cagriellew 
108 
. 
posed of a white granular substance easily pulverized into a light — 
starchy flour. Raw it has a very palatable farinaceous flavor 
entirely devoid of bitterness; cut into slices and dried it is easily 
kept and may be found to this day in all the tents of the Sioux 
Indians for whom it has always been a staple food. They gener- 
ally eat it cooked, and as they appreciate the advantages of a mixed 
pot-au-feu, boil it with tripe, fattened pup or venison. According 
to an analysis by Mr. Clifford Richardson (from material I sent 
him) the tuber contains 70 per cent. of starch, about 5 of a sugar 
new to chemistry, and 9 of nitrogenous matter under several 
forms. No serious and prolonged attempt has as yet been made to 
- develop this tuber by cultivation and selection; such attempt is 
certainly desirable and, if successful, would give us a toothsome, 
wholesome and nutritious vegetable, remarkable for its large pro- 
portion of starch and nitrogen, and peculiarly adapted to our arid 
regions. 
Five other species have, likewise, tuberous edible roots: P. 
hypogaea Nutt., a smaller plant than the preceding, with a some- 
what more southern range and probably often confounded and 
collected with it by the Indians; P. Californica Wats. (P. mephitica 
Wats.) and the allied, if distinct, P. castorea Wats., ranging from 
Colorado to California, and affording food to the Pah-Utes; P. 
canescens Michx. of the Southern States, remarkable for its very 
long subterranean stem ending with a large conical tuber, evi- 
dently too deeply buried to have been noticed by the natives; P. 
subacaulis T, & G., a rare and local- Tennessee species. 
Another member of the Leguminous family is our Wild Liquor- 
ice (Glycyrrhiza lepidota Nutt.), mostly noteworthy as a very bad 
weed in the west, everywhere too prevalent. The long slender 
-thizome has a faint sweetish taste of liquorice, and the Indians 
sometimes chew it for its supposed tonic and expectorant effects. 
Much more valuable to the natives is the Chenook. Liquorice, a 
Lupine (Lupinus littoralis Dougl.), of the coast of Oregon and 
_ Washington, with long tapering granular roots which, when roasted, 
yield a pleasant farinaceous food. 
- Our native Umbellifers yield a certain number of useful edible. 
_ roots. To my taste and within my experience, the most delicately 
_ flavored (in the raw state) is that of Carum Gairdneri B. & H., the 
