EDIBLE STEMS AND LEAVES 



of turning themselves out to pasture, to feast upon 

 ■the patches of wild clover. This they ate raw and 

 with greedy avidity, before the flowering stage, while 

 the plants were still young and tender. In fact, 

 clover was another of the aboriginal food plants 

 esteemed as so important as to be honored with 

 especial dance ceremonies. Chesnut speaks of see- 

 ing groups of Indians in Mendocino County, Cali- 

 fornia, wallowing in the wild clover, plucking the 

 herbage and eating it by the handful. Its nutritive 

 content is unquestioned, if only one have the diges- 

 tive organs to handle it, chemical analysis of the 

 leaves showing the presence of food elements in 

 good degree. Intemperate indulgence, however, is 

 liable to cause bloat and severe indigestion. The 

 Indians, to obviate this, learned that dipping the 

 leaves in salted water, or munching with them the 

 parched kernels of the Pepper-nut (the fruit of the 

 California Laurel, Umbellularia Californica) is 

 efficacious.^ Not all species of clover are considered 

 equally good. The favorite, still to quote Chesnut, 

 is the so-called "sweet clover" {Trifolium virescens, 

 Greene), distinguished by stout, succulent stems, 

 ovate leaflets, large, inflated yellow and pink flowers, 



5 v. K. Chesnut, "Plants Used by the Indians of Mendocino Co., 

 California." 



139 



