582 sturtevant's notes on edible plants 



are cooked and then frozen before being eaten; the women of La Paz are very fond of this 

 -frozen dish.* 



Trophis americana Linn. Urticaceae. ramoon tree. 



West Indies. The berries, which are about the size of large grapes, have a very 

 pleasant flavor.* 



Tsuga canadensis Carr. Coniferae. hemlock. 



North America. The Indians of Maine prepare a tea from the leaves of hemlock 

 and this tea is relished as a drink. The spray is also used in New England and elsewhere 

 to a limited extent in the domestic manufacture of spruce beer. According to McKenzie,' 

 the aborigines of the West employ the inner bark as a food; it is taken off early in the 

 spring and made into cakes, which are eaten with salmon oil and are considered dainties. 

 Langsdorff * speaks of the Thlinkets at Sitka eating cakes made of bark of spruce fir, mixed 

 with roots, berries and train oil. 



Typha angustifolia Linn. Typhaceae. small bulrush. 



Europe and North America. The young shoots are edible and resemble asparagus.' 



T. elephantina Roxb. elephant's grass. 



Mediterranean region and East Indies. A kind of bread, called boor or booree, is 

 made in Scinde from the pollen.' 



T. latifolia Linn, bulrush, cat tail, cossack asparagus, reed mace. 



Europe and North America. In Virginia, the poorer settlers ate the root of the 

 bulbrush and were very fond of it ; it has a sweetish taste.' Haller ' says the roots are eaten 

 in salads. Long ' says the seeds are esculent, roasted; Lindley, that it is sometimes used 

 as food under the name of Cossack asparagus. This plant, says Clarke,'" flourishes 

 luxuriantly in the shallows of the Don. He found the people devouring it raw; " with 

 a degree of avidity as though it had been a religious observance. It was to be seen in all 

 the streets and in every house, bound into faggots." " They peel off the outer rind and 

 find near the root a tender, white part of the stem, which, for about the length of 18 inches, 

 affords a crisp, cooling, and very pleasant article of food." 



T. laxmanni Lepech. scented flag. 



Europe and northern Asia. The rhizomes furnish a meal which is made into cakes. 

 They are used also as a vegetable." 



' Journ. Hort. Soc. Land. 9:59. 1855. 



Lunan, J. Hort. Jam. 2:1^0. 1814. 



Nuttall, T. No. Amer. Sylva 2;i(>2,. 1865. (rhvja giganlea) 



* Langsdorff 70^.2:131. 1813-14. 



Drury, H. Useful Pis. Ind. 435. 1869. 



' Treas. Bot. 2:1269. 1870. 



' Forster, J. R. Fl. Amer. Septent. 41. 1771. 



' Lunan, J. Hort. Jam. i:i(>g. 1814. 



Ibid. 



'"Clarke Trav Russia 1:175. 



" Smith, F. P. Contrib. Mat. Med. China 223. 1871. 



