FOOD IN THE FOREST. 163 



a spadix.* On tearing open the spathe, our glance first rests 

 upon the apex of the spadix, which has a club-like form, and 

 is of a beautiful violet-red colour. The two rings of sexual 

 organs have much less attraction for the profane ; the lower 

 ring, loaded with female flowers, is more prominent than the 

 upper ring, which bears the male flowers. 



The root of our Arum also deserves a particular examina- 

 tion. It is a white tubercular stock or stem, containing a 

 quantity of fecula, mixed, as in the West Indian manioc, with 

 an acrid poisonous principle which produces a burning pain- 

 ful heat in the throat. This injurious principle is destroyed 

 by exposure to the fire, and by repeatedly boiling the plant 

 in water. After being thus heated, there remains only the 

 fecula, in the form of a white powder, which, in times of 

 scarcity, supplies a very nutritious food. " I made use of it," 

 says Bosc, " during the storms of the Revolution, when I had 

 taken refuge in the solitudes of the forest of Montmorency. 

 This plant is so abundant in this forest, and in many other 

 localities, that, at the epoch I speak of, it would have ensured 

 the subsistence of several thousands of men, if they had known 

 its alimentary properties. I was seriously counting on the 

 resources which it would place at my disposal, when the 

 death of Robespierre relieved me from my difficulties." f 



* When the spike bears numerous flowers, surrounded by a spathe, or 

 sheathing bract, it is called a spadix. 



t Bosc, a distinguished naturalist, died in 1828, aged 69. In the 

 ministry of Roland, he accepted the delicate post of administrator of 

 prisons; was proscribed after the terrible events of May 31, 1793; and 

 lay concealed, along with Lareveilliere-Lepaux, for several weeks in the 

 forest of Montmorency. 



