40 



root was not yet reached. I took hold of it to see if it would 

 loosen from the ground and the end broke off, as the illustration 

 show^s, leaving a small part of the root in the ground. The part 

 shown in the photograph was about two and one-half feet long 

 and weighed fifteen pounds. 



The Bush Morning-glory, Ipomoea leptophylla, which grows 

 on the plains just east of the Rocky Mountains from Nebraska 

 to Texas, is said to have even a larger root, and that of Ipomoea 

 Jalapa, a species of the South Atlantic and Gulf Coast, is re- 

 ported to frequently reach a weight of from forty to fifty pounds. 



Like the Sweet Potato, the roots of the Man-of-the-Earth are 

 brittle and slightly milky when fresh, but unlike the former 

 plant, there is only one root to the vine. I once saw an old 

 orchard where the plants were numerous. The hogs running in 

 the orchard learned that the great fleshy roots were sweet and 

 edible. In order to get them, the hogs rooted large funnel- 

 shaped holes often three feet deep. They fairly stood on their 

 heads to get at the bottom of the roots. The Indians named 

 this plant the Mecha-meck and without doubt it was a favorite 

 food among them. They could easily roast the fleshy roots in 

 the ashes of their camp-fires. 



Last September, I found many plants of this species in a 

 vacant lot at Arlington, New Jersey. They grew among bushes, 

 which they used as supports and became rather vigorous climbers, 

 sometimes nearly covering shrubs five or six feet high. I dug 

 out one of the roots. It weighed only a few pounds, but went 

 more than three feet deep. Next season I want to try the edible 

 qualities of the roots. 



The large white blossoms of this plant remain open through 

 most of the forenoon and in cloudy weather, they often do not 

 wilt until late in the day. The large hawk moths come to the 

 blossoms in the evening and at night, but during the day they 

 are visited by several species of bees. Prof. Robertson says it 

 depends chiefly upon two species of bees for pollination — Eutech- 

 nia taurea and Xenoglossa ipomoeae. I have also found bumble 

 bees visiting the blossoms and a long-tongued burrowing bee 

 known to insect men as Emphor bombiformis. The geographical 

 range of this plant is probably much wider than that of most of 

 the insects that visit the blossoms, therefore the insects that 

 seek the flowers in Texas would probably not be the same 

 species as those that come to it in Southern New England. 



