Omphalea diandra, Omphalea triandra.

Omphalea diandra Linn. Euphorbiaceae. Cobnut.

West Indies. This tree is cultivated in Santo Domingo and Jamaica under the name of noisettier, or cobnut, from the resemblance of the flavor of the seeds to that of the European nuts. The embryo is deleterious and requires to be extracted.

Omphalea triandra Linn. Cobnut.

Tropical America. The seeds are edible after the deleterious embryo is extracted. The tree is called cobnut in Jamaica. The kernels of the nuts in the raw state are delicately sweet and wholesome. When roasted they are equal, if not superior, to any chestnut. By compression, they yield a sweet and fine-flavored oil.


Sturtevant's Edible Plants of the World, 1919, was edited by U. P. Hedrick.