34 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



one which has a round or oblong, white, farinaceous root somewhat 

 like a small parsnip. It is called couse, or biscuit-root, by the Ore- 

 gon Indians, and is quite an important source of food among them. 

 It is gathered and dried for winter use, is then ground between stones 

 to a kind of flour, and of this a palatable and nutritious cake is made. 

 It is also sometimes boiled with meat. 



6. Apios tuberosa (ground-nut). In all the United States on or 

 east of the Mississippi the twining stem and purple flowers of the 

 ground-nut are well known to the country boys, for they have learned 

 that at the base of that stem are tubers which may be eaten and with 

 a little make-believe enjoyed. These tubers were quite as well known 

 to the aboriginal inhabitants^ and to them they were a more important 

 article of food. They are, however, small, somewhat woody, and in 

 all respects inferior to the potato, which superseded them wherever 

 attainable. 



7. Helianthus tuherosus (Jerusalem artichoke). This plant is usu- 

 ally supposed to have been introduced from Europe, but Dr. Gray has 

 given good reasons for believing that it is a native of this country, 

 and that its tubers were used by the Indians of the Mississippi Valley 

 for food. It has been said to be a variety of IL doronicoicles, but is 

 probably a form of IL giganteus. 



8. Helianthus annuiis (sunflower). In the central part of the 

 continent — Colorado, Utah, Idaho, and Wyoming — are large areas of 

 open ground which sustain a vigorous growth of the sunflower. It is 

 always an evidence of good soil where it grows, and the magnitude of 

 the stem, Avhich is often six or seven feet high, and the flowers four 

 to five inches broad, measures the richness of that soil. Nowhere in 

 nature do the flowers become so large and the seeds so abundant as in 

 the cultivated variety, but the seeds have long been used for food by 

 the Indians, and it is probable that the plant grew larger about their 

 villages than we now find it in the dry and comparatively sterile re- 

 gions of the Far West. The Indians use the seeds for food, and some- 

 times extract an oil from them which is employed for the hair, or to 

 lubricate or paint the face or body. 



9. Wyethia robusta (Nutt.). In Oregon and Northern California I 

 found the Indians gathering the seeds of a species of Wyethia, which 

 Dr. Gray considers that described by Nuttall. On the east side of the 

 Sierra Nevada, several species of the genus are very widely distrib- 

 uted, the larger ones having flowers which resemble those of Inula, 

 and in many dry regions for a brief interval in the spring the surface 

 is quite covered with their broad ovate leaves, and the scene made 

 brilliant by their showy golden flowers. Their glory is, however, 

 short-lived, for early in the summer the flowers disappear, the leaves 

 become dry and brown, and rustle under the feet like those which 

 fall from the trees in our forests with the autumn frosts. The achenia 

 of Wyethia are relatively large, and contain a sufficient amount of 



