Sweet Gum
the Liquidambar styraciflua, a North American tree about 60 feet high with apetalous flowers, in appearance like Acer campestre. The wood is fine-grained, and well adapted for furniture; the fragrant gum exuding from it when incisions are made in its bark constitutes liquid-ambar.
SWEET PEA (Lathyrus odoratus), a familiar garden annual plant belonging to the natural order Leguminosæ. It is a native of Sicily and other parts of the S. of Europe, and has been cultivated for its beautiful and fragrant flowers in American gardens for about 100 years.
The varieties are very numerous, distinguished chiefly by the different shades of color of the flowers. It is so hardy that it may be sown in autumn and will not only withstand the cold of winter, but will bloom earlier and better than when sown in spring. Other species of Lathyrus are of interest either as ornamental plants or for food for man or cattle which they yield. The everlasting pea (L. latifolius) is an old favorite in flower gardens on account of its handsome but scentless flowers. The roots of L. tuberosus are eaten in Holland and other countries where it grows plentifully.
The chickling vetch (L. sativus) is much used in Switzerland as fodder for cattle.
The seeds ground into meal make palatable bread.
SWEET POTATO (Batatas), a genus of plants belonging to the natural order Convolvulacæ. B. edulis, the true sweet potato, is a twining or climbing plant, with stems 5 or 6 feet long trailing on SWEET POTATO the ground or clambering over neighboring shrubs. The leaves are 5 or 6 inches long, heart-shaped at the base; the flowers pale purple, closely resembling those of the common convolvulus. The native country of the plant is a mat- SWEYN ter of conjecture. An author of the 16th century found the root much used by the Indians as an article of food.
It was introduced into Spain about 1519, and the roots were known in England some time before the introduction of the potato. English supplies in those times were obtained from Spain and the Canary Islands, and the roots, when steeped in wine or made into sweetmeats, were regarded as restorative of failing vigor. The plant is cultivated in India, China, Japan, the Malayan Archipelago, throughout tropical America, and in the southern United States, in southern Europe, the Canary Islands, Madeira, and North Africa. In favorable conditions in the United States the yield per acre is from 200 to 300 bushels. B. jalapa, a species of Mexico, though purgative, is so called on account of its being very common in the vicinity of the Mexican town of Jalapa. B. paniculata, which has a very wide geographical distribution, is commonly cultivated for food in W. tropical Africa. From the seeds of another species of Batatas the textile material named Natal cotton is obtained.