28 



THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 



dry country, almost to the coast of the Pacific. Apparently, 

 however, the birds continue to migrate by their old route, 

 going first north on their former track and then turning west 

 instead of cutting straight across by the nearest way. — Guide 

 to Nature. 



OuiNOA. — One will look in vain for the word quinoa in 

 the ordinary dictionary, yet this is the name of a plant that is 

 highly valued in certain parts of the world as a source of nour- 

 ishing food. The quinoa plant belongs to the goosefoot or 

 pigweed family (Chenopodiaceae). Practically all the plants 

 in this group have insignificant flowers and the different spe- 

 cies are often regarded as mere weeds, but it must not be for- 

 gotten that several are ordinarily cultivated as food plants. It 

 is to this family that the beet, spinach, chard, orache and Xew 

 Zealand spinach belong. The foliage of all of these is used 

 as a pot-herb and several wild species serA^e as well, notably the 

 lamb's quarters or redroot {Chenopodiuin album). The qui- 

 noa plant (C. quinoa) may also be used as a pot-herb, but it is 

 chiefly valued for its large seeds which are ground into meal 

 and baked in small cakes. The plant is a native of the Andes 

 from Chili to Peru and i^^ occasionally found as far north as 

 Mexico. It grows two or three feet high and has considerable 

 resemblance to the common pigweed. It may be added in this 

 connection that the seeds of several species of Chenopodinm 

 are used in medicine, especially those of Mexican tea (C ain- 

 brosioides) and worm-seed (C. antlieUninticitm) . 



Absurdities in Nomenclature. — The complications 

 which sometimes develop as a consequence of the changing of 

 plant names by the scientist are sufficiently absurd to be amus- 

 ing. A good illustration of this may be found in the name of 

 a little fern. Poly podium polypodioides, which when translated 

 means a pol}^ody that looks like a polypody! Another good 

 specimen culled from the pages of a recent American publica- 

 tion is Unifolium bifolium monophyllum. Students of dead 



