WILD SEEDS OF FOOD VALUE 



having been utilized, both seeds and tubers; and 

 something should be said of another leguminous 

 plant popularly called Hog Peanut {Amphicarpaea 

 monoica, Nutt.). It is a slender vine with trifoliate 

 leaves, the stem clothed with brownish hairs, and is 

 frequently met with in damp woodlands and thickets 

 throughout the eastern half of the United States. 

 In late summer it is graced with small bunches of 

 pale purple or whitish pea-like blossoms, pen- 

 dulous from the leaf -axils, while from near the root 

 solitary, inconspicuous flowers on thread-like stems 

 put out and bury themselves loosely in the ground, 

 or creep shyly beneath a covering of fallen leaves. 

 The showy upper blossoms are mostly abortive, 

 though a few manage to develop short pods contain- 

 ing three or four small purple seeds apiece, edible 

 when cooked. Of much greater worth are the sub- 

 terranean seed-vessels which bear a single large pea 

 in each. These peas are quite nutritious. They are 

 mature in September and October, but retain their 

 vitality throughout the winter, so that they may be 

 dug even in the spring if one knows where to look 

 for them. 



The most valuable of all our wild legumes is 

 doubtless the Mesquit-bean, the algarroba of the 

 Mexicans. It is the product of a well-known tree 



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