1000090060

COOK: QUICllUA NAMES OF SWEET l'OTATOES

o,·er 14,000 feet at the Pass of La Raya, down to Santa Ana,

ata n <ti tit ude of 3000 feet. The Jo""er valley ·of the Urubamba

ri ,·er

\\"US

,-isited by the \\Titer in l\Iay, June, and July, 1915,

as a memher of thc Yale Peruvian Expedi tion conducted by

Prof. Jlimm J3ingham, of Yalc U niversity, in cooperation with

thc Kational Ccogra phic Society a nd the United . 'ta tes Depart–

ment of ,\ griculture.

.\t

GOOO fcet and below, t be swcet potato

(Ipomoea batatas)

is one of the principal root-crops. At Santa Ana it appears

to be some\\"hat less importa nt t han

rwnu

(:\Ianihot) or

ttncucha

(Xnnthosonw), but mueh more important than

achira

(Canna) .

T"·o cb.sses of S\\"ect potatoes are recognized under separate

names,

apiclm

for the S\\"eet varieties and

cwnara

for the starchy.

A simila r distinclion is often made in the United States between

"s"·eets" a nd " yams."

The Quichua Janguage seems to h"ave

inciu~ivc

tcrm that can be applied to a ll kinds of sweet potatoes.

For

t his purpose Spanish-speaking Quichuas use

the " 'ord

·'camote."

J3oth cumaras and apichus are represented by numerous

,-arictic · JifTering in shapc and color of roots and foliage. At

;-;a n :\ligue], in t hc ya JJey undcr l\Iachu Picchu, with an alti–

tude of üOOO fcct., lhree varieties of cumaras were noted:

yw·acjcu–

lllara

("·hile),

pucacnmara

(red), and

compillicjlla,

the last a

,·e•·.v ehort tumjp-shapcd- purple root. Of apichus there were

a lso three ,·arict ies,

yuracjapichu, pucaapichu,

and

azulapichu

(bine, a combination of Spanish and

Quichu

a) . Other names,

learued at Sa nta Ana, a re

oqqueclruto,

cusicuma.ra

and

pucacusi–

cl/1/la ra,

t he lnst ment.ioncd said to "mean " red-long-cumara."

.\ nothcr "·ith deep purple flcsh like a beet, that stains the tongue,

i · ca llcd

i ncwnpamaccasccan.

At Lima the Quichua names

are not recogni zcd, only

camote

being used. Two varieties grown

bet\\·een Lima a nd Callao are called

supano

and

lur·iniano,

the former wi t h leaves Yery deep ly cut, the latter with nearly

ent ire !cave·.

Supe and Lurin are places on the eoast not fa.r

from Lima.

\Vi lc! s\\·eet potatoes are sa id to be of common oeeurrenee in

the va lleys of the interior. At San l\Iiguel a plant identified

by the Indians as

cusiap;clw

was fo

d growing spontaneously