sturtevant's notes on edible plants 71 



Asaruin canadense Linn. Aristolochiaceae. snakeroot. wild ginger. 



North America. Barton ' says the dried, piilverized root is commonly used in many 

 parts of our country as a substitute for ginger, and Balfour ^ say^ it is used as a spice in 

 Canada. 



Asclepias syriaca Linn. Asclepiadeae. milkweed, silkweed. 



North America. Kalm ' says the French in Canada use the tender shoots of milk- 

 weed in spring, preparing them like asparagus, and that they also make a sugar of the 

 flowers; a very good, brown, palatable sugar. Fremont ^ found the Sioux Indians of the 

 upper Platte eating the young pods, boiling them with the meat of the buffalo. Jefferys,^ 

 in his Natural History of Canada, says: " What they call here the cotton-tree is a plant 

 which sprouts like asparagus to the height of about three feet and is crowned with several 

 tufts of flowers; these are shaken early in the morning before the dew is off of them when 

 there falls from them with the dew a kind of honey, which is reduced into sugar by boiling; 

 the seed is contained in a pod which encloses also a very fine sort of cotton." In 1835, 

 Gen. Dearborn * of Massachusetts recommended the use of the young shoots of milkweed 

 as asparagus, and Dewey ' says the young plant is thus eaten. In France the plant is 

 grown as an ornament. 



A. tuberosa Linn, butterfly weed, pleurisyroot. tuber-root. 



Northeastern America. The tubers are boiled and used by the Indians. The Sioux 

 of the upper Platte prepare from the flowers a crude sugar and also eat the young seed-pods. 

 Some of the Indians of Canada use the tender shoots as an asparagus.' 



Asimina triloba Dun. Anonaceae. papaw. 



Middle and southern United States. All parts of the tree have a rank smell, and the 

 fruit is reUshed by few except negroes.' Vasey says the fruit, about four inches long, 

 when ripe has a rich, luscious taste. " The pulp of the fruit," says Flint,'" " resembles 

 egg-custard in consistence and appearance. It has the same creamy feeUng in the mouth 

 and unites the taste of eggs, cream, sugar and spice. It is a natural custard, too lucious 

 for the relish of most people. The fruit is nutritious and a great resource to the savages." 



Asparagus acerosus Roxb. Liliaceae. 



East Indies and Burma. This species was foimd by Mason " to be a passable substitute 

 for ovu- garden asparagvis. 



Barton, W. P. C. Med. Bot. 2:89. 1818. 



Balfour, J. H. Man. Bot. 576. 1875. 



' Kalm, P. Trav. No. Amer. 2:202. 1772. 



* Fremont Explor. Exped. 16. 1845. 



' Jefferys, T. Nat. Hist. Amer. 42. 1760. 



Dearborn Me. Farm. Apr. 10, 1835. 



' Dewey, C. Rpt. Herb. Flow. Pis. Mass. 145. 1840, 



Dodge U. S. D.A. Rpt. 405. 1870. 



Don, G. Hist. Dichl. Pis. i:gi. 1831. 

 "Flint, E. West. States 1:72. 1828. (Annona triloba) 

 " Pickering, C. Chron. Hist. Pis. 476. 1879. 



