USEFUL WILD PLANTS 



men and white alike. Mr. Carl Lumholtz in his in- 

 teresting book "New Trails in Mexico" tells of an 

 Indian who lived almost entirely on Ammobroma, 

 being able to find it out of season — a remarkable 

 testimony to the nutritiousness of the plant and the 

 abstemiousness of the Indian ! 



The creeping rootstocks of the common Cat-tail 

 (Typha latifolia, L.) which covers great areas of our 

 swamp lands throughout the United States, hold a 

 nutritious secret, too, for they contain a core of al- 

 most solid starch. They were dug and dried in for- 

 mer times by Indians, who ground them into a meal. 

 A recent analysis of such meal by one of the Gov- 

 ernment chemists showed it to contain about the 

 same amount of protein as is in rice- and corn- 

 flours, but less fat. It may make a useful mixture 

 with the ordinary flours, and be substituted for corn- 

 starch in puddings, as it seems entirely palatable. 



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