152 ARIS.^LMA TRIPHYLLUM. THREE-LEAVED INDIAN TURNIP. 



part of the present century, that " It grows wild in wet places in 

 Virginia, Carolina, Pennsylvania, etc., where the savages boil the 

 spadix with the berries (see our Fig. 4) and devour it as a great 

 dainty." It is said of the roots that one-fourth of the whole 

 bulk is starchy matter fit for food. 



Rafinesque, from whom we have already quoted, says that " it 

 grows all over North America in woods ; it is said to extend to 

 South America as far as Brazil ; but probably it is a different 

 species that is found there ;" and it might be added that " North 

 America" is very different now to what it was in Rafinesque's 

 time, for our plant is not known much beyond the Missouri and 

 Mississippi rivers. To the eastward of this line it is found in 

 every State of the Union. Though commencing to flower very 

 early, it may often be gathered so late as June, when the leaves 

 usually commence to decay. The berry-like seeds are at first 

 green, but at maturity become red as in the plate. By this time 

 the foliage has wholly disappeared, and the collector only knows 

 where the roots are by the clusters of fruit standing on short 

 stalks just above the ground. 



The flowers are monoecious, that is to say the sterile ones are 

 by themselves in the portion of the spadix at a (Fig. 3), and the 

 fertile ones below at b. But the pistillate flowers are not all fer- 

 tile, as we see in Fig. 4 ; only a portion of the berries are wholly 

 perfect. 



Explanations of the Plate. — i. Root and lower portion of the branch. 2. Upper portion 

 of the stem in flower. 3. Spadix wiih flowers male [a) and female (/') at Ihe base. 4. 

 Mature fruit. 



