STURTEVANT S NOTES ON EDIBLE PLANTS 535 



Siler trilobum Crantz. Umbelliferae. 



Orient, middle and south Ettrope. The stems are edible and the fruit serves as a 

 condiment. 1 This plant is called on the lower Volga gladich. This is the haltracan 

 described by Barbaro as having the smell of rather musty oranges, its stem single, hollow, 

 thicker than one's finger and more than a " braccio " high; leaf like rape; seed like fennel 

 but larger, pungent, but pleasant to taste and when in season, if broken as far as the soft 

 part, can be eaten without salt. The water in which the leaves are boiled is drunk as 

 wine and is>very refreshing.^ 



Silphium laeve Hook. Compositae. rosin-weed. 



North America. The tuberous roots are eaten by the Indians along the Columbia 

 River.' 



Silybum marianum Gaertn. Compositae. holy thistle, milk thistle. 



Europe. This plant was formerly cultivated in gardens in England but has now 

 fallen into disuse. The young leaves were once used in spring salads or boiled as a sub- 

 stitute for spinach. The young stalks, peeled and soaked in water to extract the. bitter- 

 ness, were cooked and eaten much in the manner of sea kale. The roots, when two years 

 old, were used much in the way of salsify, which they resemble, and the receptacle of the 

 flowers was cooked and eaten as an artichoke.* Bryant,' in his Flora Dietica, says the 

 young shoots in the spring surpass the finest cabbage when boiled as a vegetable. John- 

 son ' says the roots were sometimes baked in pies. Lightfoot ' says, in Scotland, the 

 tender leaves are by some boiled and eaten as garden stuff. 



Sinunondsia califomica Nutt. Euphorbiaceae. 



Southern California. The ripe fruit is the size of a hazelnut and has a thin, smooth, 

 three-valved husk, which, separating spontaneously, discloses a brown, triangular kernel. 

 This fruit, though edible, can hardly be termed palatable. Its taste is somewhat inter- 

 mediate between that of the filbert and acorn. It is employed by the Indians as an 

 article of diet and is called by them jajoba.* 



Sison amomum Linn. Umbelliferae. honewort. stone parsley. 



Europe and Asia Minor. Lindley ^ says the seeds are pungent and aromatic 



but have a nauseous smell when fresh. Mueller '" says they can be used for a 

 condiment. 



' Mueller, F. Set. Ph. 251. 1891. (Laserpitium aguilegifolium) 

 ' Pickering, C. Chron. Hist. Pis. 815. 1879. {Laserpitium trilobum) 

 ' Black, A. A. Treas. Bot. 2:1059. 1870. 



* Mcintosh, C. Book Card. 2:1^4. 1855. {Carduus marianus) 

 ' Bryant Fl. Diet. 60. 1783. 



Johnson, C. P. Useful Pis. Ct. Brit. 149. 1862. (Carduus marianus) 

 ' Lightfoot, J. Fl. Scot. 1:45^. 1789. {Carduus marianus) 

 ' Parry Bot. U. S. Mex. Bound. Surv. 2:17. 1859. 

 Pickering, C. Chron. Hist. Pis. ^20. 1879. 

 '"Mueller, F. 5W. P/5. 458. 1891. 



