20 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 



Trillium Grandiflorum. — This well known member 

 of the Trilliuin genus has a variety of names though wood lily 

 is doubtless the one by which it is known most commonly. 

 Wake-robin, three-leaved nightshade, birth-root or beth-root, 

 ground lily and butter-milk lily are among its other names. 

 The entire genus is reputed to have medicinal properties and 

 it is said the white men learned their use from the Indians. It is 

 stated that the root of T. grandiflorum if chewed produces tears 

 and salivation and leaves a burning sensation in the throat 

 which is succeeded by a sensation of cold over the whole body. 

 The Indians of Missouri called it by a name which means 

 heat-and-cold. It was reputed to cure snake-bite and gangrene 

 and the Indians thought that the red trill iums were best for 

 males and the white ones for females. Many believe the berry- 

 like fruits to be poisonous but this does not appear to be true. 

 It is probably a survival of an idea that was common when the 

 plants were regarded as members of the nightshade family. 



Sea-weeds as Food. — Every year the Japanese take from 

 the shallow waters on their coasts more than two million dol- 

 lars worth of algae or sea-weeds, and while this method of 

 farming the sea is not so well known in other and more 

 tropical islands, there is still considerable business done in the 

 collection and sale of these plants. In the Hawaiian Islands 

 the annual sea-weed crop is valued at many thousands of dol- 

 lars. The Hawaiians call the sea-weeds of all kinds limu and 

 eat seventy-five of the hundred or more species abundant 

 along their thousand miles of coast. They are commonly 

 eaten raw, with a little salt and accompanied by shell-fish and 

 other marine animals, also usually raw. In other days they 

 served to garnish the pig or dog that formed the feature of 

 their feasts. Some of these sea-weeds are said to be accept- 

 able to Caucasian palates, but the majority are rather too 

 strong or bitter. All of them must have been particularly wel- 



