SUCCULENT BOOTS AND THEIR USE AS FOOD. 15 



ciently interesting for one reason or another to be worth at least 

 brief mention here. 



Chervil is a plant, two forms of which are common in Europe. 

 One of them {Anthriscus cerefoliuTn) is sometimes called sweet cicely 

 and is cultivated mainly for its leaves, which are used as a salad. 

 The other, known as tuberous or turnip-rooted chervil {Gh/Eropkyl- 

 lum hulbosum,)^ is a true root vegetable. The roots are about the 

 size and shape of small carrots and are gray or blackish on the out- 

 side, with yellow-white flesh and with a distinctive flavor. They are 

 used in much the same way as young carrots. Seedsmen offer the 

 seeds, but they have never been common in the United States. 



The chufa, or nut grass, or earth almond, for it is known by all of 

 these names, is the small tuberous root of a sedgelike plant which 

 has a flavor suggesting nuts. A native of southern Europe, it is now 

 cultivated in many countries. Though used as a food in a limited 

 way, it is chiefly important as a feeding stuff. The chufa nuts are 

 well known to children in the Southern States. 



The bulbs of various lilies are eaten in the Orient and are on sale 

 in Chinese quarters and served in Chinese restaurants in many Ameri- 

 can cities. The American Indians ate and to a small extent still use 

 lily bulbs or corms, both roasted and raw, including the Indian 

 cucumber {Medeola virginica) , a relative of the trillium, the roots of 

 water lilies, and many other wild roots, few of which have been taken 

 over into the diet of other peoples. 



ROOTS USED AS CONDIMENTS. 



Several roots have pronounced aromatic qualities which give them 

 a condimental value quite independent of the nutritive material 

 which they contain. In addition to increasing the flavor of foods, it 

 seems possible that such condiments may stimulate the flow of diges- 

 tive juices as well as please the palate. Horse-radish and ginger are 

 the most common condimental roots, though chicory, so commonly 

 considered in Europe a palatable addition to coffee, may also be men- 

 tioned, as well as licorice root and calamus, or sweet flag, and wild 

 ginger, or snakeroot. 



Horse-radish is a moisture-loving plant of the mustard family 

 which is cultivated throughout north-temperate countries and is 

 very frequently found w^ild in the United States, as it long ago 

 escaped from cultivation. The root is long, rather slender, and has 

 a sharp, peppery flavor, owing to the presence of an essential oil 

 which much resembles in general character that in the radish and 

 other members of the mustard family. As regards composition, 

 horse-radish contains on an average 86.4 per cent water, 1.4 per cent 

 protein, 0.2 per cent fat, 10.5 per cent total carbohydrates, and 1.5 



