EDIBLE TUBERS, BULBS OR ROOTS 



this account, the Peucadanums were commonly 

 termed Biscuit-root by the white Americans. The 

 Canadian French call them racine hlanche. The 

 genus is marked by leaves pinnate in some species, 

 finely dissected in others, sometimes stemless and 

 never tall, and with small white or yellow flowers 

 disposed in umbels like those of the carrot or parsley. 

 Novices, however, should be warned that the Um- 

 belliferae include several poisonous species, and the 

 investigator should be well assured of the identity 

 of his plant before experimenting with it. 



Then there is Yamp, of this same family, and 

 cousin to the caraway. It is the botanists' Carum 

 Gairdneri, B. and H. — a slender, smooth herb, some- 

 times four feet high, with scanty pinnate leaves 3- to 

 7-parted and white flowers like the carrot's, growing 

 usually on dry hillsides in mountainous country 

 from British Columbia to Southern California and 

 eastward to the Rockies. The clustered, spindle- 

 shaped roots are about half an inch thick, and raw 

 have an agreeable, nutty taste, with a considerable 

 sugar content. Not only Indians but white settlers 

 also have proved the nutritive value of this root, 

 eating it either raw or cooked. In meadows and 

 along stream borders in Central California a nearly 

 related species {Carum Kelloggii, Gray) frequently 



13 



