Clinton's introductory discourse. 69 



whether they are the real solarium tuberosum, and helianthus tuberosus.* 

 All the Indians of the northwest have, according to Pike, a species of 

 wild oats for their only farinaceous food : we would rather suppose it to 

 be a species of rice, as it is an aquatic plant; and if each stalk produces, 

 as it is stated, half a pint of grain, it is undoubtedly an object deserving 

 of attention.! Lewis and Clarke have pointed out several vegetables 

 unknown to us, which the Indians use. These and many other sources 

 of inquiry are open to us. The discovery of a new plant gives celebrity 

 to a botanist, and, if useful to mankind, his fame is immeasurably 

 enlarged. Before I conclude this subject permit me to inquire whether 

 the cypripedium bulbosum has ever been seen in this country? I ask 

 this question, because Acerbi, in his Travels, has made the following 

 observations respecting it : 



" To Mr. Custrien science is indebted for the discovery of a famous 

 plant, viz. cypripedium bulbosum, which was first seen by Rudbeck in 

 1685, but had never been found since by any botanist, not even by 

 the great Linnaeus, who passed this way in July, and, consequently, a 

 month after it had been in flower. This plant skulks among the under- 

 woods and firs which surround the church of Kemi. It modestly eludes 

 the prying eyes of the passenger, and loves the temperate enjoyment of 

 the sun's rays, which can only reach it by insinuating themselves between 

 the branches of the bushes that overshade it. Dr. Smith, President of 

 the Linnaean Society, has given us a coloured figure of it extremely 

 accurate and lively, which the reader may see and admire in his collec- 

 tion of rare plants. This is one of the rarest as well as most beautiful 

 productions of the north: it is indigenous in the Parish of Kemi. 



* See Note GG. I See Note HH. 



