6 BULLETIN 84, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



It is cultivated essentially for its root, which has an agreeable flavor, aro- 

 matic and bitter, and is eaten in winter prepared as we do the scorzonera (S. 

 hispanica L. ). The young shoots form a delicious vegetable. 



As the plant grows well all over Japan, it will acclimate itself quite as 

 well to our gardens ; and this is why, cultivated with us, it may increase the 

 number of our fresh vegetables by the addition of one which is good, whole- 

 some, and nourishing. (Free translation.) 



In that remarkable book by Paillieux and Bois, Le Potager <Tun 

 Curieux, 1 the authors give their experience with udo at their gardens 

 near Crosnes. They experienced such difficulty in raising the plant 

 from seed that they concluded, quite erroneously, as Ave have dis- 

 covered, that udo seed must be sown as soon as mature or it will not 

 germinate. 



After several attempts to get living plants, dating from 1879, they 

 were finally able to secure 10 of them. These grew very satisfac- 

 torily in their garden and, according to their report, they obtained, 

 by blanching, very appetizing-looking shoots, resembling those of 

 medium-sized asparagus. Unfortunately, the taste did not strike 

 them favorably. They objected to the faint suggestion of turpen- 

 tine and predicted the failure of udo in Europe. 



How extensive the trials of Paillieux and Bois were the writer has 

 not ascertained, but from his own experience he realizes how easy it 

 is to form an unfavorable impression regarding the flavor of a new 

 vegetable, and, judging from seven years of trial, in which he has 

 submitted udo to the judgment of a great many people, he believes 

 it is fair to conclude, since no recipes and only the barest details are 

 given in their report, that the culinary trials made by these authors 

 were quite inadequate to do justice to its excellent qualities. 



Notwithstanding the fact that raw potatoes, improperly blanched 

 celery, raw asparagus, and raw beets are all most disagreeable to the 

 taste, the tendency is to overlook this and to condemn raw udo, 

 comparing it with blanched celery, when in reality it has too strong 

 a flavor to be eaten without first preparing it for the table in the 

 proper way. 



RELATIVES OF ' j*>0. 



There are two native species of the genus to which the udo belongs 

 which resemble it quite closely in appearance — the spikenard or 

 petty morel of our rich woodlands {Alalia racemosa L.) and a Cali- 

 fornia species (Aralia calif omica S. Wats.). The spikenard is said 

 to grow in the shade to a height of 4 or 5 feet, but a plant which 

 the writer has had in his experimental garden in full sunlight for 

 four years has never grown more than 3 feet high. This plant 

 flowers much earlier than Aralia cordata, about the middle of July 



» Paris, 1S09, 3d eel. 



