safford: cheno podium ntjttalliae 



525 



seeds of the two species is equally great, as shown in figures 3, c 

 and 3, e. 



Accompanying the seeds and inflorescence heads were the 

 following notes of Mrs. Nuttall. On September 27, 1917, she 

 writes : 



This morning I was at the market of Xochimilco and bought fine 

 hunches of Uauhtli in bud, which is eaten as a green vegetable. The 

 spikes are washed and dipped in batter 

 composed of egg, flour, and grated 

 cheese, and then fried in lard. The 

 ends of several spikes are thus held 

 together, and it is the custom to seize 

 the stem and draw them through the 

 teeth, thus detaching the very palatable 

 green buds [unripe achenes], which form 

 thick clusters. The immature infloresc- 

 ence prepared in the above or in other 

 wavs is called Uauhtzontli. 



In a subsequent letter, dated No- 

 vember 25, 1917, Mrs. Nuttall writes : 



Huauhzontli combines the properties 

 of a cereal and a vegetable and furnishes 

 a substantial meal. When fresh and 

 the seeds are "in milk" the food is to 

 me delicious. I am told that it is 

 almost as good when prepared from 

 the dried inflorescence. 



The accompanying photographs 

 of achenes and seeds (enlarged 6 

 diameters) of Chenopodium nuttal- 

 liae and those of Chenopodium quinoa 

 Willd., C. bonus-henricus L., and C. 



rdbumh., species with w^hich it has been confused, show at a glance 

 the characters of each. Figure 3, a, is the common form of the 

 pale yellow, or rose-colored achenes of C. nuttalliae, figure 3, b, 

 the small dark-brown, or "black" form, and figure 3, c, the 

 seeds divested of the pericarp, which in all forms are horn- 

 colored, not ivory w^hite, as in C. quinoa, nor black, as in C. 

 album, and they are in the form of a flattened spiral, not ven- 



Fig. 2. Leaves of Chenopod- 

 ium. a, C. nuttalliae Safford; b, 

 C. bonus-henricus L. ; c, C. quinoa 

 Willd. X h- 



