102 PLANTS USED BY THE KLAMATH INDIANS. 



Heracleum lanatum Michx. 



Pod'-cho. — 2s ot identified, but perhaps the cow parsnip, a coarse, 

 rough-hairy, umbelliferous plant growing- in moist meadows. The 

 young shoots when about 15 cm. (0 inches) high are used for food, ami 

 the roots are employed medicinally. The plant was said to grow at 

 Modoc Point on Klamath Lake. 



Peucedanum canbyi Coult. & Rose, 



Lhe'-Ms. — A low umbelliferous plaut with white flowers, finely dis- 

 sected leaves, and tuberous roots. This is a food used comparatively 

 little among tbe Klamaths, but a staple article among the Modocs at 

 the Yainax subagency, who gather it in the neighborhood of Lost River 

 and Tule Lake, in Klamath County. The sample that came to the 

 writer's notice was a long necklace-like string of the roots which a 

 Klamath Indian had brought from Yainax. The product is often 

 handled in this form as well as loose in sacks. Each root is shaped 

 like an onion, with a diameter of 2 to 3.5 cm. (about ^ to H inches), of 

 a yellowish or buff color on the cross-veined surface, after the removal 

 of the blackish outer skin, and a creamy white color within. The inte- 

 rior has a mealy and slightly spongy appearance, is soft enough to 

 be easily masticated without other preparation than drying, and has a 

 faintly carrot-like taste. It belongs, indeed, to the same family as the 

 carrot and parsnip. The roots are eaten in their simple dried form or 

 are mashed and boiled into a mush. 



Sium cicutaefolium Gmel. 



Wa'-h'im. — A common marsh perennial, commonly a meter in height, 

 with simply pinnate leaves and dentate leaflets, the white flowers borne 

 in compound umbels. The herbage of this plant, which has an aromatic 

 flavor, is eaten as a relish. 



ERICACEAE 

 Arctostaphylos patula (Jreene. 



Shle-shliip'-siiam. — The common manzanita of the yellow-pine forests, 

 growing to a height of I To 1.5 meters (about 4 or 5 feet) and often 

 forming dense thickets. Its broad, evergreen leaves, red berries, and 

 smooth, red-brown bark make it a conspicuous and handsome shrub. 

 The green berries are sometimes eaten, and the leaves, picked and 

 dried at any season, are mixed with tobacco for smoking. 



Arctostaphylos uevadensis Gray. 



Ka-ma'-tni — The bearberry, a small, red-stemmed shrub closely resem- 

 bling the manzanita in leaves and berries, but creeping on the ground 

 and seldom risiug more than 20 cm. (about 8 inches) above it. Its dried 

 leaves ""mixed with tobacco are used for smoking. A closely related 



