STURTEVANT S NOTES ON EDIBLE PLANTS 449 



Polygonum alpinum All. Polygonaceae. alpine knotweed. 



Southern Eiirope and northern Asia. This plant is called by the Russians kizlez 

 or kapousta, by the Baschkirs kamouslouk and is eaten.' 



P. bistorta Linn, bistort, snakeweed. 



Northern regions. The leaves " are by some boiled in the spring and eaten as 

 greens." ^ Though very astringent and bitter to the taste in a raw state, says Johnson,' 

 the root contains an abundance of starch and, after being steeped in water and roasted, 

 becomes edible. A considerable quantity of the root thus prepared is consimied in Rus- 

 sia and Siberia in times of scarcity, as a substitute for bread. In the southern counties 

 of England, the young shoots were formerly in request as an ingredient in herb puddings 

 and as a green vegetable but they are now little used. The root, called ma-sku by the 

 western Eskimos, says Seemann,* is an article of food with them and, after being roasted 

 in the ashes, is not unlike a potato, though not so soft and nutritious. 



P. multiflorum Thunb. 



China and Japan. The roots are used as food.^ 



P. odoratum Loiir. 



Cochin China. This species, according to Loudon,' is cultivated throughout Cochin 

 China as an excellent vegetable for eating with boiled meat and fish. 



P. vivipaxum Linn, serpent grass. 



Arctic regions and mountains south to the shore of Lake Superior. Its roots, 

 according to Gmelin,' are collected by the Samoyedes and eaten. Lightfoot * says the 

 people of Kamchatka and sometimes the Norwegians, when pressed with hunger, feed 

 upon the roots. In Sweden it is called mortog or swinegrass.^ 



Polypodium fragrans. Polypodiaceae. polypody. 



East Siberia. This fern is called serlik by the Bouriates and is used as a substitute 

 for tea."> 



Polystichum munitum Kaulf. Polypodiaceae. 



The roots of this fern, says Hooker," are roasted on the embers and constitute an 

 article of food for the Indians of the northwest. 



Pickering, C. Chron. Hist. Pis. 779. 1879. (P. undulatum) 

 'Lightfoot, J. Fl. Scot. 1:206. 1789. 



Johnson, C. P. Useful Pis. Ct. Brit. 218. 1862. 



Seemann, B. Journ. Anlhrop. Soc. Land. 3:CCCin. 1865. 

 ' Thunberg, C. P. Tra:;. 4:123. 1796. 



Loudon, J. C. Enc. Agr. 935. 



' Pickering, C. Chron. Hist. Pis. 779. 1879. 



Lightfoot, J. Fl. Scot. 1 :2oy. 1789. 



Pickering, C. Chron. Hist. Pis. 780. 1879. 



' Pickering, C. Chron. Hist. Pis. 753. 1879. 



" Hooker, W. J. Fl. Bor. Amer. 2:261. 1840. (Aspidium munitum) 



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