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historians as a highly nutritious food for cattle, and even man, of heating and 
fattening qualities, The American Aborigines use several species, prominent 
among which Mr. Dodge* mentions the following: 
“Dill (Peucedanum graveolens, Wats.), called by the Snakes and Shoshone 
Indians Yampah.—This spindle-shaped root grows in low, timbered bottoms, and 
is esteemed as the best of its kind when used for food. It is analogous to the 
parsnip, and is an article of commerce among the Indians. The seeds are used 
to flavor soup.” 
“ Podosciadium Californicum, Gray.—The tubers of this species form one of 
the dainty dishes of the Oregon Indians. They are black, but when boiled like 
potatoes they burst open lengthwise, showing a snowy-white farinaceous substance, 
which has a sweet, cream-like taste, with a slight parsley flavor. It is an excellent 
root, the cultivation of which might prove useful among the whites.” 
“ Kouse root (Peucedanum ambiguum, Nutt.).—The root of this plant is dug in 
April or May when in bloom. It grows on hills and mountains which are so poor 
that grass will not grow upon them. When fresh it is like the parsnip in taste, and 
as it dies becomes brittle and very white, with an agreeable taste of mild celery. Itis 
easily reduced to flour. When its brown epidermis is removed, innumerable small 
dots are revealed. Both the roots and the flour will keep several months. It is some- 
times called bread or biscuit root by travelers, and Kouse root by the Indians of 
Oregon and Idaho. The Canadians know it by the name of Racine blanc, After 
the bread has been made a short time, its taste is not unlike that of stale biscuits. 
When the roots have been pounded fine, the flour is pressed into flat cakes, one 
foot wide, three feet long, and from a quarter to half an inch thick, of an oblong 
rectangular form, with a hole in the middle by which they are fastened on the 
saddles when traveling. The cakes have a ribbed appearance, caused by being 
laid on sticks stretched over the tent fires, for the purpose of smoke-drying or 
baking the bread. When broken up the bread has a coarse, granulated appear- 
ance, especially when not ground very fine, and is very insipid.” 
History and Habitat.—Eryngium Yucceefolium is indigenous to North America, ~ 
where it ranges from New Jersey to Wisconsin and southward. It habits damp or 
dry prairies and pine barrens, and blossoms in July and August. 
This species was valued highly by the Aborigines as an alexiteric, and, com- 
bined with Iris versicolor, as a febrifuge and diuretic; since their time it has come 
into use by first the laity, then the physician, as a stimulant, diaphoretic, sialo- 
gogue, expectorant, diuretic, and alterative. A decoction of the root has been 
found useful in dropsy, nephritic and calculous disorders; chronic laryngitis and 
bronchitis; irritation of the urethra, vaginal, uterine, and cystic mucous memr 
branes; gonorrhcea, gleet, and leucorrhcea; mucoid diarrhcea ; local inflarhmations 
of the mucous membranes; exhaustion from sexual depletion with loss of erectile 
power, seminal emissions, and orchitis. By some physicians it has been preferred - 
to Seneka snakeroot for its sphere, and by others it has been considered fully 
equal to Contrayerva. The powdered root is said to make a fine escharotic 
* U.S. Agric. Rep., 1870, pp. 405-7. 
