LEGUMINOUS PLANTS. 413 



them in regions of plenty, has no parallel in the atrocious character of 

 the Indian, whose only interference with the state of nature consisted 

 in setting fire to woods and prairies, to promote the growth of herbace- 

 ous plants and thin the undergrowth to facilitate the chase. The deli- 

 cious fruits of the warmer regions of the Eastern continent are not met 

 with here, or represented by less palatable kinds and this defect may 

 have produced the unrefined taste of the Indian. Capable of satiating 

 his hunger with a mixture of clay and gum, like the Ottomaks of the 

 Amazon or with tuckahoe, a species of ligneous fungus, resorted to in 

 times of dearths by the Cherokeesand other nations, he remained content- 

 ed vrith the natural and unimproved offerings of his native land, and 

 attempted to cultivate but few kinds of those Indian corn beans and 

 tobacco. These Indian beans are several species of phaseolus, growing 

 spontaneously in all portions of the country. Prairie and forest sup- 

 plied him with several other leguminous plants. 



The Screw bean, {Strombocarpus pubescens,} the dry and ripe 

 fruit of which is considered a delicious nutriment by the Indians, grows 

 along the Colorado river of Arizona, and the Utahs use it by mak- 

 ing bread from the meal of the seeds. All kinds of animals are fond 

 of the pods, and fatten rapidly upon them. Of no less importance are 

 the fruits of the Mesquite (Algarobia glandulosa). The pods being 

 7-9 inches long, are not only nutritious, but also very agreeable, from 

 the combination of a sweet and acid taste, and are a preventive of thirst. 



The Pommede prairie is the esculent root of the Proiralea esculenta, 

 growing in the Northwestern territory, Iowa, Kansas and Nebraska. It 

 is generally the size of a hen's egg, of regular ovoid shape, and the corti- 

 cal part or skin separates as readily as in a turnip. It has a sweet and 

 turnip-like taste. The Indians of these regions like it very much, and 

 use it extensively in the ripe state. Sliced and dried they store it for 

 winter use. 



A rare species of this genus, the Psoralea subacaulis, grows abund- 

 antly upon the rocky hills and wastes around Nashville. Its short flow- 

 er-stem terminates a few inches below the surface in a good sized tu- 

 berous root, firmly imbedded between the densely packed gravel and 

 rocks This tuber is soft and pleasantly sweet, although growing on 

 the poorest ground, and retains those qualities to an advanced flowering 



