FOOD AND FIBER PLANTS OF THE INDIANS. 45 



longer than those of our wintergreeii, are less aromatic, but well 

 flavored. As the plant which bears them grows in the wooded districts 

 so thickly set as almost to cover the ground, the quantity of fruit is 

 very large, and it therefore becomes an important source of food to 

 the Indians. 



The small cranberry ( Vacciniiwi oxcycocciis), is found in the bogs 

 of Oregon as well as those of Maine, and probably stretches quite 

 across the continent. It is used by the Indians, but is nowhere abun- 

 dant, and is therefore of little value to them. 



One of the most noted fruits gathered by the Indians in the North- 

 west is the salmon-berry [Rubus sjyectaMlis). The bush grows to 

 the height of eight or ten feet, has handsome foliage, showy flowers, 

 and a pinkish- yellow berry an inch in length, which resembles our Ant- 

 werp raspberry. It is wholesome and nutritious, and is largely used 

 by both Indians and whites, but the taste is rather insipid, and it hard- 

 ly justifies the promise of its beautiful appearance. 



The Oregon grape — the fruit of two species of Herherls {B. 

 aquifoUuni and B. pinnatci) — affords agreeable variety to the diet of 

 the Indians of the Northwest, and is sometimes eaten by the whites. 

 The pretty yellow flowers, for which these plants are sometimes culti- 

 vated, are followed by clusters of deep-blue, bloom-covered berries 

 which have a sharp yet pleasant acid taste ; but they are small, and 

 the quantity attainable in any locality is not large. 



Throughout all the Rocky Mountain region the red-berried elder 

 {Sambucus racemosa) grows as in the Eastern States and Europe, and 

 makes its display of showy but useless berries. There, however, an- 

 other species of the genus {S. glauca) has taken the place of the com- 

 mon elder {8. Canadensis) of the Eastern States. It is a larger plant 

 than ours, and is sometimes loaded with black but very glaucous fruit, 

 which is rather better than the fruit of S. Canadensis and is more 

 used. 



The buffalo-berry {^Shepherdia argentea). Along the tributaries 

 of the Missouri in Montana, of the Colorado in Utah, and San 

 Juan in New Mexico, and in many other places throughout the Far 

 West, may be found thickets of a somewhat spiny shrub ten to fifteen 

 feet in height with peculiar glaucous, narrow, elliptical leaves resem- 

 bling those of the olive. This shrub in July and August is sometimes 

 loaded with bi'ight-red pellucid berries which have. the acidity and 

 flavor of the red currant. These berries are much used and highly 

 esteemed by the Indians and whites, affording a most agreeable change 

 from ordinary camp-fare, and, by their acidity, supplying a physiologi- 

 cal want to the system. 



Another closely allied plant i^Eleganus argentea), and more eastern 

 in its habits, has a larger and edible though, drier and less esteemed 

 berry. Both these are close relatives of Shepherdia Canadensis, which 

 grows throughout the Northern United States from New England to 



