1913] The Ottawa Naturalist. 41 



Food Plants. Our supply of such important fruits as 

 Cranberries, Blueberries and Huckleberrii derived largely 



from plants growing without cultivation, while the Wild Rasp- 

 berry and related species of Rubus and the June or Serviced erry 

 (Amelanchier) are also well known and appreciated. Such nuts 

 as the Butternut and Hickory must also not be omitted. Most, 

 however, of our other wild fruits and nuts will not be considered 

 by most people satisfactory substitutes for our common cultivated 

 ones. There is, however, one large group of food plants almost 

 ignored by the majority of people, namely, the Fleshy Fungi. 

 Most people classify these plants into one particular kind which 

 they term "the mushroom" and lun p the re; t together under 

 the name of "toadstools," a name intended to imply properties 

 if not actually poisonous at any rate more or less disagreeable. 

 This is unfortunate since many of these fungi are as good for 

 table purposes as the Common Mushroom (Agaricus campestris 

 L.) ana! some of them are much more abundant in many places or 

 at certain times of the year, e.g. the Morels (Morchella), the Fairy 

 Ring Mushroom {Marasmius oreades), the Lepiotas, the Coral 

 fungi (Clavaria), the Shaggy Mane Coprinus and others. No 

 doubt the fact that certain fungi are very poisonous has caused 

 the whole group to be viewed with suspicion, but with a very 

 little trouble it is possible to recognize at sight at least a dozen 

 common and delicious kinds. 



Another plant which may be mentioned here is the Wild 

 Rice (Zizania). the large seeds of which are esteemed by many 

 as a delicacy. If clue care is taken in the selection of a suitable 

 locality and in the introduction of the seeds or plants, it is fairly 

 readily established, and apart from any value it possesses in 

 supplying an article of human food, it affords food and shelter 

 for water fowl wherever it may be desired to encourage them. 



Fodder Plaxts. There are many situations in which the 

 natural plants will probablv always have to be depended upon 

 for fodder purposes, as being better adapted to their environment 

 than any likely to be introduced, as, for example, the Marsh 01 

 Cord grasses (Spartina) of the Salt Marshes of the Maritime 

 Provinces and the Buffalo Grasses (Boulefoua) and Western Rye 

 Grass (A gropyron ienerum \ as.) of the West. It is also possible 

 that amori arietv of Western leguminous plants 



sonic will be unci I special value as forage plants. 



Drug Plaxts. A large number of plants are credited in a 

 greater or less degree with medicinal properties, from such 

 popular remedies as Burdock and Dandelion to officinal drug 

 plants like Golden Seal {Hydrastis canadensis L.) and Seneca 

 Snake-root (Polyga> \ega L.) and Rhamnus Purshiana DC, 



a British Columbia plant from which the well-known Cascara 



