THE EDIBLE WILD ROOTS OF THE FARM 61 
would have received more attention among us had it been 
adapted by nature to ordinary field conditions. But it grows 
in moist or even wet soil and in partial shade. The 
Indian cucumber-root (Fig. 34) bears another sort of tuber 
that might well qualify it for a place among our salad 
plants, were the plant adapted to fields; but it grows in 
leaf mold in the shade of dense thickets. 
The wild bulbs of the scaly sort that are edible, are the wild 
onion and a few of its relatives, the wild leeks and garlics. 
These are valued not for nutritive value, but for flavoring. 
Here, again, the cultivated exotic varieties are superior to 
the wild native ones. 
There are a number of interesting 
wild aroids, producing solid bulbs or 
corms, which were food for the red 
man, but which we do not use. They 
grow mostly in wet soil. They are the 
arrow arum, the skunk cabbage, the 
Jack-in-the-pulpit, etc. The related 
taro is a valuable food plant in the 
Hawaiian Islands and throughout the 
South Seas. Like these, it is somewhat 
coarse, and does not keep well after 
gathering. So it gets into our markets 
only after being dried and ground into 
flour. The fierceacridity of the Jack-in- 
the-pulpit, which renders it inedible 
when raw, is entirely removed by cook- 
\\ ing. 
Among the aroids is another that is 
ss ee “illeticla’ aa worthy to be mentioned not as a food 
excellent salad plant. plant, but as one that has been valued 
for its pungency, and for the magic powers widely believed to 
inhere in its root. It is the sweet flag (Acorus calamus, 
