USEFUL WILD PLANTS 



The aroids — a plant family abundant in the tropics 

 and of which several species, as the taro of the 

 Pacific, possess nutritious, starchy, tuberous roots of 

 importance as human foods — are represented in the 

 United States by two or three plants of proved value. 

 One of these is the Grolden Club {Orontium 

 aquaticum, L.), whose flower spikes of a rich, bright 

 yellow, lifted above velvety, green, strap-like leaves 

 from which water rolls as from a duck's back, are 

 a familiar sight in the spring in ponds and marshes 

 along the Atlantic coast. The bulbous rootstock, 

 when cooked, is possessed of considerable nutriment, 

 but owing to its deep seat in the muck is difficult of 

 extraction. The ripened seeds, which resemble peas, 

 are more easily gathered, and both whites and 

 Indians have included them in their diet. Accord- 

 ing to Peter Kalm, an observant and inquisitive 

 Swede whose book of travels in the North American 

 Colonies in 1748 is still an interesting narrative to 

 any who enjoy a look into the vanished past, the 

 dried seeds, not the fresh, should be used, and they 

 must be boiled and re-boiled repeatedly before they 

 are fit to eat ; yet his Swedish acquaintances thought 

 it worth their while to do so. 



Of even greater interest is another aroid, the 

 Arrow Arum or Virginia Tuckaho {Peltandra Vir- 



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