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Suitable to be used by man for food; eatable; edible; as, esculent plants; esculent fish. Esculent grain for food. Sir W. Jones. Esculent swallow (Zoöl.), the swallow which makes the edible bird's- nest. See Edible bird's-nest, under Edible.

A large black seaweed (Alaria esculenta) sometimes eaten in Europe; -- also called murlins, honeyware, and henware.

The root of a leguminous plant (Psoralea esculenta), found near the Rocky Mountains. It is usually oval in form, and abounds in farinaceous matter, affording sweet and palatable food.

A plant (Fagopyrum esculentum) of the Polygonum family, the seed of which is used for food.

An esculent vegetable of many varieties, derived from the wild Brassica oleracea of Europe. The common cabbage has a compact head of leaves. The cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, etc., are sometimes classed as cabbages.

A blue-flowered liliaceous plant (Camassia esculenta) of northwestern America, the bulbs of which are collected for food by the Indians. [Written also camas, cammas, and quamash.]

The esculent root of cultivated varieties of the plant, usually spindle-shaped, and of a reddish yellow color.

A sedgelike plant (Cyperus esculentus) producing edible tubers, native about the Mediterranean, now cultivated in many regions; the earth almond.

Suitable to be eaten; eatable; esculent. Some herbs are most comestible. Sir T. Elyot.

The esculent tubers of the umbelliferous plants Bunium flexuosum and Carum Bulbocastanum.

Capable of being eaten; fit to be eaten; proper for food; esculent; edible. -- n.

Fit to be eaten as food; eatable; esculent; as, edible fishes. Bacon. -- n.

An esculent swallow.

gar. (Physiol. Chem.) See Lactose, and Sugar of milk (below). -- Milk thistle (Bot.), an esculent European thistle (Silybum marianum), having the veins of its leaves of a milky whiteness. -- Milk thrush. (Med.) See Thrush. -- Milk tooth (Anat.), one of the temporary first set of teeth in young mammals; in man there…

An edible fungus (Morchella esculenta), the upper part of which is covered with a reticulated and pitted hymenium. It is used as food, and for flavoring sauces. [Written also moril.]

An annual plant (Abelmoschus, or Hibiscus, esculentus), whose green pods, abounding in nutritious mucilage, are much used for soups, stews, or pickles; gumbo. [Written also ocra and ochra.]

Pertaining to pot herbs; of the nature or having the qualities of herbs for cookery; esculent. Sir T. Browne.

and inedible. Guinea, or Sierra Leone, peach, the large edible berry of the Sarcocephalus esculentus, a rubiaceous climbing shrub of west tropical Africa. -- Palm peach, the fruit of a Venezuelan palm tree (Bactris speciosa). -- Peach color, the pale red color of the peach blossom. -- Peach-tree borer (Zoöl.), the l…

Fit for drink. [Obs.] "Some those herbs which are not esculent, are . . . poculent." Bacon.

A plant (Solanum tuberosum) of the Nightshade family, and its esculent farinaceous tuber, of which there are numerous varieties used for food. It is native of South America, but a form of the species is found native as far north as New Mexico.