THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 



139 



The groundnut {Apios fiiberosa) furnished food for the 

 French at Port Royal in 1613 and the Pilgrims at Plymouth in 

 1620 and as a crop for forests might again be used. There are 

 a score or more species of Physalis or ground cherries native 

 to Xorth America several of which are promising vegetables 

 and have been more or less used by pioneers. Solamun nigrum 

 the nightshade, a cosmopolite of America and Europe, recently 

 much advertised under several misleading names, and its con- 

 gener, Solamun triflorum, both really wild tomatoes, are 

 worthy of cultivation and in fact are readily yielding to im- 

 provement. In China and Japan the corms or tubers of a 

 species of Sagittaria are commonly sold for food. There are 

 several American species one of which, at least, was used 

 wherever found by the Indians and under the name of arrow- 

 head, swan potatO' and swamp potato, have given welcome 

 sustenance to pioneers. Our native lotus, a species of Nclnmbo, 

 was much prized by the aborigines, seeds, roots and stalks be- 

 ing eaten. Sagittaria and Nchiniho furnish starting points for 

 valuable food plants for countless acres of water-covered 

 marshes when the need to utilize these now waste places be- 

 comes pressing. — From an article by U. P. Hcdrick in Science. 



GATHERING GALAX FOR MARKET 



T^URIXG the past decade a new plant for winter decorations 

 has appeared in our markets. This the galax {Galax 

 aphlla) a plant whose round bronzy-green leaves are valued 

 for many uses by the florist. The following account of the way 

 these leaves are collected is taken from The Southern Field. 



The gathering and marketing of the leaves of galax has 

 become an industry of considerable importance in the moun- 

 tains of \A^estern North Carolina. The properties of the leaf 

 which cause it to be singularly adapted to florist's uses are its 

 pleasing heart shape, beautiful color, deep green or bronze and 



