MISCELLANEOUS 



The Indians were in the habit of boiling the bright scarlet 

 berries which are so conspicuous in our autumn woods and de- 

 vouring them with great relish ; they also discovered that the 

 bulb-like base or corm, as it is called, lost its acridity on cook- 

 ing, and made nutritious food, winning for the plant its name 

 of Indian turnip. One of its more local titles is memory-root, 

 which it owes to a favorite school-boy trick of tempting others 

 to bite into the blistering corm with results likely to create a 

 memorable impression. 



The English cuckoo-pint yielded a starch which was greatly 

 valued in the time of Elizabethan ruffs, although it proved too 

 blistering to the hands of the washerwomen to remain long in 

 use. Owing to the profusion with which the plant grows in 

 Ireland efforts have been made to utilize it as food in periods of 

 scarcity. By grating the corm into water, and then pouring off 

 the liquid and drying the sediment, it is said that a tasteless, but 

 nutritious, powder can be procured. 



ALUM-ROOT. 



HeticJiera Americana. Saxifrage Family. 



Stems. Two to three feet high, glandular, more or less hairy. Leaves. 

 Heart-shaped, with short, rounded lobes, wavy-toothed, mostly from the 

 root. Flo%vers. Greenish or purplish, in long narrow clusters. Calyx. 

 Bell-shaped, broad, five-cleft. Corolla. Of five small petals. Stamens. 

 Five. Pistil. One, with two slender styles. 



In May the slender clusters of the alum-root are found in the 

 rocky woods. 



BLUE COHOSH. 



Caulophyllum thalictr aides. Barberry Family. 



Stems. One to two and a half feet high. Leaf. Large, divided into 

 many lobed leaflets ; often a smaller one at the base of the flower-cluster. 

 Flowers. Yellowish-green, clustered at the summit of the stem, appearing 

 while the leaf is still small. Calyx. Of six sepals, with three or four small 

 bractlets at base. Corolla. Of six thick, somewhat kidney-shaped or 

 hooded petals, with short claws. Stamens. Six. Pistil. One. Fruit. 

 Bluish, berry-like. 



In the deep rich woods of early spring, especially westward, 

 may be found the clustered flowers and divided leaf of the blue 



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