1 6 Muhlenbergia, Volume 5 



from specimens collected not far from Reno, which show several 

 fleshy root branches, some of them nearly horizontal. 



In Auier. Journ. Pharm. 61: 5. 1889, Mr. Henry Trimble 

 quotes Dr. Y. Havard as follows: "The natives use the roots as 

 an article of food. These roots, 3 or 4, or more, curled and 

 twisted, spread out laterally and are generally superficial. As 

 they spring from the caudex they are rarely half an inch in di- 

 ameter and are seldom thicker than a goose quill; they taper 

 gradually to a length of two to four inches when they branch 

 off into small radicles. The bark is brownish externally, bright 

 red within and very bitter. The inner pait of the root is white 

 and farinaceous, containing in the centre the yellowish pith. 

 This white part is quite palatable and said to be very nutritious, 

 a single ounce of the dried article (according to Dr. E. Palmer) 

 being sufficient for a meal. The Indians, generally, boil it with 

 other esculents into a soup." An analysis of the white inner 

 portion of the roots by Mr. Trimble gave the following results: 



Fat. resin and wax 4.9S 



Gum and mucilage i.j.n. 1 



Albumenoids 3.5s 



Starch 8.57 



Moisture 12.17 



Ash 2.53 



Wood) fibre and undetermined 53-37 



The range of the plant is practically the whole of the coun- 

 try west of the rocky mountains, except the moist region imme- 

 diately adjacent to the Pacific ocean. In the northwest, where 

 it extends into British Columbia, according to Howell in Fl. 

 Northwest Am. 91, it occurs only "on top of the highest hills 

 and mountains cast of the Cascade Mountains." But in Califor- 

 nia it is found on the inner Coast Range from northern Lake to 

 southern Monterey counties. Here the flowers are usually white 

 and the plant has been named Lewisia alba by Kellogg, Proc. 

 Cal. Acad. '£: 115. /." j6. 



Rydberg, in .Mem. X. V. Bot. Gard. 1: 1 |<>, remarks that 

 the "Bitter-root grows on dry hills among gravel and rocks," and 

 the only noted exception to this habitat is that of Mr. Kelsey's, 

 quoted above — "bare sandy plains." The i<>ek\ and stony char- 

 acter of the places frequented by the plant is well shown in our 

 illustration, made from a photograph taken along Alum en 

 near Rcn<., by Professor ' .. J. Young, of the University of Ne- 

 vada. 



