4 
young shoots of the species which I encountered on Limon 
Mountain, 160 miles south of Mexico City and about 55 
miles from the Pacific coast, possess excellent edible properties, 
though I did not learn that they are so used. These shoots, from 
12 to 18 inches in length and nearly an inch in greatest thickness, 
resembled asparagus shoots, except that they tapered regularly 
rom the base to the acute summit and that the scales were 
closely appressed. They were very tender and crisp, starchy 
and of a rather neutral flavor, these being valuable qualities for 
a staple food. 
n this same mountain side, I found numbers of the small 
trees here represented, belonging in the Acacia group, but as yet 
undetermined by me. The Indians informed me that the par- 
tially opened leaf-buds of this tree, six inches or more in length 
and nearly an inch in thickness, are edible. I tried some of them 
in the raw state, and found them tender, sweetish, though 
decidedly astringent, and evidently quite nutritious. 
The small nut-like fruits of a number of palms are important 
commercial articles in most markets, some being used for the 
expression of their oil, others for food. It is quite evident that 
the same individual names, in different localities, represent dif- 
ferent species and even different genera. 
I think that everyone who has ever cultivated dahlias must 
have been struck by their enormous productiveness in roots, and 
many, like myself, must have wondered if it were possible to 
utilize them for food and wished that such might be the case. 
Being closely related to the highly nutritious and delicious Jeru- 
salem artichoke and, like it, richly charged with inulin, there can 
no question as to its availability as a food, if free from dis- 
agreeable and deleterious properties. Various species of dahlia 
are exceedingly common and abundant in the mountains of 
Mexico. In the lava beds between Mexico City and Cuernavaca, 
where this picture was taken, they cover acres, the beautiful 
flowers representing every shade of color from yellow, through 
orange, salmon and vermilion to scarlet, mauve, lilac and rose. 
Upon one of my trips I was accompanied by a native who was 
remarkably well versed in the native uses of the plants. As I 
