Trumbull and Gray—Helianthus tuberofus. 351 



Mallebarre (Nauset harbor, probably,) bad "force des ratines 

 nt, leBquelles vat k gout d'arti'chaut" (Voyages, ed. 

 1632, p. 84). And it is to these roots, evidently, that Lescar- 

 bot alludes, Histoire de la Nouv. France, 1612 (p. 840): there 

 is. he says, in the country of the Armouchiquois (i. e., New 

 England,' west and south 'of Maine,) a certain kind of roots 

 "grosses comrne naveaux, tres excellentes k manger, ayans «n 

 •' uiij- card?*, mais pins aureablc. h ■-'[«> 



e e'est merveille;" and he thinks 

 these must be the " Afrodilles " described by Pliny. 



Sagard-Theodat (Hist du Canada, 1636, p. 785) mentions the 

 cultivation of the sunflower, by the Hurons— who extn 

 from its seeds,— and names also the "roots that we [the French] 

 call Canadiennes or Pommes de Canada, and that the Hurons 

 call Orasqueinta, which are not very (assez peu) common m 

 their country. They eat them raw, as well as cooked, as they 

 eat another sort of root resembling parsnips [Sium h 

 which they call SomUuvtaU's, and which are much- better; but 

 : gave ns these, and only when they received some 

 present from us or when we visited them in their cabins. lie 

 goes on to speak of " patates, fort grosses et tres-excellentes," 

 some of which he had obtained from an English vessel cap- 

 tured by the French ; but none of these were to be found in 

 the Huron country, nor could the Indians tell him t 

 of them; and he regretted that he had not brought some with 

 him, for planting, since "this root, being cut in pi< 

 planted, quickly grows and multiplies t is said '« 



pommes de Canada" (pp. 781, 782). It is plain that the Huron 

 roots iirst-mcntioncd were, or t - -em to be, 



' Jerusalem Artichokes,'— already known as " Canadian. 



I find no mention of the artichoke in Virginia, or tne s. ...i hern 

 colonies, before it was cultivated by AngL 

 author of " A Perfect Description of Virginia, print- 



... .. 254> mentions "Batatas 



, some ot 



. Yet, the name of one of the 



- m.-ntiou 11 v IL.riot.B i -l ^;" 

 1585) ought to belong to some species of -bun flower —ami 11 

 to any, to // II ■ » n » * - • reus roote 



found in Virgin ,. ■• <r »•>»' : kinder roots ot . 

 some of the bignea & B™**. ^t Ze 



- : -..:.... ,r. - •' -. -:' • --■ -'' " ~ ./. 



by another in ropes, or as though they were rasteoe 



string. Being boiled or sodden, they are very go, 



[C. Bauhin (Prodromus, 89) identifies these with Solanum 



